Amazon.co.uk Review
Oh dear--a book called Funky Business by two Swedish academics. At first glance it has all the allure of Benny and Bjorn's (from Abba) sadly never released concept album about life as a middle manger in a multinational conglomerate. There is something very earnestly hip about the way that Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale of the Stockholm School Of Economics present themselves. "They do gigs not seminars. These gigs sell out. They have shaved heads and wear black", says the blurb.
But that's what makes Funky Business worth reading. It's not so much the novelty of its argument--which boils down to the idea that in an oversupplied world, ideas are what separate successful companies and successful individuals from the failures. It is the vitality of the argument and, dare I say it, the rhythm of the language that make it so compelling. "Traditional roles, jobs, skills, ways of doing things, insights, strategies, aspirations, fears and expectations no longer count. In this environment we cannot have business as usual. We need business as unusual. We need different business. We need innovative business. We need unpredictable business. We need surprising business. We need funky business."
The book, which is almost a virtuoso display of rhetoric and intellectual power, bursts at the seams with the exuberant force of its argument and the weight of its highly colourful supporting evidence. Sources quoted range from the Pope to the Prodigy. Funky Inc, they say, "isn't like any other company. It is not a dull, old conglomerate. It is not a rigid bureaucracy. It is an organisation that actually thrives on the changing circumstances and unpredictability of our times."
This is great entertainment. But the slick veneer does not invalidate the way that the book pulls together many existing strands of thought about how business is developing and evokes a coherent and intriguing vision of a future whose main feature will be incoherence.
This really is one for all the family. Or at least all those old enough to have a job. --Alex Benady
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Funky Business is the antidote to bland writing and bland thinking."
Tom Peters "Could barely, literally put down, Funky Business."
Warren Bennis "The gospel of the new thinking is Funky Business
" -
Industry Standard "It's the best un-businesslike business book I have ever read ....Funky Business is less of a business handbook and more of a religion. It should be treated like a chain letter - read it and pass it onto 10 other people." (or even better, tell 10 other people to buy it) .... This book should carry a government health warning: Read with care - this book will seriously blow your mind. Go on, read it, be a devil - after all, you only live once." -
Human Resources "You know when Time magazine trumps the rebirth of design on its from cover that something's up. You know too that the world of "boring is best commerce" is taking note of change when books like Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom's Funky Business hits the best-seller lists." -
Viewpoint magazine "Funky Business is a better book than most novels but it is not for bedtime. It will jerk you out of your complacency and make you question your very existence. It will transform your brain
." - Customer Management "This is the New Economy's Killer Book!" Some say they can't put a certain book down. This one I had to - regularly - in order to recover from the impact of the statement I had just read. I'm in the Internet business and thought I understood plenty about the New Economy. But this book didn't just open my eyes, it ripped them out and tossed them high in the sky!"
- Rich Preece , Hamburg, Germany, Amazon Customer Services "Funky Business - the groovy bible of modern business philosophy" -
Red magazine "The sweat-shirted Mr Ridderstrale has become the antidote to the graph-wielding business academics on the lecture circuit."
Richard Donkin, The Financial Times "What I've found really thought-provoking has been
Funky Business by Ridderstrale and Nordstrom - this is so well-written and entertaining, and it conveys some pretty heavy messages such as business and the world will never be the same again, now values are changing the impact of technology, and the new society which is evolving. "
- Paul Mosson, Director of HR at Dewar's "The reader will see that this book has a lot to say, and says it clearly, provocatively and breathlessly. Some of the analysis has been done before, and better, but the particular vision of funkiness is worth having to hand."-
Martin Ward, Knowledge Management
by Kjell Nordstrom
by John Mullins
