1999 Book Reviews
tal activities. They also present a step-by-step
process for starting a virtual team, including
suggestions on how to obtain sponsors, charter
the team, conduct team orientation meetings, fa-
cilitate team building with different cultural
groups, develop team norms, use technology,
and plan communications.
Other topics discussed in the book include the
ways in which culture affects the performance of
virtual teams, how to build trust in a virtual team
environment, team development and team dy-
namics, and how to work and lead in adaptive
and unpredictable situations. With regard to cul-
ture, the authors note that "training about na-
tional, organizational, and functional cultures is
a useful component of team orientation, no mat-
ter how experienced the team members." They
suggest topics for cultural training and present
guidelines for using cultural differences to the
best advantage. To create and maintain trust
they present a trust-building exercise, a trust log,
and a trust audit. They also recommend strate-
gies for tracking and diagnosing a virtual team's
effectiveness, and provide intervention strate-
gies for dealing with typical problems of virtual
teams. Finally, they note that most virtual teams
must work in adaptive environments that do not
follow rational, structured rules. Adaptive work
consists of situations in which a team has not yet
developed satisfactory responses to the problem
it faces. For successful completion of adaptive
work, the authors recommend looking at what is
happening from an overall point of view, identi-
fying the adaptive challenge to see if there is a
precedent for it and encouraging leadership and
robust communication by all members.
Mastering Virtual Teams contains numerous
guidelines, checklists, assessment tools, and de-
velopmental activities that can be easily applied
to any virtual team situation. It translates an
extensive body of academic and applied work in
the areas of information technology and team-
work into a format that is easy to understand.
The book also presents a series of vignettes with
Sara, a virtual team leader, as the main charac-
ter. These vignettes, which are based on the au-
thors' experience and research on real virtual
teams, help bring the book to life. Mastering Vir-
tual Teams would be most useful for those who
have to work in or lead a virtual team. However,
given the extensive theoretical and conceptual
information provided about working at different
times and places, academics should also find the
book of interest.
119
The New Global Leaders: Richard
Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon
and the Remaking of International
Business
THE NEW
GLOBAL
LE ADE RS By Manfred F. R. Kets
de Vries with Elizabeth
Florent-Treacy. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-
I RICHARD BRANSON*
PERCY BARNFVIK hardcover, $28.50
DAVID SIMON
MANFHEU R R. KETS DB VRIES
WITH ELIZABETH FLORENT-TREACY
Reviewed by Jeffrey P. Katz, Kansas State University
Love, fun, and meaning. These are certainly im-
portant concepts to each of us personally. But are
they important to the success of high performance
global organizations? In The New Global Leaders,
Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries and Elizabeth Florent-
Treacy suggest that love, fun, and meaning are key
metavalues found in outstanding firms shaped by
the new global leaders. In this entertaining and
thought-provoking book, the authors blend fasci-
nating stories about three highly successful Euro-
pean CEOs—Richard Branson of Virgin Group,
Percy Barnevik of ASEA, and David Simon of Brit-
ish Petroleum—with a set of underlying themes to
present one of the richest descriptions of leader-
ship in a global context to come along in quite a
while. They deftly employ observations of CEO
leadership styles based on their leadership devel-
opment work at INSEAD, the large international
business school located in Fontainebleau, France.
They also use their backgrounds in economics,
management, and psychoanalysis to present a
framework for understanding why these three
global firms have been so successful and what
roles their leaders played in that success.
According to the authors, the new global leader
must behave differently from yesterday's success-
ful CEO because the firm and its environment have
changed so much. The traditional functional orga-
nizational structures have become obsolete, and
the new global corporation is characterized by a
flat organizational structure and a set of boundary-
less information networks. The new global firm
employs a process orientation that adapts easily to
120 Academy of Management Executive
rapid technological change and is increasingly
driven by the customer's expanding expectations
for service. The new global leaders operate in a
high-level, culturally-diverse management envi-
ronment where knowledge is the firm's most criti-
cal factor for competitive success. According to the
authors, new global leaders "know how to create
enthusiasm and commitment that inspire others.
