Creative Company: How St. Luke's Became the Ad Agency to End All Ad Agencies Hardcover – 1 Jul 1999

According to Law, business "can treat you as well or as badly as it chooses, yet we devote our lives unthinkingly to it and donate almost all of our knowledge and learning and creativity and sweat without any regard to its true value." On first blush, this comment seems cynical (or so it did to me when I first read it) and yet I agree with the implication that the unspoken but primary objective of most organizations is to protect their own status quo. As a result, "we have achieved only a small percentage of the innovation we could achieve." In this book, Law discusses St. Luke's, "the ad agency to end all ad agencies," in which he and his associates keep on developing new ideas. Their perpetual vision is to open minds. "And because [St. Luke's] has opened its own and the minds of those who have come to know it, I hope this book contributes to the pursuit of that vision and that you, the reader, husband, wife, employer, human are changed by it in some way."
At this point, I hasten to add that Law does not then provide a series of checklists of key points, what to do and not do, etc. His is what I guess could be called a personal memoir whose focus is on a truly unique workplace, the St. Luke's advertising agency in London. It would be foolish -- however -- for any of his readers to use St. Luke's as a model. Worse yet, to attempt to transform their own organizations into clones of St. Luke's. Rather, if I understand Law's objectives in this book (which I may not), he challenges and encourages his readers to think differently about what they do and how they do it, to think differently about the organization in which they do it, and -- in ways and to the extent appropriate -- to redevelop the "landscape" of their working lives.
There are several reasons why I have such a high regard for this book. Here are three. First, Law shares a number of profound insights concerning quality of life in the workplace. To summarize them in this brief commentary (out of context) would, however, trivialize them. Suffice to say that believing in the value of what you do to earn a living and feeling appreciated by others with whom you do it are two of the most important values within a workplace. Second, much can be done to create a physical environment within which to nourish creative thinking. With meticulous care, Law explains how he and his associates at St. Luke's did so. Finally, Law makes an eloquent as well as convincing argument to support his belief that creative ideas about the process of creative thinking are at least as important (if not more so) as the results of that process. Stated another way, creative thinking requires both new "wine" AND new "bottles."
Law insists that this is not just a business book. "It's also a kind of fairytale I guess because at times I still can't believe it all happened the way it did." In addition to being an entertaining raconteur, Law also offers a number of excellent insights as to how almost any human community can become a "creative company." It remains for each reader to answer various "soul-searching questions" which Law poses. Efforts to formulate those responses as well as the responses themselves will largely determine the value of this book.

malcolm.corbett@poptel.net from London, UK , 10 November, 1998 Great book! An inspiration to co-ops too I am chair of ICOM, the federation of co-operative businesses in the UK and of Social Enterprise London, promoting co-operative solutions in the capital. I am also marketing director of Poptel, a top 20 Internet company which is structured as a co-op.
I particularly liked Andy's enthusiasm for the co-operative structure St Lukes adopted, and the success they have achieved since. For those of us who have long advocated a human-centred approach to the workplace, and made the workers into owners, the infectious zest of 'Open Minds' is a real tonic.
I agree with Andy's central message: we are moving beyond the industrial age, and that means moving beyond industrial age business structures. At Poptel it is axiomatic that to achieve success we need all of our our staff to think and act creatively. And that requires the genuine empowerment that comes from joint ownership on a one member one vote basis.
It's a great structure for the 21st century, and there are plenty of businesses practising it now, albeit on a small scale. Hats off to Andy for putting the ideas onto a much larger canvass.

An incredibly inspiring book for all of us who loves the industry. Andy Law and his crew, are some of the gutsiest people, the kind of people who dosen't just talk but actually carry out their dream. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Terence Milbourn <terence@filegate.demon.co.uk> from Bournemouth, UK , 24 October, 1998 The best book I've read on how to make work fun. Like Guy Kawasaki's book "How to Drive Your Competition Crazy", the content is far more valuable than any literary brownie points awarded for style. Having said that, I must admit on many occasions I felt humbled by the power of the ideas this book contains and very jealous of the author's clarity of thinking and power of expression, at others. You will gain much from Andy Law's "Open Minds" if you simply wade in through a slow introduction, ignore the annoying and surpassingly regular typos, don't be put of by a style which changes at times, as if written by someone else entirely, and just concentrate on the message. For in that message is the real hope of a brighter future -- not just for advertising companies, but for all of us who go out to work.
Andy tells us in passionate detail about a part of his life's journey and of those sharing that journey around him. The who, what where when and how if it all. If you are fascinated by advertising people; how they can survive and prosper in the creative environment in spite of their apparently illogical actions and intuitive reactions, you'll find you won't be able to put this book down.
I found a kindred spirit struggling to make something good out of the mess which 20th Century business life has become, and you too might feel a sort of pride in what St. Luke's has already accomplished. The more so if you find yourself empathizing, as I did, with the reasons why this fledgling agency eschewed the tinsel and fame of the annual advertising awards circus, in favor of simply doing good work. Work which works.
You won't find in this book a list of how to's and best practice examples, although I wish he would write one for all of us not lucky enough not to have him as our Chairman. But no, it's not that kind of business book. In fact, it's not really a business book at all. It's more like soul food for the business battle weary. The big problem is, I suspect, that most of us either don't know how battle weary we are, or don't realize we can change things.
Andy, and the girls and guys at St. Luke show us, we can!