It has been long since the last time I read such a captivating book. I have always been interested in management, but a story with the likes of an adventure book seems to be just the thing I have been waiting for! It honestly has made me get back the faith in non-practical books. I do not intend to discredit its message and lessons about being a manager, how dealing with people is the essence of a good company, etc. But being straight: it requires you to stretch your imagination just a little bit to believe that a billionaire just buys a country and gives a blank check to a kidnapped manager from who knows where just because he emphasizes the importance of people in business and walks out of a conference («Wow, so managing!»). Where I am going with this is mostly that I am impatient to see what the results of these experiments they are bulding up to may bring and whether or not they are based on real life managerial experiments or they are just a hoax.
Other detail that keeps making me see this as an epic adventure book is how we have the characters presented chapter after chapter. In this case, I am talking about General Markov and his not-so-subtle bad guy golden tooth. Get real, a former army general who, rather than kick it in the Caribbean with his millions and forget life, simply decides to stay working for the new leader? He is holding a sign and a loudspeaker shouting: «BAD GUY HERE! IMMA MOLOTOV YOUR ENTERPRISE AND TAKE OVER». Although, you could argue that Belinda does not flinch when they decide to keep him in the payroll, and she is presumably an expert at reading people with a glance, so who knows. He could just be another cartoonish character in this story that takes itself just serious enough not to bore us, so no biggie there.
I am just awaiting for any sign that this story will take a dark turn and present us the ugly side of being a manager, since it is already making a great effort to show us the pretty. Yes, we see our main character stressed and moving around with this or that, but up until this point he has practically received everything on a silver platter while he barks orders, so I would enjoy seeing him sweat just a little. I want to see the author squeeze the last drop of effort he can do to maintain this company at the top. He is the main character after all, it is about time he inspires us with some tremendouse managerial-feat.
Coder Bebop 