Various "lessons" to be learned from "the technology frontier" are carefully organized and then developed. In Chapter 1, for example, Goman lists what she calls "The Eight Commandments of High-Tech Culture": 1. Egalitarianism, 2. Freedom, 3. Informality, 4. Trust, 5. Responsibility, 6. Teamwork, 7. High Performance, and 8. Fun. The challenge is to optimize all eight in the most appropriate balance. She concludes the chapter with the first of several lists of Lessons" which will inform efforts to meet that challenge.
For me, one of the most valuable chapters is Chapter 6: "Thriving on Change, Complexity, and Chaos." In it, Goman analyzes how and why several companies have succeeded amidst the "extreme volatility" of continuous restructuring by accepting "constant adaptation to new situations as a fundamental of survival and prosperity." At the end of this chapter, Goman provides another series of "Lessons" which are eminently sensible.
Goman agrees with Debra Engel (former head of HR at 3Com) that it took four hundred years for business organizations to operate successfully in the Industrial Age. "We are only beginning to understand how to operate in the "Information Age." In essence, that is the challenge which Goman's brilliant book addresses with eloquence as well as insight. I agree with her that "organizations don't change. People do -- or they don't." If all this seems relevant to you, I urge you to buy this book, read it carefully, and then review (at least every month or two) the various lists of "Lessons." If you are determined to be a change agent in your own organization and it refuses to support your efforts, I presume to suggest that you find another which will.