The Caterpillar’s Edge: Evolve, Evolve Again, and Thrive in Business

This slim compendium of thoughts on success and leadership from KPMG executive Mohasseb has a message for business-book readers: “You, I, and our companies are caterpillars with the potential to be butterflies.” In this vein, he advises leaders to consistently strive for change and growth. Mohasseb theorizes that businesses are disappearing at an unprecedented rate because businesspeople are addicted to orthodoxies and unwilling to be as agile as they need to be to succeed, and that failures occur when people hew too closely to outdated thinking. To be winners, Mohasseb believes, his readers need to be dynamic and quick-moving. Frequent quotes and lots of graphics space out recurring advice to focus on “aha” moments that will guide a business. The advice is often solid, but it’s standard business practice phrased as innovative insight. For instance, he writes, “Let’s not just ‘compete on analytics.’ Let’s ‘compete on analytically informed and dynamic strategies.’ ” The writing relies too much on the passive voice, and readers will come away feeling that Mohasseb has not yet written the thorough summation of his insights into business. (Feb.)