Friends,
I tend to begin each newsletter with a wish for everything being well with you and yours. Today, perhaps more than before, it seems an important thing to do. Although it has only been seven days, it feels as if a year or more has passed.
It is, I suppose, a somewhat oxymoronic state of affairs. On one hand, the world is no longer what it was, nor what it will ever be. On the other, it has proven to ever remain the same. Violence is the most primitive and primal of conflict resolutions; the only change is the frighteningly rapid ever-increasing scale of impact. It is a stark reminder of how despite our advances, the human species is still in its infancy.
Or perhaps that is a poor analogy. When I look into my three-month-old daughter’s eyes, I see nothing but the purest of love. When I look out into the world, I see far too little of it. It would appear we have far more to learn from our children than to teach them.
The Strategy in Praxis Book Club
As previously discussed, the book club is now officially launching. Emails will be sent out next week to reiterate the details provided below.
Based on feedback, we will begin with a rather relaxed cadence. Our chosen book, The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy (penned by Matthew Stewart), consists of four different ‘sections’ - Doing Things with Numbers, Putting People First, Thinking Ahead and Striving for Excellence - each coming in at between 50 and 80 pages. Although there is little doubt in my mind that most of you would be more than comfortable doing a section per week, we will begin with one section every two weeks.
Book clubs, from my experience, thrive from interaction; the brilliance of fellow readers can take a book to a whole new level - and we have some really smart folks who have signed up. Hence, I will also set up a communications channel for those taking part. Online meetups will be held in four weeks’ time (midway) and another four after that (after book completion).
The Correct Topic
A week ago, I wrote that we would delve into customer acquisition vs retention. However, while that is still very much the proverbial plan, I have decided to postpone the analysis for a week. The reason is that, as I am sure you are all aware, on March 8, it will be International Women’s Day.
Given that equality still remains a pressing issue in practically any industry, any country, anywhere on the planet, I felt that it was important to take time off from discussing mainly the works of men and instead highlight some made by women.
On the day in question, my Twitter feed will be taken over by the inimitable Sera Holland, a strategist much smarter, more insightful and wiser than I. If you have not already, I strongly recommend you give her a follow.
In the meantime, though, I thought I would make amends here for the fact that – as some of you very rightly pointed out – the books worth picking up for Christmas were all written by men. It was an inexcusable mea culpa and should not have happened in the first place. So, here is an additional list of books I recommend, all featuring female authors.
First off, we have The Silo Effect: The Perils of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers by Gillian Tett. Although I am sure that some would argue that my own unorthodox background makes me biased, Tett’s ability to simultaneously be an outsider and an insider (as both an anthropologist with a PhD from Cambridge and the chairwoman of Financial Times’ editorial board) greatly helps her ability to identify problems that organizations often miss. Contrary to popular belief and management consultancy hyperbole, silos always form in organizations due to their roots in human nature. As Tett demonstrates, breaking out of particularly those enabled by inertia (often created by outdated strategic planning approaches) can mean the difference between long-term corporate success and failure.
Second, we have Jenni Romaniuk’s Building Distinctive Brand Assets. For anyone unaware, Jenni is one of the foremost researchers at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, inarguably the world’s leading marketing scientific outfit. In this must-read for anyone working with branding or design, whether strategically or operationally, she details how consumers perceive, interact with and remember brands and all their various cues.
The third book on the list is Alicia Juarrero’s Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System. As is (unfortunately) consistent with a lot of Juarrero’s output in writing, this is admittedly a rather heavy and occasionally difficult read, particularly if one does not have a decent level of baseline knowledge of philosophy. However, the effort is worthwhile as the reward is substantial; Dynamics in Action is one of the best books available on explaining human behavior, the fallacies of assumed causality, and the meaning of intent in complex adaptive systems. And there is always coffee to help.
Fourth, we have a potentially controversial choice: How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Although it is obvious that the book is an attempt at making her academic work accessible to a wider audience, Feldman Barret does not play to a lowest common denominator. This leads to razor-sharp observations and a critique of the traditional view of what emotions are that is, mostly, excellent. Akin to our general perception of the causal world as discussed by Juarrero above, decades of research in neuroscience is predicated on the idea that the brain contains distinct pathways for each emotion. Modern discoveries have shown this to be untrue; emotions are the emergent results of innumerable neural combinations. While some of the conclusions leave room for improvement, the overall points and insights remain highly valuable.
Lastly, we have Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process by Sarah Kember and Joanna Zylinska. This - spoiler alert - will likely be next on the list in our book club. In short, the authors argue that we should move beyond our fascination with objects such as smart phones, which inevitably leads to binary thinking, and instead understand the media in terms of processes of mediation. The book comes highly recommended by a number of the brightest people I know, so I cannot wait to dig in.
And there we have it. Five brilliant books that, I hope, will provide you with all the joy and knowledge that reading can bring.
Next week, remember to look out for all the cool things happening on International Women’s Day. On Friday, we will continue our journey into customer acquisition and retention as promised.
Until then, have the loveliest of weekends. And please, stay safe.
Onwards and upwards,
JP
Reading your weekly posts is like looking at a piece of art. You don't always understand everything, but it's mesmerizing nevertheless. Thank you, JP.