april-2019

48 / BUSINESS / Book review
“Leadership is a
sacred trust earned
from the respect of
others”
Bedtime Stories
for Managers
Author
Henry Mintzberg
Publisher
Berrett-Koehler
Bio
Henry Mintzberg is Cleghorn
Professor of Management Studies
at McGill University in Montreal,
Canada. He has received multiple
prestigious accolades, including
Harvard Business Review’s McKinsey
Award, recognising excellence in
management thinking. He has 20
books to his name.
Pages
192
Summary
Henry Mintzberg has culled 42 of
the best posts from his blog and
turned them into thought-provoking
reflections on management
that question today’s dominant
practices. While there are no
princesses or talking rabbits, as in
classic bedtime stories, there are
plenty of lessons to be learnt.
Do management issues keep you up
at night? Check out Bedtime Stories
for Managers, and learn how to solve
them by engaging management. Here’s
a quick taster.
Manage to lead
“The fable that leadership is separate
from, and superior to, management
has been bad for management and
worse for leadership,” writes Henry
Mintzberg. He illustrates this with an
anecdote about former Royal Bank of
Canada CEO John Cleghorn. “He was
known for calling the office on his way
to the airport to report a broken automatic-teller
machine. This bank had
thousands of such machines. Was he
micromanaging? No, he was leading by
example. Some of the best leadership is
management practiced well.”
Grow strategies like weeds
Need a new business strategy? Consider
an organic approach. “Strategies grow
initially like weeds in a garden;no
need to cultivate them like tomatoes in
a hothouse,” writes Mintzberg. “What is
a weed but a plant that wasn’t expected?
With a change of perspective, the
emerging strategy can become what’s
valued.” Think of it as pruning.
Mintzberg goes on to write, “To manage
this process is not to plan or plant
strategies but to recognise their emergence
and intervene when appropriate.”
Discover keynote listening
“Imagine a meeting of the board with
the chairman facing backward, not
allowed to speak until the end.
Imagine a conference with keynote
listeners instead of keynote speakers,”
writes Mintzberg. So try this at your
next conference: “Have one person at
each table turn around to eavesdrop on
the conversation without speaking…
and then have these people report in the
plenary on what they heard. After all,
don’t good managers have to be good
listeners?”
About the book
This is a playful book
with a serious message:
that management should
come down from its lofty
heights and be grounded
in engagement. The
blog style is a refreshing
departure from the
standard “how-to” genre
of management gurus.
text: Annemarie Hoeve