"Why are businesses buying their productivity tools from traveling circuses?"

I feel the same way about business books. I understand that what serious thinkers say can seem impenetrable, and practicing managers have no time to wade through it.

The book I am writing is my attempt to combat snake oil. It will not be a best seller. That is OK, though. My intention is to say what I want to say and to draw a line under the academic bit of what I do to build on the practical stuff.

I refuse to use the terms 'Enterprise 2.0', 'E-learning' or 'Social learning' in the work I do with businesses, which is driven by the questions "What do you need to do better or differently?" and "How might I be able to help?". Whatever happens next goes on from there (drawing on insights from the serious thinkers, translating to make them useful).