Recommended by Bill

the logic of failure: recognizing and avoiding error in complex situations by dietrich dörner

This book is another find from the Business and Management section of the used bookstore. Anytime I’m considering purchasing a book, I open the book to a random page and begin reading. If it grabs me, I buy the book. Here is the passage that got me to buy this book:

"In very complex and quickly changing situations the most reasonable strategy is to plan only in rough outline and to delegate as many decisions as possible to subordinates. These subordinates will need considerable independence and a thorough understanding of the overall plan. Such strategies require a ‘redundancy of potential command,’ that is, many individuals who are all capable of carrying out leadership tasks within the context of the general directives."

If that wasn’t written for the fire service, I don’t know what is. There is a section in the book that gets pretty technical with graphs and a discussion of the AIDS epidemic (the book was written in 1989), but don’t let that discourage you.

My gauge for any book is how much I have highlighted at the end. There is a whole bunch of orange highlight in my copy of this book.

Recommended for Officers