We see leaders who, recognizing the importance of
their roles as change-agents, cheerleader, coach,
teacher, mentor, and integrator, change the way
their people work by helping them change their
attitude toward work."
The authors' case study format helps us visual-
ize the multitude of forces that played a role in
forming the approach used by each CEO, and how
the values instilled in their companies form the
basic practices of the new vanguard companies
operating in a global marketplace. Each case
study provides a number of important clues about
the firm's unique competitive advantage, as well
as the organizational factors each leader uses to
strengthen his company's competitive edge. Ac-
cording to the authors, "In general, the most suc-
cessful leaders simultaneously play two roles, one
charismatic, the other more architectural. The first
involves how leaders envision, empower, and en-
ergize to inspire and motivate their followers. The
second involves strategies to improve organiza-
tional design and to control and reward employee
behavior appropriately The three leaders pro-
filed here instill in their organizations the premise
that change is a given. They lay the groundwork
for continuous change, so no one is caught un-
aware or unprepared." Each case emphasizes a
different focal point of successful leadership.
Richard Branson founded the Virgin Group of
airlines, music, and publishing businesses as part
of a saga of entrepreneurship that began in his
teens. His venture into publishing when he was
still in school mushroomed into one of the largest
business empires in the world. Branson is an ex-
ample of the explorer who takes people on adven-
tures. He relies on the creative talents of individual
employees as the basis of Virgin's competitive ad-
vantage. He is an entrepreneur having fun.
Percy Barnevik is responsible for designing one
of the first truly transnational firms. As CEO of
ASEA, a Swedish engineering firm, he led the com-
bination with Brown Boveri, a Swiss competitor.
The authors label Barnevik an integrator because
of his ability to combine two firms with signifi-
cantly different corporate and national cultures.
His leadership strengths in organizing a decentral-
ized firm that prides itself on speed and action
orientation are the basis for ABB's global success.
August
According to the authors, "Barnevik also seems to
be endowed with remarkable drive and energy. If
there is such a thing as the hardy personality, he
certainly fits the description." The role of the inte-
grator is one of developing a shared vision and a
decentralized organizational structure where
meeting customer needs, cooperating, and taking
action form the corporate culture. ABB's competi-
tive edge comes from "a global organization with
deep local roots."
David Simon and British Petroleum provide an
excellent case study of comparative leadership.
The authors weave an especially interesting story
contrasting the leadership styles of Robert Horton,
the previous CEO of British Petroleum, and Simon,
whom the authors label the transformer. Although
he cut the size of the firm, Simon is well-liked by
his employees for creating a distinctive organiza-
tion that is intent on fostering creativity and learn-
ing and sharing knowledge.
The authors close The New Global Leaders with
a well-written summary about the common prac-
tices of vanguard companies. They observe: "Deal-
ing with the ambiguities that the new change-
oriented, boundaryless organization creates is a
major challenge—one that leaders clinging to past
ways are not equal to. Many organizational lead-
ers, trained in a bureaucracy that is no longer
relevant, are deficient in nurturing the creative
potential of their people." Thus, the key factor in
making these new global leaders successful is the
ability to develop and express a clear vision of
where they want to go and how to get there.
The authors identify four metavalues employed
by the successful global leader: sustained leader-
ship, boundaryless structure, flexible strategy, and
a cohesive corporate culture. When workers are
asked to describe their work environment in the
context of these four metavalues, they talk in terms
of love, fun, and meaning. For anyone interested in
bringing more fun, love, and meaning into their
professional lives, reading The New Global Lead-
ers would be an excellent place to start.
The Limits of Privacy
Reviewed by Cliii Cheng, University of Southern
California
Privacy is an issue of increasing concern to in-
dividuals, businesses, and society. There is a ten-
dency to think of the government as the main in-
truder on privacy. However, in The Limits of
Privacy, eminent George Washington University
sociologist Amitai Etzioni argues: "The main dan-