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This management thinker and author writes that the central challenge in the Western world now is not to make existing organizations more efficient and allocate resources; that struggle has moved to the East. The main challenge in the West is for it to reinvent its economies, innovate, and create wealth. Leaders will learn which tactics and tools they can use to achieve these extremely important goals. The author discusses the tools of power, management, leadership, and culture.

Four managers of Hugh Russel, Inc. had to change their management style when the company was acquired by a corporation that had no plan and no money on the eve of a major recession. To deal with the new, unsettled environment in which creditors were banging on the door and plants had to be closed, the managers had to develop a "soft", intuitive framework that offers a counterpart to every element in their traditional "hard", rational model. The executives found that the key to effective management is knowing whether you are in hard "box" or a soft "bubble" context. The soft model is conducive to trust, which generates a sense of mission or common purpose. Once the mission is established, the managing group can enter the hard box of strategy.