The difference, and what makes it worth reading, is that its author has a long history as a successful chief executive - both of a large division within Shell and of a start-up biotechnology company - refining his ideas and putting them to the test in practice.

He discusses the conditions in which people will work effectively together with minimal reliance on authority. The title reflects his view that this can occur when organisations are arranged in 'compartments' of not more than two or three hundred people, within which there is completely open communication - with heavy reliance on building informal communication links, a high degree of democracy and great emphasis on designing working relationships for organisational learning. A somewhat different set of rules, in his view, should mediate relationships between compartments and between groups of compartments and the outside world.

In developing his thesis, Fairtlough makes use of the concept of 'heterarchy', a somewhat clumsy term, but one which is used to distinguish leadership in which responsibility and authority are shared by everybody from 'hierarchy', in which authority flows from the top and from 'anarchy' where there is no authority. Its virtue as a concept is that it reconciles the idea of empowerment with that of a residual hierarchical power, by clarifying the domains in which each operates.

This is a thoughtful and well read chief executive writing informally and with a great deal of relevant anecdote, for people who face similar issues to himself. I think many senior managers will find wisdom and useful practical advice in it.