James Adonis, Wylie/Jossey Bass

Forget boring, dry, business books filled with the same old clich̩s РJames Adonis believes honesty is the best policy when it comes to business writing.

He raised many an eyebrow earlier this year when declaring his homosexuality in the opening sentence of his business book, Corporate Punishment: Smashing the management clichés for leaders in a new world. ‘I was bullied throughout high school for being gay,’ reads the first line and many other frank and open references follow, seasoning what is essentially a manual for progressive management skills.

As a leading international expert on employee engagement, Adonis has read many business books over the years and says he became increasingly frustrated by their repetitious nature and the superior and condescending tone of their authors.

‘I think if you know that someone is being authentic you’re more likely to take on board what they’ve got to say and that’s what I wanted to achieve,’ he said.

‘So my sexuality isn’t just mentioned once, it’s mentioned quite a few times in the book and even when its not mentioned, its pretty obvious that a big poof is writing this book and I think that’s refreshing for people to read… they’re not just getting knowledge, they’re building some kind of connection with the writer as well.’

Not only is Adonis breaking new ground by discussing his sexuality in such an unlikely sector, he is aiming to smash a few of the tired old business management clichés we know all too well.

Corporate Punishment explores 47 of the most commonly used business clichés- all of which, according to Adonis, are blatantly incorrect.

‘There are clichés that have been set for decades and said by so many managers for so long that we just accept them to be true. But in reality, they’re not and in some cases they’re dangerous,’ he said.

‘For example, “There is no I in Team”. There are many “I”s in Team and it’s when we ignore those “I”s that things fall apart.

‘Even things like, “The fish rots from the head down”. It’s been scientifically proven that fish don’t rot from the head down, they rot from the gut. So that means the CEO isn’t always responsible for everything that goes wrong- the cancer can start anywhere in the organisation.’

According to Adonis, resorting to these clichés can work against managers, making them complacent.

‘If you think of a cliché like “Think outside the box”, it has been said so many times that it’s the best example of inside-the-box thinking. How uninspiring it must be to tell people to think outside the box if we can’t even think of a more creative way of saying “Think outside the box”?’

But above and beyond all, Adonis says the relationship between a supervisor and an employee and the way they interact with each other is the most important key to staff satisfaction.

‘When I speak to someone in an organisation, a lot of HR managers, executives and CEOs expect some big fancy model or a special theory to solve staff satisfaction, but it doesn’t exist because all that solves staff satisfaction is the little things that managers say and do every single day.’

Corporate Punishment is both thought-provoking and entertaining. Whether you’re an employee, manager, or CEO, you’re bound to get something out of this book- even if it’s just a laugh at Adonis’ self-deprecating humour.

‘Business doesn’t have to be boring and predictable.’

Amy Henderson