This book is part of the Harvard Business School Press's "Results-Driven Manager" series. So this is otensibly high powered advice aimed at "C-Level" executives and those who aspire to C-Level status. The actual content of the book is simple, verging on simplistic. This is an anthology of short, generally breezy articles from recent HBS newsletters giving advice so basic you wonder how the readers got to be where they are without knowing this stuff.

The main point of this book is that a company can't be successful unless workers are actually rewarded for doing their jobs competently (or better.) It is a sad commentary on the state of Corporate America that this point even needs to be made. Another strangely obvious revelation in this book is that workers are more productive when management makes sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs.

In any case, this is (for the most part) a readable book, just the right size and length to read on your next plane flight. The advice given by the various writers, simplistic though it is, is certainly not worthless.

Fifty Lessons is a media company; the content it creates is currently available as a series of filmed interviews online, on DVD, in books and on the in-flight TV channels of selected airlines. The growing Fifty Lessons digital library already holds more than 500 individual lessons from over 100 high profile international business leaders. Experienced and respected leaders from industry, the public sector and academia are invited to contribute their most important lessons. The lessons are then fully indexed enabling Fifty Lessons to match its content directly to the strategic business learning objectives of its clients which include corporations, public sector organisations and educators.