No more than 20 generations ago, our world-view was a mixture of super-stition, taboo and dogma. People believed that a heap of rags, left in a corner of a room for long enough, would spontaneously develop into a bunch of mice or rats. It was the time when Tomás de Torquemada was chief of the Spanish Inquisition, with its savage autos-da-fé and its persecu-tion of redheaded young women for witchcraft. Alchemists and doctors of that era tried to transform everything that they could get their hands on into gold, or if this failed, into an elixir for eternal youth. There is no evi-dence that they succeeded in that either. Instead they had to look on help-lessly as the bubonic plague took its toll on human life.Science in that era was a quarrel between different schools of thought, with conflicting dogmas trying in vain to understand the true nature of things. It was from those dark ages that western civilization eventually emerged like the phoenix from the ashes. From then on, rational thinking replaced bigoted indoctrination; the light of awareness and logical insight irradiated the corners of the sombre labyrinth of fallacies; and clarity of mind tri-umphed over dogmatic blindness.This enlightenment launched such powerful scientific and technological advancement that the progress we have made during the past 400 years seems to dwarf that of the preceding four thousand or four million. Today we are governed by logic and enlightened intelligence.Or are we? There are still some corners, even today, in the early 21st centu-ry, where the light of awareness and logical insight has not penetrated. There are still domains where different schools of thought, with conflicting doctrines, try in vain to understand the true nature of things, and each year their pundits besiege us with appeals to forget whatever we have learnt so far - because "now cometh the truth".You've guessed it precisely: I'm talking about the world of management. So in case you have been in touch with this trade, as a perpetrator or as a victim, you may be relieved to learn that management does not have to be black magic. Our companies can do without witch-hunts, autos-da-fé, su-perstitions and taboos. The same clarity of mind and unbiased intelligence which have enabled many other disciplines to flourish can be applied to the realm of management as well. This book will demonstrate to you that management is neither a secret craft nor some kind of alchemy. Management is not rocket science either. It's not even science. It is simpler than you think, and most of its seeming complexity is in reality the result of mental laziness and of a lack of logical discipline.You now have the chance to leave behind all those little mix-ups and cha-rades of yours, which have kept you from genuinely enjoying your job. You are only a few pages away from feeling 100% secure and professional in your position as a manager.Enjoy!