Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-218) and index.

Sect.1. Illusions -- What are illusions? -- Why we "buy in" to illusions -- Harmless, hurtful, and fatal illusions -- Sect.2. Twelve fatal illusions -- Vision: "having a mission statement means we know who we are" -- Priorities: "of course our people understand what's important" -- Quality: "everybody knows what quality is" -- Expectations: "we don't know what to expect of those people" -- Change: "we'll get to that later" -- Consequences: "I think we can get away with that" -- Comparisons: "we're doing better than "???? -- People:"good people can be successful in jobs they don't like" -- Openness: "we can run this thing without sharing that information" -- Incentives: "in this economy, they should be happy to have a job" -- Cooperation: "just give people a chance and they'll work together" -- Passion: "we don't need passion if we have a good plan" -- Sect.3. Shredding illusions before they shred us -- Good medicine for bad ideas -- Soul sweat: winning by facing the truth -- Dealing with the illusions of others -- Epilogue.