EXECUTIVE WARFARE

10 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR WINNING YOUR WAR FOR SUCCESS

DAVID F. D’ALESSNDRO

WITH

MICHELE OWENS

Tata McGraw-Hill

Rs. 350  Pp 265

The old order changeth… shifting battlefields closer home. To our workplaces. And if you ever thought that it is a jungle out there. Get real. Out there it’s war, out-and-out. The silent, dog-eat-dog variety. A war replete with trenches and snipers and missiles that home in on you at the best of times. You don’t know about it until you are hit – shrapnel would be more obvious. Shell-shock, more subtle, more effective – kills your ambitions. No wounded to carry home. Ugly and in business suits.

David D’Alessandro and Michele Owens in this their third book on corporate goings-on (Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand: 2001 and Career Warfare: 10 Rules For Building A Successful Personal Brand And Fighting To Keep It: 2005, being their earlier acts of bravery) covers the stage when, having risen to a certain level, how the ‘truly ambitious’ can learn to survive there AND move higher. The three books cannot strictly be called a ‘trilogy’ insofar as that term would mean that Executive Warfare is the last of the three. With their ‘war’ mongering tendencies the team will surely find newer battlegrounds…

For the present, however, they work on the premise that as you go higher “there are more and more people standing in your way” and the rules of the game change substantially. While you had a single (however indescribable) boss earlier, you now have several persons to please, involved in an incredibly tricky network.

D’Alessandro and Owens start the analysis of the ‘enemy’ on unlikely aspects of office life: Attitude. Attitude, with Risk and Luck, are said to be the “most influential bosses.” The analysis is an account of everything but. Attitude for instance goes from getting your head into the game, avoiding fear and sloth, greed, arrogance and childish lack of discipline.  Your ability to ‘present well’ comes next followed by mastering the art of ‘learning what nobody else has even considered.’ Hire well, motivate your employees, convince your boss to trust you, bring in truck lads of money and get to a point where people start thinking they cannot afford to lose you. The best part however, is: you will have to not be stupid. The account rambles on for another seven pages till we come to the section on Risk. It all goes to show that just because the section heading says, ‘Attitude’ that is no reason to dwell upon what attitude means.

Subsequent chapters cover the handling of bosses, peers, rivals and your team Interesting areas covered thereafter are “Outsiders with Influence” (Clients, Donors, Vendors) and  “New Bosses” (Journalists, Regulators, Prosecutors, Wall Street Analysts, Boards, Shareholders, Everybody with an Internet Connection).

The book ends on a cryptic, near oracular statement: “… the only way to learn how to lead is to live.” This comes at the end of a short four-page essay on the need to become a ‘Person of Presence’ – which manifests itself in our offering “something substantial and not just self-importance,” being true to yourself, not having your life revolving around your job, keeping your sense of humour, and above all, avoid being isolated by your success.

All told, the book has little to do with warfare; it is rather an urge to excel and win, AND play to win. If you were looking for arms, ammunition, tactical devices to handle your daily skirmishes, you’ve got the wrong book. There’s strategy though: personal, professional excellence. The authors had promised in the introduction that this ‘book will tell you how to lead all your many bosses to the inevitable conclusion that you, and you alone, have what it takes to run the show. Doesn’t quite reach that level. Perhaps all’s fair in books on warfare too.