cover image How Would Confucius Ask for a Raise?: 100 Enlightened Solutions for Tough Business Problems

How Would Confucius Ask for a Raise?: 100 Enlightened Solutions for Tough Business Problems

Carol Orsborn. William Morrow & Company, $23 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-688-13074-9

Corporate PR exec Orsborn ( Enough Is Enough ) could have written this imaginative Q & A career guide without its pretentious and cumbersome link to the ancient Chinese I Ching --a fortune-telling collection of nature-oriented aphorisms--though at the loss of much earthy good humor. Part one presents ``ten notions'' (e.g., humility, vigilance) that the author extrapolated from I Ching as ``particularly useful'' to her as a business executive. Part two consists of Orsborn's replies to the 100 most frequent questions from audience members at corporate lectures. The author at times espouses unharmonious concepts, renouncing ``paradigms'' of male hierarchy, for example, while accepting as a formula for progress ``an enlightened ruler and an obedient servant.'' There is much food for thought and action here, but the presentation is random, rambling and occasionally startling, as when Orsborn observes, on risk taking, that safety equipment may be the thing that sinks the raft. Fortune Book Club main selection; BOMC, QPB and Executive Book Club alternates; author tour. (May)