The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #158 Management Heretics- Art Kleiner
Posted on 01. Sep, 2008 by Wayne in Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to heavyweight Art Kleiner. Not only is he the editor of Strategy + Business Magazine, but he’s the author of “The Age of Heretics- A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management”. A couple of times a year we get heavy and this is one of them. Oh, and we learn a bit about heretics in general…..
Art Kleiner
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to a show that’s a bit meatier than most, but once or twice a year I find a book that inspires that kind of conversation. It’s about heresy…. we all have our share of it in our souls but can we tell heresy from insanity? That’s why we’re dedicating this show to Tomas de Torquemada.
4:25 The quote of the week is from Henry David Thoreau, who knew a bit about heresy. What used to be some raving insanity becomes conventional wisdom given time. If you like quotes there’s a shameless plug for my new book as well, “125 quotes for Whacking Weasels”. Check it out here.
5:20 Welcome Art Kleiner. His book, “The Age of Heretics- A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management” is one of the better books I’ve picked up this year, even if it is a second edition. What is a heretic and what do we mean by management heretics? How about someone who wants to bring the personal into work instead of just managing by the numbers?
Art gives an example from his book, “Who Really Matters” but it’s the story of the Ford Taurus and a guy named Lou Veraldi.
12:37 Heretics aren’t out to destroy the company they’re part of… but the heresy is disruptive. He talks about his role at Business + Strategy which is part of Booz and company.
14:30 Here’s a realization… all prophets are heretics but not all heretics are prophets. How does the company discern which this person is?  He tells the story of AG Lafley at Proctor and Gamble and the idea of open innovation.
19:00 Even the flipchart was heretical at the time it was introduced? It starts with Kurt Lewin and his crew who realized that you have to let people and it builds and alters group dynamics. Peter Senge talks about how every organization is the result of how its people work and interact.
24:01 Someone in the pantheon and a name we’ve heard a lot is Warren Bennis. His story- the good bad and ugly is discussed in a way that lets Art keep his job. Even gurus learn the hard way.
30:00 I subscribe to the Pelagian heresy even if I am a bit of a cynic.
32:00 What are the new heresies? It will involve neuroscience and brain chemistry to be sure. Check out www.neuroleadership.org
Art’s Resources
Make or break- how manufacturers can leap from decline to revitalization
Niall Ferguson’s book Empire (YES>>> if only he’d come on this show to discuss it but it’s a really polite rejection note)
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
Don’t let the weasels get you down!
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