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The Heretic's Guide To Management: The Art of Harnessing Ambiguity
Management techniques such as strategic planning, project management or operational budgeting, aim to reduce ambiguity and provide clarity. So it is one of the great ironies of modern corporate life that these techniques often end up doing the increasing ambiguity rather than reducing it.
It is easy enough to understand organizations are complex entities and it is unreasonable to expect management models, such as those that fit neatly into a 2*2 matrix or a predetermined checklist, to work in the real world. Indeed, expecting them to work as advertised is akin to colouring a paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa with the expectation of recreating Da Vinci’s masterpiece. Ambiguity has not been reality will still impose itself no matter how alluring the model is.
Unfortunately, most of us have a deep aversion to situations that involve even a hint of ambiguity. Recent research in neuroscience has revealed the reason for ambiguity is processed in the parts of the brain which regulate our emotional responses. As a result, many people associate ambiguity with feelings of anxiety.
When kids feel anxious, they turn to transitional objects such as teddy bears or security blankets, providing them with a sense of stability when situations or events seem overwhelming. We contend that as grown-ups, we don’t actually stop using teddy bears - they take a different form. Backed by research, we illustrate that management models, fads and frameworks are akin to teddy bears . They provide the same sense of comfort and certainty to corporate managers and minions as real teddies do to distressed kids.
This is not a problem in many cases. Children usually outgrow their need for a teddy, unless if development is disrupted or arrested in some way. If this happens, the transitional object can become a fetish – an object that is held on to with a pathological intensity, simply for the comfort that it offers in the face of ambiguity. The corporate reliance on simplistic solutions for the complex challenges faced is akin to little Johnny believing that everything will be OK provided he clings on to Teddy.
Ambiguity is a primal force that drives much of our behaviour. It is typically viewed negatively - something to be avoided or to be controlled. The truth however, is that it is a force that can be used in positive ways too. The Force that gave the Dark Side their power in the Star Wars movies was harnessed by the Jedi in positive ways. Similarly, this new management book shows how ambiguous situations, so common in the corporate world, are processed by the brain, and the behaviours that often arise as a consequence. More importantly, though, it shows you how to harness that ambiguity to achieve outstanding results.
It is easy enough to understand organizations are complex entities and it is unreasonable to expect management models, such as those that fit neatly into a 2*2 matrix or a predetermined checklist, to work in the real world. Indeed, expecting them to work as advertised is akin to colouring a paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa with the expectation of recreating Da Vinci’s masterpiece. Ambiguity has not been reality will still impose itself no matter how alluring the model is.
Unfortunately, most of us have a deep aversion to situations that involve even a hint of ambiguity. Recent research in neuroscience has revealed the reason for ambiguity is processed in the parts of the brain which regulate our emotional responses. As a result, many people associate ambiguity with feelings of anxiety.
When kids feel anxious, they turn to transitional objects such as teddy bears or security blankets, providing them with a sense of stability when situations or events seem overwhelming. We contend that as grown-ups, we don’t actually stop using teddy bears - they take a different form. Backed by research, we illustrate that management models, fads and frameworks are akin to teddy bears . They provide the same sense of comfort and certainty to corporate managers and minions as real teddies do to distressed kids.
This is not a problem in many cases. Children usually outgrow their need for a teddy, unless if development is disrupted or arrested in some way. If this happens, the transitional object can become a fetish – an object that is held on to with a pathological intensity, simply for the comfort that it offers in the face of ambiguity. The corporate reliance on simplistic solutions for the complex challenges faced is akin to little Johnny believing that everything will be OK provided he clings on to Teddy.
Ambiguity is a primal force that drives much of our behaviour. It is typically viewed negatively - something to be avoided or to be controlled. The truth however, is that it is a force that can be used in positive ways too. The Force that gave the Dark Side their power in the Star Wars movies was harnessed by the Jedi in positive ways. Similarly, this new management book shows how ambiguous situations, so common in the corporate world, are processed by the brain, and the behaviours that often arise as a consequence. More importantly, though, it shows you how to harness that ambiguity to achieve outstanding results.
- GenresLeadership
278 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 7, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 4, 2016
TL/DR - It’s a great, entertaining book on managing people in a complex world. Buy it and read it today.
I am really happy Paul and Kailash wrote a follow up to their 2011 book The Heretic's’ Guide to Best Practices. That was a book with great storytelling weaving together 50 years of management academia.
It told the story of how work is inherently complex and you can’t just treat it like a game with a simple rule book. They showed how and why the simplistic approach to work of best practices is antithetical to actually doing good work together.
I read that Heretic’s guide enjoying the book as a bringing together and sorting of a bunch of ideas I was already familiar with. They created a great reference book showing the history of good and bad management ideas that I could point people at. It encapsulated for me years of learning that I had acquired through research, conservation and study. Now it was much easier to get people to read the book and they could catch up in hours or days.
Amusingly, at the end of the Best Practices book they broke the promise of the title in a way typical of both their larrikin senses of humour. They shared a best practice with us for dealing with complex social systems. (I won’t share it here. Read the book.)
This new book is also a good read. It’s full of humour and anecdotes, but is backed with an oblique and deep academic pedigree. Kailash and Paul know how to look beyond the business bestseller list when they research. They follow the academics and they check the academic theory against their own extensive experiences. This adds up to a well researched and entertaining story that you know you can work with.
