the absurd

Johnnie recommended I pick up Management of the Absurd by Richard Farson. As usual he is right. Most management writers fancy themselves as system builders (pocket Kants if you will). Farson is a writer more in the tradition of Nietzsche. He is less interested in the six things you need to do tomorrow to become an effective manager and more concerned with provoking you into thought and self-reflection. Some taster headings:

• Effective managers are not in control.
• Individuals are indestructible but organisations are very fragile.
• We think we want change or creativity but we really don't.

Farson is a purveyor of paradox - that disconcerting situation where a thing and its reverse can both be true. An ambiguity that is unresolvable (and ambiguity is what managers most fear). You cannot eliminate paradox, only embrace it.