Review
"…very amusing and painfully honest look at the foibles and failures of business today…" (Business Executive, April 2003)
"…This is a really interesting and entertaining book…" (Marketing, 5 June 2003)
Product Description
Through a series of droll vignettes, Gibbons takes us on a romp-roaring ride through the next 999 years of corporate mayhem and madness - bad behaviours which affect everyone - from the street sweeper to the CEO in his private jet. Because we're not talking about little blips on a profit and loss statement in a poxy sector of some niche industry.
Business has far more an impact on our daily lives than government or politics. About half of the world's biggest economies are now corporations. From Enron's attempt to bring back the eighties with their excessive greed to Vodafone's loosing millions (that didn't actually exist in the first place) - Gibbons rips into the antics of these once trusted companies. So is it all doom and gloom? Are we destined for failure because of the frolicking these companies get up to - at our expense!? Are there any lessons or optimistic quick turn-around plans of action that Gibbons can share with us? Not really. But Warning: May Contain Nuts makes for some highly entertaining reading. And for the clever among us the lessons are implied. Just don't be daft.
Book Info
From the Inside Flap
In Warning: May Contain Nuts we are once again pleasantly immersed in the world which is Barry Gibbons. Following on from his best selling Dream Merchants and Howboys, Barry Gibbons, former CEO of Burger King and iconoclast, gives a hilarious and insightful account of how and why businesses get it wrong!
Gibbons takes us on a romp-roaring ride through the next 999 years of corporate mayhem and madness - from the street sweeper to the CEO in his private jet. Because we're not talking about little blips on a profit and loss statement in a poxy sector or some niche industry. Companies can have far more an impact on our daily lives than government or politics. About half of the world's biggest economies are now corporations. From the corporate suicide bombings of the likes of WorldCom and Marconi to business SMEFs (Spontaneous Mass Existence Failures) such as Enron - Gibbons rips into the antics of these once trusted companies.
In a series of 50 droll vignettes, which are the business equivalent of ?sop meeting Billy Connolly meeting Peter Drucker, you will discover:
* the direct descendents of Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great and Alfred the Great. They are called Alexander the Mediocre, Fred the Saddo and Alfred the Cheating Bastard. Find out where they work.
* the lengths you may have to go to if you want to avoid staying in a MacDonald's hotel.
* why 'Ireland' should be taught in Business Schools.
* How GWMs (Girls Who Might) created modern PR.
* How to join S.E.A.L (Senior Executives Against Limos).
So is it all doom and gloom? Are we destined for failure because of the frolicking these companies get up to - at our expense!? Are there any lessons or optimistic quick turn-around plans of action that Gibbons can share with us? Not really. But Warning: May Contain Nuts makes for some highly entertaining reading. And for the clever among us the lessons are implied. Just don't be daft.
From the Back Cover
Dream Merchants & Howboys:
"Highly amusing and painfully honest" -Sunday Business
"... the book cannot fail to stimulate and educate..." -Marketing Business
"If Bill Bryson came up with a business Bible, this would be it" -Brand Strategy
"Total bollocks" -Jon and Ben Gibbons (sons 1 & 2)
"Keeps you hooked with his humour and wit, but never straying from the point of it all" -Soul Power Book List
"...13 great stories, well told and fun to read. He brings a badly needed rainbow to the business sector..." -Sunday Business Post
If You Want To Make God Really Laugh, Show Him Your Business Plan:
'Barry, you are a madman. OK Visionary' -Tom Peters
Chronicles From Planet Business:
'The funniest serious business tome I have read for a while' -Future Filter
About the Author
He has since written several million (it seems) journalistic pieces and five business books, including If You Want to Make God Really Laugh, Show Him Your Business Plan, Chronicles From the Planet Business and Dream Merchants and Howboys. He is much in demand as the Stella Artois ('Reassuringly Expensive') of the international business speaking circuit.
He remains fascinated by brands and branding. On leaving his position as the Anna Kournikova of CEOs, he addressed his last business ambition - to create, from scratch, overnight, a world-wide consumer brand. His chosen field is gourmet organic coffee. His plan is alive and well, but 1648 overnights behind schedule.