Managing Through Turbulent Times

Corporate management teams are living through the Chinese curse of 'may you live in interesting times' as they contemplate their exposure both directly and indirectly to the almost unprecedented turbulence in the global markets.

In his first book, turnaround specialist Anthony Holmes explains how to approach management in turbulent operating conditions and what to do if your company encounters distress. It is based around his 7 key rules of crisis management, which are:

1. Obtain multiple opinions in the decision-making process
2. Retain close control over the implementation of policy
3. Reduce time pressure
4. Limit objectives
5. Maintain flexible options
6. Understand the nature and potential behaviour of the adversary
7. Maintain communication

It also looks to illuminate the dark areas that create fear of the unknown and explains how to recognise them, how to mitigate their impact, what is feasible, when to seek help and from whom.

The book draws on case histories of previous crises to extract techniques relevant to today's commercial environment and identify those that may seem logical but should be avoided.

The intention is to prevent management from having to begin at the bottom of the learning curve and try to rediscover under pressure those techniques and processes that have been irrelevant and forgotten in the years since the last systemic crisis.

• Preface
• About the author
• Introduction

1. What do I mean by turbulence?
2. What are the limits to management?
3. Corporate lifespan
4. Psychology of management
5. The six stages of turbulence
6. The effect of turbulence
7. Stories
8. Managers or leaders?
9. Seven principles of crisis management
10. Planning for the present
11. Managing the balance sheet
12. Downsizing
13. Changing the business model
14. Planning for the future
15. The longer view
16. Conclusion

• Appendix: The Turbulence Matrix

Well, what can I say? He describes the changes happening today, claims that everybody else has it wrong, comes with no real own theories, sprouts a lot of obvious stuff…

This is the kind of stuff you need to read at the beginning of an MBA-course. After that, it has very little value. An OK book, bit nothing more.