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Your Company Sucks

It's Time To Declare War on Yourself
by Mark Stevens
Your Company Sucks: It's Time To Declare War on Yourself. BenBella. Aug. 2011. c.208p. illus. ISBN 9781935618546. pap. $14.95. BUS
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CEO of MSCO, Inc., a marketing services company, Stevens offers a rehash of ho-hum marketing and business suggestions in this short treatise on understanding the failures of your company and reinvigorating your business. He cites four main reasons businesses fail (ineffective leadership; "lust-to-lax syndrome," or hot and cold customer treatment; incompetence; and conventional thinking) and illustrates them with examples before making his recommendations. For someone who states that business leaders should avoid conventional thinking patterns, his suggestions are conventional in the extreme: "declare war on complacency" (war metaphors pop up throughout) by not promoting through tenure alone; make an "action plan" for change; "thrill" your current customers with little unexpected extras. The book is not particularly well organized, although it is a fast and simple read.
VERDICT Stevens's previous Your Marketing Sucks was a Business Week best seller, and he writes the business blog Unconventional Thinking (www.msco.com/blog), so some readers may seek out this title; however, other authors, e.g., Seth Godin, have more notoriety and cover much the same territory. For readers looking for basic ideas without a big-time investment, this might be an acceptable title.
Reviewed by Sarah Statz Cords, The Reader's Advisor Online , Aug 01, 2011
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