Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People

Citation

Willens, C. (2010), "Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 42 No. 7, pp. 398-399. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197851011080388

The authors Goffee and Jones have previously published management guides The Character of A Corporation: How Your Company's Culture Can Make or Break Your Business (1998) and Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?: What It Takes to Be an Authentic Leader (2006) which, like this current book was based on an award winning article in Harvard Business Review.

Published by Harvard Business Press and building on a Harvard Business Review article, Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People is aimed clearly at business people wishing to know more about current thinking on management and leadership ideas. It reads largely like an extended magazine article and would probably make good travel reading for a high‐flying manager looking to expand his or her pool of leadership ideas. The referencing is light and sometimes inconsistent and although the research is broad in terms of the extensive number of research interviews conducted the book lacks the rigour that would be expected of an academic text. The book is aimed at an international audience and is written in American English, although, as Europe‐based authors, many of the case studies concentrate on British institutions such as the NHS and BBC sign‐posted as being in the UK for the sake of overseas readers who may not be so familiar with these institutions.

The book's stated aim is to advise managers on how to lead “clever people” in maximising their own potential and that of the organization as a whole. They define clever people as “highly talented individuals with the potential to create disproportionate amounts of value from the resources that the organization makes available to them.” However, as the book explores numerous examples it provides ideas for leadership in teams and organizations comprising any highly skilled or creative employees.

The book is divided into three parts: “Leader and led”; “Clever teams”; and “Clever organizations”. Each part contains two chapters each: “Understanding clever people and what can leaders do?”; “The anatomy of clever teams and breaking the code of clever teams”; and “Contours of the clever organization and the future of clever organizations”.

Part one discusses the characteristics of clever people and their role in organizations and some specific leadership advice for dealing with such individuals. Part two describes the nature and management of clever teams, teams of or containing clever people. Part three looks at the effect of clever teams and individuals on the organization as a whole and the challenges of maximising their potential within and for an organization.

Generally, the book is clearly written, the language is accessible and the print layout and extensive use of subheadings mean it is easy to read. As the research comprised mostly interviews, it has a journalistic style as the opinions of the research subjects, mostly managers and leaders in influential organizations are reported. The leadership techniques discussed are contrasted with traditional “command and control” management techniques which would appear to remain appropriate for non‐“clevers.”

Some of the research subjects are introduced with fairly comprehensive potted CVs whilst others are simply referred to by name, and their statements are often lacking in supportive evidence to show how effective the management styles that they have employed have been. The references to academic research used as background evidence date back in some cases to the early twentieth century and academic references within the last decade are very limited. This lends the book the feel of an extended opinion pieces that could be useful in generating further discussion. It would also lend itself as the basis for an interesting talk or presentation on the idea of managing uniquely creative teams. Some of the contemporary references may rapidly lose their relevance as stories such as competition rigging in television competitions, Jerome Kerviel at Société Générale and the takeover of Genentech by Roche Pharmaceuticals fall out of the news and common consciousness. Many of these stories are referred to but not explained, which may alienate a reader who does not avidly read the business press. Likewise, some management theories such as psychological contracts and Belbin team types are also referred to without explanation.

In chapter one, they describe “a business book such as this” as “a global product to be marketed, mined, and maximised.” Doubtless, with the associated website and potential for presentations on the conference speaker circuit where it can promote discussions on modern leadership techniques this publication will find success in an interlinked globalised business community.