Up the Organization

ROBERT TOWNSEND

Reviewed by Jack

The late sixties was one of the more intense periods of societal change in our country. Huge public demonstrations for equal rights and against the Vietnam War commingled dynamically with some of the most exciting creations in the arts. But the world of business was still stuck in the “gray flannel suit” era of the fifties. On the horizon, however, were some glimmers of change. Robert Townsend wrote this revolutionary book, Up the Organization, in 1970, which, along with The Peter Principle in 1972, showed people that business books didn’t have to be academic to teach and motivate. Instead, even serious business books could be short, irreverent, and fun to read.

Robert Townsend took a small car rental company and created Avis Rent A Car, famous for its slogan, “We try harder.” Townsend’s approach to his own business was to concentrate on innovation, abolish hierarchy, and encourage decision making from all employees up and down the line. Up the Organization came ten years before In Search of Excellence, which is often regarded as the first book to break through a more regimented approach to management, but this book shows that Townsend had already put humanistic management to work.

A relatively young executive at fifty when he wrote this book, Townsend’s youthful energy is evident in every word. Some chapters are as short as one paragraph, and all are in alphabetical order with simple chapter headings like: Budgets, Decisions, and No-No’s. These titles may appear pedestrian, but the effectiveness of the book is a direct result of this straightforward, commonsense handling of critical business advice. Consider Up the Organization an alphabetical primer summarizing the basics of running a business.

These selections from the short chapters show a precision of thought and strategy that cannot be disregarded despite their simplicity:

Reorganizing: Should be undergone about as often as major surgery. And should be as well planned and as swiftly executed.

Thanks: A really neglected form of compensation.

Titles Are Handy Tools: There is a trade-off here. In one way, titles are a form of psychic compensation, and if too many titles are distributed, the currency is depreciated. But a title is also a tool. If our salesman is a vice president and yours is a sales rep, and both are in a waiting room, guess who gets in first and gets the most attention.

There are many editions of Up the Organization, but in 2007 the book was reissued as part of the Warren Bennis series by Jossey-Bass. I chose to review that edition because there are numerous add-ins that make it even more satisfying than the original, including essays by Townsend’s original editor from Alfred A. Knopf, Robert Gottlieb, and other leadership heavyweights, a transcript from a Townsend speech, and a story from Warren Bennis about meeting Townsend. The publisher also omitted Townsend’s “Guerrilla Guide for Working Women,” from the 1971 edition. There are still outmoded references to the girls in the steno pool and a chapter on mistresses that is certainly antiquated, but the value to be found in Townsend’s book is still high, and I hope that new readers don’t throw the baby out with the obviously unenlightened bathwater.

When we go back to the masters, we have the opportunity to see where contemporary thought originates. Without Up the Organization, books like Swim with the Sharks would be different, less relatable, and, I am sure, much less fun to read. JC

Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits, Commemorative Edition, Hardcover 2007, ISBN 9780787987756

WHERE TO NEXT? Here for surviving and thriving in the corporate world Here for the inner workings of a large organization | EVEN MORE: The Peter Principle by Dr. Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull; The No Asshole Rule by Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D.; The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker