Business executive • MAY 11


The Bookstore Book of the month


The Fine Art of Success: How Learning Great Art Can Create Great Business HHH by Jamie Anderson, Jörg Reckhenrich & Martin Kupp Wiley 180pgs, £24.99, hb ISBN: 9780470661062


There are very few, if any, books on management strategy that are based on the arts world. This one suggests that you might look to contemporary artists or pop stars for guidance on successful strategies for driving innovation and creativity in business. It also has key strategies for successful business innovation. The authors analyse the success of artists using management theory. They ask what practising managers can learn from the way creative artists innovate. Their main thesis is that creativity is


enhanced when we approach a task from different angles; the book is an interesting application of this principle. The topics covered are well-known to


Leading in Turbulent Times: Lessons Learnt & Implications for the Future H by Peter Lorange Emerald 179 pgs, £24.95, pb ISBN: 9780857243676


In his book Peter Lorange, the distinguished management guru, identifies the four leadership characteristics essential in


business managers – how to rejuvenate one’s strategy; how to innovate strategically and create new market space; how to globalise; how to become more creative. This book achieves two major objectives: (a) it allows the reader to approach the task (such as how to innovate or how to globalise) from a totally different angle, something that produces surprising new insights; and (b) it allows us to discuss these everyday business issues through entertaining and interesting stories from the arts world. The book also shatters one of the


myths that managers hold dear – that their situation is unique and that the pressures they are under in today’s world are unparalleled. As the stories in this book demonstrate, this is quite untrue. The world probably seemed as fast- changing and demanding 500 years ago as it does today; and five centuries ago people faced the same challenges – how to innovate strategically; how to create new market space; how to globalise – as managers do today. In recent years it has become normal for companies to break the rules in their industries in order to create new market space. This means that companies ought to search for new customer segments and new ways of delivering value to customers. The concept of strategic innovation has deep


turbulent times, and the three leadership tasks that are critical to an organisation under stress. He identifies the type of organisation that leaders must create in order to meet the challenges they face today, and explores what it means to be the person sitting where the buck stops. And, most importantly, he discusses measuring good leadership. This can be tricky. What is the leadership component that contributes to the performance of an organisation? How does this show itself during periods of turbulence? How do you separate out the performance components that come from size/market


historical roots that go all the way back to 16th century Venice. A great contribution of the book is in


the way it delivers its messages. Storytelling is an effective way of communicating messages and inspiring people. Business leaders know the importance of stories in energising people, and so use them proactively. We rarely get this technique in our writings however; no wonder most people find business books boring! By using stories from the arts world, this book enlivens its subject matter and makes its messages memorable. Even after they have forgotten the main business message, the reader will remember the stories. It fills a real gap and in the process makes a delightful read. (Never said that about a management book before!)


there are real lessons from the success of artists such as Madonna, Pablo Picasso and others, and many of these lessons can be applied within the firm


share advantages, historical strengths, and good decisions exercised in the past? How can we assess if organisational performance has improved because of better leadership? How do we compare good results in boom times with OK results in difficult times? What changes in leadership might be improvements, that is, lead to better performance? Can we say that better leadership leads to better organisational performance? The author asserts that there is no definite answer. Identifying and coming up with reliable measurements of the drivers of leadership performance are extremely difficult.


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