What Works: Success in Stressful Times [Paperback]

Few books expand your horizons by bringing you many small examples and letting you string them together for yourself. Most books try to drive deep and hammer home a theory or view using examples to prove that the author is right. This often leaves the reader tired and beaten with a narrower view of the world and ideas about what works.

Hamish McRae's What Works: success in stressful times is a welcome and rare change. Think of this book as a broader view on In Search of Excellence as the book contains 20 examples of success taken from around the world. The examples range from the slums of Mumbai to the hallowed halls of Harvard. I recommend this book for people who think about success as more than the bottom line and want to bring in new ideas from outside their normal horizons.

As a boundary-spanning book, What Works provides clear, succinct and interesting stories about success - as measured by being effective rather than just the most profitable or `best'. The author admits to limitations in keeping the number of things to just 20 and there are a few other things that were left off this list. But, no one is perfect.

Strengths

* The book is boundary spanning in a way that invites rather to think beyond their company, country, industry of business. Each of the sections is clearly structured and make for easy reading. A tough feat given that range of stories McCrea has to tell.

* The explanations are tailored enough to give the reader a real understanding of what is unique about each one. For example the discussion of Germany's Mittlestand was very interesting for an American who was not fully aware of that aspect of the German economy.

* The book is decidedly non-judgmental. McCrea attempts to present the facts and tell a story leaving much for the reader to decide and argue about. It is hard not to express your views on some of the subjects, but it is harder to let the reader make up their own mind.

* McCrea was able to provide some coverage and analysis based on the 2009 recession something that is hard to do given that most of the book must have been completed before the crisis hit.

Challenges

* The impact of the economic crisis has clearly compromised a view on `what works' for many of his examples from Ireland, to the City of London, property development in Dubai among others have all been rocked to their foundation. McCrea tries to take the recession and the global financial crisis into account, but he often misses the mark by being more apologetic and saying that their fundamentals have not changed. It is not the end of the world, but you read these chapters with a bit of a snicker.

* The pattern of story, what are the lessons and what can go wrong gets a little repetitive and it can be difficult to hold the readers attention. I put the book down several times for this reason. Good news was that I was readily able to pick it up and jump right back in.

* Some of the stories are light on analysis, while others provide deeper insight. That is to be expected when covering such a broad range of subjects, but it is a weakness.

* McCrea's research base is more anecdotal than analytical. He forms opinions and presents information that is often drawn from an afternoon talking to local experts or a few days spent with friends. This gives the book its travelogue feel that is a plus, but reduces its value as a reference. That is ok, the book is intended to extend your horizons, introducing you to new ideas and thoughts rather than instructing you on the details.

This is a good book, one that I am better from having read as it shakes you out of a pattern that says success is defined one way or that only companies can be successful. Creating something a broad, as fresh and as comprehensive as What Works is hard and I believe this book does a great job - recommended to anyone who wants to look beyond their backyard to see other ideas of success.