Once again this book kicks off with a sharp and pointed criticism of best practices, this time in the guise of management models. They show how you can quickly establish your own management framework in four easy steps. This is done tongue firmly in cheek to arouse your natural skepticism about snake-oil dealers peddling certification schemes.
(As if YOU would be suckered, dear reader. You’re one of the smart ones.)
Having you in on the joke, they then proceed to take you on a tour of how our brains manipulate us when we aren’t expecting it; name-checking lists of cognitive biases, provoking us with statements designed to generate an emotional response in you to what they write, until eventually settling down and getting to the heart of this book's idea.
The big idea of this book is about how we deal with uncertainty and the middle section spends quite a bit of time addressing how you and I handle ambiguity. It's compelling stuff and it resonates.
But so what? Is this just another book about complexity? Interesting but of what practical value? Kailash and Paul are all about the pay-off. The author's solution is to recommend we managers use ambiguity to our advantage, even if we don’t always embrace it with love in our hearts.
The last part of the book then follows the precedent of it’s predecessor and ironically provides us with a management supermodel that provides tools for managing (manipulating) people at work by amplifying or diminishing ambiguity.
Once again, the book is an excellent read. It is more engaging and fun to read than many other business books. Both the authors have a perverse sense of humour. Both are deeply skeptical of the fads of the management consulting industry and both are great storytellers. As with the first book I now have a concise repository of a number of important and useful ideas that I can refer people to.
In fact, I like this book better than the first (and I liked the first a lot.) This one is shorter, more to the point, and funnier.
When I read this book I instantly wanted to get a handful of my friends and colleagues to go buy it, and I have bought a couple of copies for people. I highly recommend you go buy it and read it also.
Now.
I am really happy Paul and Kailash wrote a follow up to their 2011 book The Heretic's’ Guide to Best Practices. That was a book with great storytelling weaving together 50 years of management academia.
It told the story of how work is inherently complex and you can’t just treat it like a game with a simple rule book. They showed how and why the simplistic approach to work of best practices is antithetical to actually doing good work together.
I read that Heretic’s guide enjoying the book as a bringing together and sorting of a bunch of ideas I was already familiar with. They created a great reference book showing the history of good and bad management ideas that I could point people at. It encapsulated for me years of learning that I had acquired through research, conservation and study. Now it was much easier to get people to read the book and they could catch up in hours or days.
Amusingly, at the end of the Best Practices book they broke the promise of the title in a way typical of both their larrikin senses of humour. They shared a best practice with us for dealing with complex social systems. (I won’t share it here. Read the book.)
This new book is also a good read. It’s full of humour and anecdotes, but is backed with an oblique and deep academic pedigree. Kailash and Paul know how to look beyond the business bestseller list when they research. They follow the academics and they check the academic theory against their own extensive experiences. This adds up to a well researched and entertaining story that you know you can work with.
Once again this book kicks off with a sharp and pointed criticism of best practices, this time in the guise of management models. They show how you can quickly establish your own management framework in four easy steps. This is done tongue firmly in cheek to arouse your natural skepticism about snake-oil dealers peddling certification schemes.
(As if YOU would be suckered, dear reader. You’re one of the smart ones.)
Having you in on the joke, they then proceed to take you on a tour of how our brains manipulate us when we aren’t expecting it; name-checking lists of cognitive biases, provoking us with statements designed to generate an emotional response in you to what they write, until eventually settling down and getting to the heart of this book's idea.
The big idea of this book is about how we deal with uncertainty and the middle section spends quite a bit of time addressing how you and I handle ambiguity. It's compelling stuff and it resonates.
But so what? Is this just another book about complexity? Interesting but of what practical value? Kailash and Paul are all about the pay-off. The author's solution is to recommend we managers use ambiguity to our advantage, even if we don’t always embrace it with love in our hearts.
The last part of the book then follows the precedent of it’s predecessor and ironically provides us with a management supermodel that provides tools for managing (manipulating) people at work by amplifying or diminishing ambiguity.
Once again, the book is an excellent read. It is more engaging and fun to read than many other business books. Both the authors have a perverse sense of humour. Both are deeply skeptical of the fads of the management consulting industry and both are great storytellers. As with the first book I now have a concise repository of a number of important and useful ideas that I can refer people to.
In fact, I like this book better than the first (and I liked the first a lot.) This one is shorter, more to the point, and funnier.
When I read this book I instantly wanted to get a handful of my friends and colleagues to go buy it, and I have bought a couple of copies for people. I highly recommend you go buy it and read it also.
Now.
Read
November 3, 2023A more broad book than the previous one, very little Dialgue Mapping material.
But still worth a read.
But still worth a read.
Read
December 29, 2024Did like the structure and writing, but somehow "ambiquity" essence did not come throgh.
no rating, do not recommend.
no rating, do not recommend.
March 28, 2017
Years ago I came to understand how learning worked in the trades model. The apprentice was – literally – following the instructions of a journeyman or master to complete small repeatable tasks. The journeyman would start to detach from the small repeatable tasks. The journeyman would realize that there are multiple ways to get to the goal. The master became fluent in multiple approaches. The result was the ability to move fluidly between completely different techniques. The master recognizes the limits of the various approaches and picks the tool out of the toolbox that perfectly fits the situation. (See my review of Presentation Zen for a more detailed discussion of following, detaching, and fluency.)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews