Barbarians to Bureaucrats: Corporate Life Cycle Strategies

Management consultant Lawrence M. Miller argues that companies, like civilizations, pass through a natural life cycle, each stage shaped by a type of leader: the Prophet, the Barbarian, the Builder and Explorer, the Administrator, the Bureaucrat and the Aristocrat. By recognizing which stage a company is in, leaders can stop its slide into stifling bureaucracy. Miller presents the Synergist, a leader who balances creativity with order, as the key to restoring vitality.