In a breakthrough Organization Man for the twenty-first century, bestselling author Art Kleiner reveals that every organization is driven by a desire to satisfy a Core Group of influential individuals and explains why understanding this group’s expectations is the key to success.

When corporate leaders announce, with seeming sincerity, “We make our decisions on behalf of our shareholders,” their words are taken at face value. But as recent news stories prove, this imperative is routinely violated. In Who Really Matters, Art Kleiner argues that the dissonance between a declared mission and actual operation can be seen at organizations large and small. All organizations have one motive in common. Every decision—which projects to back, who to promote, or how to spend money—is affected by the perceived wants and needs of a core group of people “who really matter.”

The composition of the group can differ from organization to organization. Often, the most senior people in the hierarchy are members—but not always. Sometimes, the people who “matter” can extend far down the corporate ladder, or even reach outside the company to include key customers, labor union leaders, and stockholders. Kleiner gives readers clues about how to identify a core group’s real mission by observing its day-to-day actions, listening to the fundamental message it sends employees, examining its management of new members; understanding the ideas that shape its policies about management, money, and the way the world works; and avoiding the taboos governing the way it operates.

Whether you’re a member of the Core Group—or want to be—this deft, engaging blend of argument and observation, anecdotes and advice, is the one guide you’ll need to achieve your career goals and aspirations by navigating the hidden pathways in any organization, large or small.

“Art Kleiner has uncovered a central truth about the way organizations work. His concept of the Core Group clarifies one key reason why rational people often act in seemingly irrational ways within the confines of an institution. Like any deep insight, it

makes explicable what had previously been mysterious.”

—Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and coauthor of Built to Last

“Fresh, pragmatic, wise and eminently accessible . . . Who Really Matters cuts through our needlessly complex views of organizations and brilliantly reveals what’s at the core of both their promise and dysfunction. Kleiner’s astute and grounded analysis makes it possible for all of us who work within or around organizations to be more skillful and successful while maintaining our personal values and purposes.

—James Flaherty, founder of New Ventures West and author of Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others

“Seminal idea, brilliantly presented, and wonderfully useful.”

—Warren G. Bennis, author of Geeks and Geezers

“Provides a much needed new perspective on leadership, power, and authority in showing clearly how Core Groups unconsciously guide and control organizations. This is a must read for all managers and would-be leaders.”

—Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

“This original and carefully-argued text suggests how to penetrate the apparent and

understand the real driver of corporate conduct. Most important are the practical suggestions for how to effect change. This addition to the conventional wisdom should be part of everyone’s library—buy it!”

—Robert A. G. Monks, shareholder activist and author of Corporate Governance and The New Global Investors

ART KLEINER is the director of research and reflection at Dialogos, a consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts; a faculty member at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program; and the “Culture & Change” columnist for Strategy + Business magazine. He is also the editorial director of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook series and a longstanding writer on the human impact of management and technology. He lives outside New York City.