The System is a truly original business book. Neither a traditional corporate novel nor one of the light-on-plot management fables currently all the rage, it mixes the soul of the first with the heart of the second to create an engaging tale that pointedly champions a series of practical principles. Its story begins on a Caribbean scuba-diving expedition when Tim Hunt and David Atkinson come close to death after being surreptitiously given contaminated air tanks. To trap the would-be assassin, and simultaneously save Atkinson's Boston-based company from what appears to be a related hostile takeover, the two team up to allow successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur Hunt to incorporate his personal fundamentals--dubbed Focus, Fortify, and Foster Futurity--into the old family-controlled firm. At various junctures they are developed in the context of Atkinson's business, while the story additionally focuses on ancillary topics such as ethics, infighting, and the various possibilities technology can bring to even old-line industries like temporary staffing. The writing is a bit clunky at times and occasionally given to clichés, but Waghorn and Blanchard have nonetheless produced a readable tome packed with advice worthy of consideration by today's business leaders. --Howard RothmanIn the tradition of best sellers such as The Goal and Fish, The System delivers not only a great read but also powerful and inspiring ideas that will help you and your business thrive in a world of intense competition.

Set in the high-stakes world of global business, The System is a fast-paced thriller that takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of cutting-edge business developments, corporate espionage, and ruthless takeovers, where the last man standing may just be the one to get away with murder.

Tim Hunt and David Atkinson are on the brink of a business breakthrough that promises to save David's lumbering old-economy behemoth, Quenetics-and put the company way ahead of its competitors by applying Tim's revolutionary (and top-secret) intelligent agent technology. But as rumors of their "killer app" begin to spread, they become the target of a cunning rival, who will stop at nothing to thwart their plans. As the pressure mounts to fend off an impending shareholder mutiny, Tim and David wonder who is behind the sinister plot that threatens much more than the business.

As entertaining as it is informative, this page-turner delivers a powerful new approach to achieving-and sustaining-market domination in a world full of surprise, threat, and mystery.