The Case for Wasting Time and Other Management Heresies

Understanding the basic tenets of management is certainly important, but following the conventional wisdom-such as not "wasting time"-is not necessarily the key to solving problems or achieving personal success. Providing advice that goes against that conventional wisdom is exactly what this book is about, whether it concerns how to get things done as you move up in a company or how to develop relationships and support both inside and outside an organization. In fact, not only is the advice unconventional-and in many cases heretical-so too are the subjects covered. For example, the importance of validating assumptions is not something you are likely to read about in most business books. But as Howard Pines explains, if you don't, you are likely to make both embarrassing and sometimes costly errors. Similarly, while there are many books that will tell you how to get a job, there are virtually no others that explain how to determine the best time and way to leave a job and/or a business. In addition, even when discussing aspects of business that are covered in other books, such as negotiating or dealing with change, the author enables you to see those subjects in a way that is both different and helpful. "Wasting Time" does not, however, provide simple answers. Rather, based on the author's fifty years of hands-on experience as a human resources executive, successful HR consultant, and business owner, the book shows how even issues that appear to be straightforward may, in reality, provide interesting dilemmas that require creative thinking and non-traditional approaches if you want to achieve the best solution!