What do you want me to do? This question is the enduring management issue a perennial problem that Stephen Bungay shows has an old solution that is counter-intuitive & yet common sense The Art of Action is a thought-provoking & fresh look at how managers can turn planning into execution & execution into results Drawing on his experience as a consultant senior manager & a highly respected military historian Stephen Bungay takes a close look at the nineteenth-century Prussian Army which built its agility on the initiative of its highly empowered junior officers to show business leaders how they can build more effective productive organizations Based on a theoretical framework which has been tested in practice over 150 years Bungay shows how the approach known as 'mission command' has been applied in businesses as diverse as pharmaceuticals & F1 racing today The Art of Action is scholarly but engaging rigorous but pragmatic & shows how common sense can sometimes be surprising