Robert W. Keidel is Clinical Professor of Management at the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University. He also is principal of Robert Keidel Associates, a consulting firm based in Philadelphia. A former corporate manager and Naval officer (Vietnam veteran), he was a senior fellow at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a program consultant at the National Center for Productivity and Quality of Working Life.

Keidel's articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Management Science, and several other academic and practitioner-oriented journals. He is the author of three previous books: Game Plans: Sports Strategies for Business (Dutton, 1985; Berkley, 1986; Beard Books, 2006); Corporate Players: Designs for Working and Winning Together (Wiley, 1988; Beard Books, 2005); and Seeing Organizational Patterns: A New Theory and Language of Organizational Design (Berrett-Koehler, 1995; Beard Books, 2005), which was nominated for the Academy of Management's 1996 George R. Terry Book Award.

Keidel received his BA from Williams College, and his MBA and PhD (Social Systems Sciences) from Wharton.

Preface

1. Decoding Complexity by Isolating Form

2. Point Thinking & Organizational Persona

3. Linear Thinking & Organizational Performance

4. Angular Thinking & Organizational Puzzle

5. Triangular Thinking & Organizational Pattern

6. Strategic Scaffolding: How to Develop a Systematic Organizational Narrative

7. Geometric Scanning: How to Speed-Read the Business Management Literature

8. Adding Perspective

Appendix A: Competing in the Retail Food Game

Appendix B: Aspects of Organizational Design