I want to alert the integrative thinking and design thinking communities to a must read new book just out from my colleague and friend Hilary Austen. It is titled: Artistry Unleashed: A Guide to Pursuing Great Performance in Work and Life. I have written the foreword in which I argue that it might be the most important book you read this year.
These days, many argue that artistry and creativity are important and then admonish people to be more creative. Great. I guess that is better than not understanding that artistry is important. But having people understand that they should be more artistic and creative but have no idea how to make that happen is not exactly a huge win for humanity.
Hilary is the only writer that gives rigorous and practical advice on how a person can develop and enhance his or her artistic capacity. The book is clear, entertaining and inspirational.
Please read it and enjoy.
Roger
The book launch in London was a fascinating conversation between HIlary, Tom Hulme of IDEO, Daniel Weil of Pentagram and Tyler Brule editor of Monocle. You certainly raised many provocative challenges for our educational system. Developing managers who can trust in less quantitative ways of understanding what matters is truly important given the volatilty of business today. Analysis and quantitative data can only ever provide historical indicators. They are so open to manipulation too. We need more managers who can combine the necessary drive for measured results, with a mastery of the qualities that enrich understanding and qualify relationships to be meaningful, valuable and innovative.
Personally I find it instructive to listen carefully to people who are intimately associated with the more artistic professions because their use of language is more evocative, their stories have a sensitivity which encourages more tangential thinking, I admire their willingness to take risks relying on flare and passion rather than being driven by historical source of success. Yet building that richness into business life by creating an environment in which the necessary failures of exploration and experimentation are embraced as a source of learning and innovation is something that few organisation seem to have mastered. This does not bode well for the renewal required to reinvigorate so many economies in Europe.
April 1, 2011 at 12:10PM by Jane McKenzie
Thanks for the comment, Jane. I really enjoyed the event. I believe that Hilary has made a genuine contribution with her book and found Tyler, Tom and Daniel’s commentary on it fascinating.
April 24, 2011 at 7:16AM by rmartin
Damn – now that’s two books I have to read! Your new one, Roger, sounds really interesting. And now Hilary’s too. (And those on top of the 6 I expect to arrive from Amazon tomorrow.)
But both sound like they’re good and interesting. And I’m always a sucker for that.
My fledgling company tries to combine both the creative – and sometimes artistic – with business. Always curious to see different perspectives that can be helpful. You can check us out at: http://sharkbaitshirts.com/ — and find out our answers to those small problems such as ending the federal deficit, etc.
April 25, 2011 at 11:09AM by Jim Snell