Miller’s Bolt, a business allegory by Toronto writer Thomas Stirr, purports to be a “creative journey” of self-improvement and personal management that will lead to success in today’s corporate world. This fictional story traces the career crisis of Jim Manion, who has become short-fused and confrontational with his co-workers, causing his superior to give him three months to shape up. He consults a performance coach, Peter Miller, who leads him through such techniques as relaxation breathing and visualization in order to improve his attitude and performance. The central theme of the book is the cliché that if we’re not progressing, we’re obsolescing.

Miller’s Bolt is a rehash of old chestnuts, written in the tedious Harlequin-style language of “darting eyes and “pensive looks.” Each chapter has one or two “lessons” that Jim is meant to learn on his voyage, but these are far too general and full of common sense to be of much use. “It’s easy to forget your dreams, to trade them for the illusion of security,” for example, and, “When we’re empty on the inside, we try to fill the void by attacking other people.” While such soul-searching – delving into one’s self-esteem and attitudes toward life and others – is of worth for personal growth and development, the material here is full of psychospeak and can be insulting to the reader.

The techniques suggested – visualization, meditative breathing, and writing a personal profile, among others – are covered in more depth in the average self-help book. As for dealing with such difficult people as paranoid or unco-operative co-workers, Miller’s Bolt, again, doesn’t give analysis, and there’s much more valid discussion of these topics available in current management self-help books.

Billed as “a new kind of business book,” Miller’s Bolt is all too representative of the poor writing that plagues many recent books about business, especially those aimed at the general reader. The managing page of The Globe and Mail contains far more meat and useful strategies.