THINK OUTSIDE THE BUILDING

5 stars out of 5

I have a love-hate relationship with books like this. Love: They make me think. Hate: They make me think. But no matter which way it goes, nobody does "think" books better than this author, whom I have admired ever since I read A Tale of"O: On Being Different in an Organization" way back in 1980 (and about five years later, Change Masters).


Most of us in the business world (or mostly retired from it, like me) have long since taken the "think outside the box" mantra to heart; but now, the author maintains, the world has outgrown that box and it's time to expand our thinking once again. People have come to view institutions, such as health care or religion, as buildings; when we think of health care, we see hospitals; think religion,  see churches or synagogues. The people inside these buildings - in particular, those who run them - for the most part have become accustomed to, and comfortable with, the way things are and resist meaningful change (i.e., that which can make a real difference in and to the world).

Illustrated by a ton of examples, mostly from participants in Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative (which the author co-founded and directs), this book "reflects a search for new possibilities for positive change." This means going beyond conventional wisdom, and certainly making an end run (or perhaps a bottom-up) around institutional top-down toxicity. Especially amid the I'm okay but you're not, circle the wagons times in which we live, that seems to me to be a sound approach. Many of us are unhappy with the world as it is, yet still believe it can be made better; the trick, if you will, is in knowing how to make that happen.

To be sure, it's not easy; it's not enough to have a well-thought-out idea. Just getting started requires three "Cs" - capabilities, connections and cash - either well in hand or knowing how and where to obtain them. Detailed here are the processes, from concept to fruition, of several such ventures: what worked, what didn't, and what the rest of us can learn from these experiences.

Overall, this is an important book that isn't just for successful business men and women and those with plenty of money to spare. Rather, it's for anyone who sees a problem that needs addressed and envisions possible solutions that could make the world (or their little part of it) better. Highly recommended, and many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-publication copy.

Oh yes, I'm still thinking.

Think Outside the Building by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (PublicAffairs, January 2020); 352 pp.

THE SIGNALS ARE TALKING

5 stars out of 5

Consider me mind-boggled!


But it's not for the first time. That happened somewhere around 1970, when I tried to wrap my head around Alvin Toffler's Future Shock (followed by The Third Wave and Power Shift. Then came books by John Naisbitt, such as Megatrends 2000, and Faith Popcorn's Clicking: 17 Trends That Drive Your Business And Your Life. Yes, folks, I eat this stuff up. And now, thanks to an advance copy in exchange for an honest review, comes this one - and it's made no less of an impression. 

The author has developed a six-part process for forecasting - a way of evaluating new ideas being developed on the "fringe" (a.k.a. around the edges of society) that stand to affect us. Futurists, she says, listen to and interpret the signals that are "talking," looking for early patterns, or pre-trends. "Trends help us to understand change, which is an essential part of every organization's mandate," she writes. "Too often, leaders ignore the signals, wait too long to take action, or plan for only one scenario."

Descriptors like "probable," "plausible" and "possible" are used to generate concrete ideas about what's over the horizon. "We must think of trends as signposts that can illuminate the conditions we will likely encounter at some point in the future, even if that future is a century away," the author explains. "Organizations must track them if they are to create their preferred futures...seeing trends is a matter of looking for emerging changes at the fringe, within organizations, and in our societies."

In a nutshell, if it's possible to put it there, the book is about the importance of not being surprised by the future, offering a method for creating a path that leads to sustained success. Unlike some of the books mentioned above, it's not a list of what we can expect to happen in the next 10, 20 or 50 years; rather, it's a way to help ensure that organizations will be going strong throughout all those years to come.

Along the way, the author explains finer points such as the difference between something that's "trendy" and a "trend." No doubt it's a silly analogy, but if I interpret it anywhere near correctly, an Erector set is (or was) trendy, but the fact that children love to tear things down and build them up again is a trend that's likely to continue indefinitely. Harness your company's future to the first, and you may be out of business the minute a newer kid hits the building block; on the second, and you're likely to stay ahead of the curve.

Roadblocks to identifying the signals are discussed as well, such as the "duality dilemma" between left- and right-brain thinking (put another way, creativity vs. logic) and the need to look at things from both sides now. This I understand; I identify far more closely with the logic side, which most likely explains why I've enjoyed relative success as a journalist (just the facts, ma'am) but couldn't write a novel if my life depended on it. It's also, I'm thinking, one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much; everything is laid out in an orderly, easy-to-understand manner.

That includes, for the record, a glossary of concepts and terms and a chapter-by-chapter list of footnoted references at the end. Highly recommended for anyone interested in expanding leadership skills (or like me, simply interested in the topic).

The Signals Are Talking: Why Today's Fringe Is Tomorrow's Mainstream by Amy Webb (Public Affairs, December 2016); 335 pp.

ESPN: THE MAKING OF A SPORTS MEDIA EMPIRE

4 stars out of 5

I'm far from a sports fanatic, but on the other hand, I've got a long history of mostly non hands-on participation that dates back to the 1950s, when I loved to watch the Gillette-sponsored Friday night boxing matches with my dad - on our black-and-white TV set (complete with rabbit ears, no less). Later, I was a diehard viewer of ABC's Wide world of Sports that launched in 1961, and I waited impatiently for the every-four-year coverage of my beloved Olympic games. My heart was in my throat as my hero, Jean-Claude Killy, schussed his way to wins in all three Alpine events in the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. And who could forget late sportscaster Jim McKay's emotional, "They're all gone" as he reported on the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics?

Except for the Olympics, which now come at us every two years (and with far less impressive TV coverage, IMHO), those other programs have long since come and gone. But on Sept. 7, 1979, another sports phenomenon emerged: ESPN (the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network). It hit the ground running, and - although I learned from this book that it didn't turn a profit until 1985 - it's pretty safe to say it's become a household acronym. In 2014, as the author points out, ESPN was named the "world's most valuable media property."

Today, I'd bet the farm that not a day goes by that my husband and I - separately or together - tune in to some kind of ESPN show. Virtually every weeknight, you'll find our set tuned to one of my favorite shows, Pardon the Interruption, to watch the sparring between hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. 

So it was that when I was granted the opportunity to read and review this by the publisher (via NetGalley), I jumped at the chance. Let me be perfectly clear, though: This is a scholarly publication. If you're expecting witty quotes from famous athletes or network executives or smack-on-the-butt locker room jokes, you'll be disappointed. Rather, it's a straightforward and exceptionally well-researched documentation of how ESPN and all its offshoots - from the magazine to books to made-for-TV movies and docudramas - came to be. 

Initially, it was to a degree a matter of right place, right time, given more public interest in sports, the emergence of cable TV and increasing deregulation of the communications industry. But transforming that beginning into the media powerhouse as we know it certainly didn't happen by accident; the author details almost every step of the route to success, such as the launch of "SportsCentury," a concept headed by Mark Shapiro, that helped bring much-needed credibility to the network. 

The well-written book reads almost like a doctoral dissertation - albeit a much more interesting one than the few I helped edit back in my days as a university administrator - complete with extensive references at the end (close to 25% of the book is comprised of footnote and other resources, most arranged by chapter). In short, it's exactly what I would expect from a university press. That said, there's no way I can condense all the information that's in here; but I will say that if there was a stone left untouched, I'm confident it isn't an important one.

ESPN: The Making of a Sports Media Empire by Travis Vogan (University of Illinois Press, October 2015); 288 pp.