In this wide-ranging and original book, John J. Clancy examines the history and current state of corporate America from a new perspective, looking at business not as a matter of economics, marketing, and management, but as a cultural artifact. The Invisible Powers examines language, imagery, values, and deeply held beliefs and the impact they all have in determining the role business plays in society. Drawing from the writings and speeches of some of the most influential business leaders of the past two hundred years—Frederick Taylor, Henry Ford, Jay Gould, and Lee Iacocca, among others—Clancy describes the evolution and transformation of influential metaphors and demonstrates the very real power the "invisible" forces of metaphor exercise in our world. Finding support in such diverse thinkers as Aristotle, Engels, and Darwin, Clancy then calls for a new set of images and paradigms that will enable us to deal more successfully with the economic, cultural, and environmental crises of our times.