“In many cities of the country there’s a fear of the streets especially if there’s disorder and things are in disarray. In many organizations there is a fear of management. No small part of this is due to employees not understanding the actions of management… Prevention of disorder and actually fixing things that employees say are wrong goes a very long way in establishing trust and credibility with management.”
- Dr Tom DePaoli, Broken Windows Management in Business
Dr. Tom DePaoli has written no less than eight common sense business books, and I’ve read or reviewed nearly all of them. If you’ve seen references to Common Sense Supply Management, Broken Windows Management in Business, or Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse go by and wondered which one you should read first, Dr. Tom’s latest book will solve your problem for you.
Business Consulting Wows! Desktop Guide to Help Run Your Business is a compilation of the best articles, reviews, excerpts, and blogs about Dr. Tom’s experiences and books. [Full disclosure, some of my reviews and interviews with Dr. Tom are included in this book among a number of others.]
I’ve never opened a book to a message from the author advising me NOT to read his or her book (front to back), but there is a first time for everything. Dr. Tom has organized his chapters by book, so depending on which one title you are most interested in, you’ll know which section of the book to jump to. There is also a full index of articles, organized by title, at the end to ‘flatten’ the content regardless of book.
The title might suggest that this book is for small business owners, but I can attest to the fact that even if you are not ‘running a business’ in the traditional sense, you will benefit from Dr. Tom’s advice about communication, strategy, collaboration, and leadership. And because the work and perspectives of a number of interviewers are included in this book, we get a diverse set of applications for his philosophy about spend management and business relationships.
I’m partial to Dr. Tom’s thoughts on the importance of storytelling in business, so that is where I would advise new readers to start, but that’s me. He also intertwines his thoughts on authenticity and leadership throughout, and both are time-tested. If you are looking for ‘slick’ business bromides or jargon, Dr. Tom is not your guy. If, however, you are looking for strategies and advice that balance the long-term needs of business and people equally, check out any of Dr. Tom’s writing – or check out all of it by buying this book.