Features

Departments

Windfall Economics
By Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove
When an unexpected success falls into your lap, do you know how to handle it? Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury offers a few lessons.

When Is an Organization Too Flat?
By Brian Dive
Companies that try to smash hierarchies often end up smashing valuable layers of accountability as well. Here are a few indications that your company might be anorexic instead of lean.

The Right Fit
By Betsy Atkins
Finding the best possible addition to your company's board of directors is a long, hard haul-but it's worth it in the long run.

Understanding Failure
By A.J. Vogl
They had the resources. They had the expertise. So what went wrong? The authors of two new books help explain why smart people do stupid things.

What Is HR Good For, Anyway?
By Michael O'Malley
Proponents of HR often cite metrics as the way to be taken seriously by everyone else at the table. But focusing on metrics overlooks HR's most important contribution.

Where Time Goes
By Jonathan Rowe
As the market takes more of our time-producing, selling, consuming-we lose valuable hours from places that really count.

Are You Serious About Ethics?
By Patrick J. Gnazzo and George R. Wratney
It's all very well for an ethics officer to promise as much confidentiality as possible. But only an ombudsman can guarantee secrecy.

Your Turn

Openers
By A.J. Vogl

Press Box
By Ellsworth Quarrels
The business press jumps on the my-country-right-or wrong bandwagon.

From the Board
By Vadim Liberman
Amatai Etzioni explains why "ethics is good business" is not good for ethics.

In Review
By Susan Webber
Niall Ferguson addresses the history of the British empire without drawing the obvious parallel to the United States' imperial ambitions.
By Michael Finley
There are people who matter and people who don't. Robert W. Fuller thinks this isn't right.

Sightings
By Melissa Master
Eyes on the Media.

Soundings

Dollar Diplomacy
By Rob Laymon

The "Added-Value" Banana
By Mark Earls

How Markets Are Like Football
By John McMillan

The Return of the Ugly American
By Frank Vogl

Questioning Authority: Kevin O'Connor
By Matthew Budman

And more, from Dashiell Hammett, Carl Elliott, Michael Moore, R. Preston McAfee, and James F. Haggerty.