June 30th, 2007
Why I recommend “Virtuoso Teams: Lessons from teams that changed their worlds”
by dave [permalink]
Virtuoso Teams: Lessons from teams that changed their worlds
by Andy Boynton
Boynton and Fischer’s book is about teams that excel above and beyond the capabilities of each individual team member. They draw stories from a wide range of subjects: the arts, science and industry. The teams they describe are all about creating massive change and they accomplish this by bringing together the absolute best people for each required function. These teams are not meant to work together amicably and produce consistent results over the long haul: they come together for a specific purpose (to drive massive change) and most often they dissolve after their task is complete. Example teams include Miles Davis’ bands, Thomas Edison’s workers and Norsk Hydro’s engineering team.
The book is great for giving perspective on how to bring teams like this together and how to handle them so that they are as effective as possible. The case studies are entertaining and informative and they gave me lots of ideas about how to make this work in a corporate setting.
The lessons you can draw from this book are invaluable: if you need to really change the direction of your business it definitely deserves a read.
I will say that the last chapter or two on how to apply this to your business are the weakest of the book: after reading that the critical factor in any Virtuoso Team is that you get the best possible people (not just the people available) it is a little of a let down to read that you can use the same techniques with your current team.
The section on “Deep Dives” also seems a bit out of place. Although this is an effective means of designing products and developing new ideas, it seemed somewhat disconnected from the ideas presented in the case studies. It was valuable information, but seemed like a topic for another book.
See more about Virtuoso Teams: Lessons from teams that changed their worlds
June 25th, 2007
Living Workplace - 10 Dogmas
by gscott [permalink]
This is an excerpt from a book, "Living Workplace - 10 Dogmas," from very interesting design company from Denmark, Bosch & Fjord, that have the most unique ideas for office design.
"Dead or Alive?
A living workplace? Yes, because who would prefer a dead one? We spend a large part of our waking hours at work. Work has a great influence on our lives. Our well-being and behaviour are frighteningly dependent on whether or not we have a job, on whether we feel good or bad in our workplace. The one common feature that all kinds of work should share is that going to work should somehow feel like living - rather than being deadly dull…"
They design offices that make the word "office" seem inappropriate. It might be better to say, they design gathering places to stimulate your life’s work. That is where I want to be because I don’t want to go to "work."
"…They have put forward the 10 dogmas based on their own experiences as well as on a number of dialogues with a group of experts in the fields of the working environment and working conditions. This exchange of knowledge and opinions has now been transformed into the language of art, because art can serve as a catalyst to set off a process."
You shall meddle in what your colleagues are doing GRAPHIC DESIGN: Tilde Aagaard
Jiibe will be writing more articles about this company I am sure. Check out their site and explore their incredible ideas. Denmark is in my travel plans now.
June 13th, 2007
The Radical Edge
by gscott [permalink]
Where are the best places to work? I have always been in search of those companies that really embrace creativity. I would like to start this blog by suggesting that you read a book called The Radical Edge. The most interesting character in the book had the job title of CIO; and it’s not what you think; it’s Clear Insight Officer. All this guy did was come up with radical ideas. His mandate was to stretch the companies thinking; the status quo was not good enough.
There are many companies that “talk” creativity, but what companies really live it?
June 12th, 2007
The Importance of Corporate Culture: On Value and Values
by dave [permalink]
Back in 2004 I read a great book - On Value and Values by Douglas K. Smith. It is the most lucid book on business that I have read since “Good to Great“. In fact, it is a great companion to “Good to Great” because it shows how that book falls short (although it never addresses Collins work directly).The fascinating thing about the book is that I find myself disagreeing with Smith at the start of several of the chapters and then seeing the power of his arguments by the end of the chapter. Smith like to break down our traditional beliefs about our world and then rebuild them with a more modern framework. It is a challenging book that really makes me question much of my work and life goals.One of his central arguments is that modern corporations have chosen to focus on one single measure for success, known as “value”. Value is really the equivalent of money (or the ratio of money for material goods) and until recently “value” was just one measure of success among many other “values”. He tracks where this change came from and how we can start to instill values back into our lives - not by turning back the clock, but by accepting our current situation and looking forward.It is on this point of “value” (particularly shareholder value) that he challenges the ideas in “Good to Great”. Collins admits at the beginning of his book that the only objective measure of “Great” companies in his book is stock price (”shareholder value”) over a 15 year period. Although this may be true, it relegates “Good to Great” as a treatise on how to fine tune value often to the exclusion (or at least benign neglect) of other values. Collins does address these issues in his last chapter, but for the most part our corporations (and we as individuals) do not address them.”On Value and Values” is a challenging book. It asks corporate employees to carefully consider the many impact of their actions. It asks individuals who wish to turn back the clock on our purpose-based society to consider accepting our new world. I believe that organizations are only beginning to recognize just how important their culture is in the lives of their employees, partners and customers. And individuals are starting to recognize that finding a good fit for their values can be more important than finding “the perfect job”.
