Learning from the Links: Mastering Management Using Lessons from Golf [Hardcover]

David Hurst (Author)

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Product details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Free Press (21 Oct 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0684865017
ISBN-13: 978-0684865010
Product Dimensions: 24.3 x 16.4 x 2.8 cm
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,721,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

A leading consultant, speaker and strategist examines the parallels between business and golf, and explains how the same learning techniques can dramatically improve your skills in both. For the first time, a business manager and consultant has formally drawn the metaphor that anyone who has ever hit the links knows: that business is like a game of golf. In golf, a player can't just hit and hope - he or she must think ahead continuously, contemplate multiple scenarios and consider the downside of every decision. Yet, as every player also knows, there is a huge, largely unacknowledged difference between knowing what to do in a given situation and knowing how to do it. Both on the green and in the office, it is this constant obstacle which keeps people from achieving their goals and solving their problems. By examining golfer's and managers' struggle for improvement, David Hurst shows us why complex systems are so hard to change, and how to set about changing them, systematically. Using the latest thinking from fields and anthropology, Hurst's primary purpose is to help his readers coordinate their own experience, to help them learn more effectively.

About the Author

David K. Hurst is a speaker, consultant, and writer on management, with extensive experience both as an effective manager and educator. He has worked with numerous educational institutions. He is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Western Ontario's National Centre for Management Research and Development. Hurst was born in England but grew up in South Africa.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

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Is there a connection between athletic skill and management ability? Read the first page

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Amazon.com: 1 review

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5 under par 19 Jun 2002

By Roderick White - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Hardcover

What do golf and management have in common? David Hurst in his latest book identifies the similarities between these 2 complex dynamic systems. Those who have read Hurst first book, Crisis & Renewal, will detect a common theme. That book described the parallels between the life cycles of natural ecosystems and those of organizations. Both books make systems thinking accessible to managers by employing analogues: ecology in the first book and golf in this latest effort. Since more managers are golfers than amateur ecologists Learning from the Links will no doubt have a broader appeal.

Hurst mission is to make complex systems theory (a close relative of chaos theory) accessible to managers; accessible in ways that affect their thinking and their actions. This is no small task. One can easily fall into the trap of being overly theoretical and academic, or going to the other extreme and dumbing-down the theory so much that its insights and relevance are lost. Hurst does neither. He uses the golf analogy to very effectively draw out actionable insights from complex systems theory for managers. Stories relating the experiences of golfers and managers are used to illustrate the points, but the book is not a series of anecdotes. The stories are artfully crafted to convey the messages in the underlying theory while at the same time making the book an enjoyable read.

Should managers who are not golfers read this book? Being an unaccomplished golfer I think not. The golf analogy is a core element and allows the reader to related, at a visceral level, to the messages in the book. The possible exception would be prospective readers who are not golfers but have an abiding interest in systems theory. Those looking for simplistic solutions to complex problems will not find them in this book. It is for the serious reader who wants a richer appreciation of the systemic relationships that result in exceptional performance, both on the golf course and in business.

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