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Gower’s Transformation and Innovation Series will have produced, by the end of 2013, an impressive collection of volumes.
Together, the authors have created an enormously rich resource base for transformation agents in the field of business and economics, but also within society at large. The series provides new, integral approaches to business, management, finance, economics, development, research and other related fields – while consistently combining theory and practice. It draws on different cultural knowledge bases, enabling the reader to effectively contextualize and practically engage in transformation processes leading to new sustainable realities in business, economics and beyond.
Embodying an enormous cultural diversity, together the series represents 12 countries, spread across Africa, Asia, Europe and USA. With each author working with and highlighting her or his particular cultural and societal context, we can proudly speak of a truly transcultural series.
The home page for the series includes prologues to read, and each book below has a free chapter to read on our website.
AN OVERALL INTEGRAL PERSPECTIVE:
…and the forthcoming: Integral Development: Realising the Transformative Potential of Individuals, Organisations and Societies
A MIDDLE EASTERN ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE:
…and the forthcoming: Transforming Trade Policy in an Arab State: A Postmodern Approach
AN ASIAN SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE:
…and the forthcoming: Remaking Ourselves, Enterprise and Society: An Indian Approach to Human Values in Management
AN AFRICAN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE:
…and the forthcoming: An Integral Approach to Development Economics: Islamic Finance in an African Context
A EUROPEAN TECHNOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE:
…and the forthcoming: Crafting an Integral Enterprise: Towards a Sustainable Telecommunications Sector
AN AMERICAN SPIRITUAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE:
Enter your projects for the International Design for All Foundation Awards 2013.
The deadline for submitting entries to the awards is 17th February 2013. Entering is easy – all the details are available on the Awards website.
The Awards offer an opportunity for public bodies, private companies and not-for-profit organisations to gain international recognition for the projects they have undertaken in the field of Design for All. In addition, any individual or organisation can send their ideas for user-centred design projects in Living Labs, in order to find the best design solutions for everyday problems through the involvement of real-life end-users.
The Award ceremony will take place on 20th March 2013 during the International Design Biennial in Saint-Étienne, France.
The Founder and President of the Design for All Foundation is Francesc Aragall, who is co-author of the Gower book Universal Design.
Gordon Pearson’s interview with Bob Garlick on Business Book Talk is a revelation. Gordon’s one of those academic authors who can talk about issues at a level of global economic theory in a way that gives you a real sense of what the driving forces are in the background behind operational businesses. His ideas on cooperation-based businesses really deserve to be picked up at a policymaker level but in the meantime, it’s open for you and I to explore and aspire to a post-crisis world that is robust and sustainable, rather than lurching from one mess to another. Gordon Pearson is author of The Road to Co-operation and The Rise and Fall of Management.
There is a huge amount that business leaders can learn from the military experience; the trouble is that in many cases, the lessons require translation. Bob Garlick’s interview in Business Book Talk with Nicholas Beale (Strategy Consultant) and David Ellery (Foreign Office) really opens up the oppportunity for business leaders to learn from the military and vice-versa. Some readers and listeners may view this confluence of business and battle as evidence of the increasing commercialisation of war but I don’t think this points to that at all; rather it’s the first, rather successful attempt, to distill pragmatic and universal leadership lessons in a langauge that makes them relevant to all. Vice-Admiral Charles Style, Nicholas Beale and David Ellery are the co-editors of In Business and Battle: Strategic Leadership in the Civilian and Military Spheres.
As one of the baby boomer generation, I freely admit that sometimes I have struggled to keep up with the mindset of Generation Xers, let alone the newest generations that have followed, so I found Alexander Manu’s thought piece on how brands can engage the Millennnial Generation a great source of enlightenment – not least because I am beginning to understand and embrace some of the concepts such as gamification to which he alludes. If you are involved in any aspect of brand management, marketing or design, do take a moment to read it. Alexander Manu’s new book Behavior Space: Play, Pleasure and Discovery as a Model for Business Value is published in December.
The role of President is generally associated with the ‘leader as hero’ tradition and not with what Douglas Long describes as Third Generation Leadership: “a leadership approach that elicits engagement, commitment, and enhanced personal, group, and organisational accountability”. But maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama is in this new mould. There certainly seems to be an appetite for it as Douglas’ book was the ‘most in demand’ title at the recent Frankfurt Bookfair where we received reading copy requests from companies publishing in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Tukish and Russian.
Philip Weiss’ presentation at a recent event in Brussels picks up a theme that has been around for a number of years but, one that I still think organizations have difficulty accommodating; even thought it is pretty much basic common sense. Innovation involves trial and error and innovation in the context of accelerating speeds of change involves plenty of opportunities for geting it wrong. Every organization needs to work out the dimensions of their own particular tightrope: play it too safe and you’re soon out of the game; overcomplicate the whole process or fail to learn from your failures and it’s also ‘game over’. Philip is author of the forthcoming book Hyperthinking: Creating a New Mindset for the Age of Networks.
Nearly 700 participants registered for the PMI Webinar on Sustainability in Project Management by Gilbert Silvius this week. For those who missed it and would like to see the presentation, it is available via this link.
Gilbert Silvius is co-author of the critically acclaimed Sustainability in Project Management published by Gower - to read the reviews and sample chapters please follow the link.
If you are in the UK, continental Europe or the Middle East, then Michel Thiry’s two-day seminar on programme management is coming to you. I’ve seen Michel deliver his material to a group and he does have a wonderfully pragmatic approach to what can often be an arcane and complex subject. The dates for his two-day PMI seminar are Dubai – 23rd and 24th September; Barcelona – 1st and 2nd October and London – 30th and 31st October.
Michel Thiry is author of Gower Publishing’s Program Management.
AOM , Boston, Massachusetts, August 3-7.
The 2012 programme theme is The Informal Economy and you will find us at stand number 125 in the Publisher exhibition hall. Commissioning Editor Martin West will be in attendance, he will be happy to chat about our books, your proposals, and your ideas for new subjects…
Eric Bolland, one of the editors of Solutions and others of his author team from Midway College will sign copies of their book; Jonathan Smith (author of Misleadership) is having a paper he co-wrote presented; and Guler Aras, the editor of our CSR series will be there if you wish to discuss a proposal for the series.
We are as usual sponsoring the PTC Awards ceremony.
