The Reality Test: Still Relying on Strategy? - Softcover

Robert Rowland Smith was for seven years a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He now advises blue-chip companies, teaches at London's School of Life, and writes, among other things, a column on 'life lessons' in the Evening Standard and a regular column in the Sunday Times. He contributes to the Philosophy Bites podcast series and speaks regularly on BBC radio. His books Breakfast with Socrates and Driving with Plato have been widely translated.

By approaching the perennial problems of business through a highly original set of emotionally-charged questions, Smith brings an extraordinary array of insights to the challenges of management and leadership. Brilliant - a tour de force. -- Jules Goddard, author of 'Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense' Practical, wise and very much based in reality, this book will make anyone running a business a more shrewd, and probably a more successful, leader. -- Andrew Cahn, former CEO of UK Trade and Investment I regard Robert Rowland Smith as simply the most intelligent person I know. After reading this book you will understand why. -- Guy Fraser-Sampson, Senior Fellow, Cass Business School The Reality Test cuts through turgid corporate "leadership speak" to get the heart of the matter - it should be required reading for any aspiring leader. If 'Fred the Shred' of HBOS had taken the Reality Test, perhaps we wouldn't be living through the biggest recession since the 1930s. -- Lord Victor O. Adebowale CBE, CEO of Turning Point Robert Rowland Smith asks the practical questions that really matter to business leaders - this book will do more than make you think, it will make you do something -- Matt Kingdon, co-founder of ?What If! and author of The Science of Serendipity Intriguing...thought-provoking -- Frank Dillon * Irish Times * Praise for Driving with Plato: 'This is a fascinating and deeply impressive book * Daily Mail * Witty, inventive and intelligent * THES * Smith has the suave wit of the professional intellectual. * The Financial Times * Not only will this book entertain you, educate you and amuse you, it may very well help you stay younger * Bookbag *