Revved!
Authors Harry Paul and
Ross Reck
Price £8.99
From McGraw-Hill
ISBN 0071465006
In April’s issue of Training and Coaching Today, I had an uncharacteristic Damascene moment. A book, Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, dispelled my cynicism about business parables and fables.
Fear not: it was a temporary conversion and I am a doubter once more thanks to Revved!, a book on workplace dynamics.
Readers are expected to swallow the tale of world-weary divorcee Katie, who, in the course of the book, is transformed from an uninspired manager into enthusiastic leader.
The three-part strategy is memorable enough. It is called winning them over, blowing them away and keeping them revved. But it is told through a patronising tale that sees Katie take advice on “getting revved” from a radio phone-in therapist. She uses this to win over her team. And, dear reader, she marries him.
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If readers don’t choke on the story, they will surely gag on the platitudes scattered throughout the book.
Motivational advice such as: “Each and every one of us absolutely loves to be appreciated for who we are” is reminiscent of the morality found on fridge magnets, and not in a business book.
Useful? two out of five
Well-written? two out of five
Value for money? two out of five
