America's Corporate Brain Drain

Book excerpt: "Press '1' to listen to five more phone menus. If this is an emergency, please stay on the line forever for the next available operator?. If you hate phone menus, you're not alone. When big companies saw data proving that up to 70 percent of callers press '0' to reach a live operator, they did exactly what you'd expect. Instead of getting live operators to answer the phones, they disabled the 'zero out' function.From gouging gas prices to free checking accounts that charge for checkbooks and offer pointless point programs (50 percent of points are never redeemed), big businesses in America are disconnected. Most no longer offer the best products and services. America's Corporate Brain Drain reveals that the swell of me-too products and lousy service is because the best people no longer work in Goliath companies. We're moving forward with Toyota and connecting with Nokia because the brightest sparks in the U.S. have left big corporations or are planning exit strategies. The 27 million small-business owners didn't get the boot 89 percent of entrepreneurs quit their former positions. Boomers are negotiating for early retirement to start hobby jobs. Grads aren't willing to climb towering corporate ladders. Of the employees still stuck in big companies, 70 percent are unhappy with their jobs.In Corporate Brain Drain, corporate deserters, employees, and consumers who are fed up with behemoth banks and big old phone companies will find the real reasons why big business stopped working. And they'll discover how Americans, who are increasingly unwilling to put up with inferior products and the corporate culture that creates them, are regaining control.