Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance (Paperback)

~ (Author), Kjelle A. Nordstrom (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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 earnestly hip about the way Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle 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 the authors' argument, which boils down to the notion that in an oversupplied world, ideas are what separate successful companies and individuals from failures. Rather, it's the vitality of their argument and the rhythm of their language that make their ideas 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 force of its argument and the weight of its colorful evidence. Sources quoted range from the pope to the British band 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 organization 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 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 the whole family. Or at least those old enough to have a job. --Alex Benady --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Financal Times Management; 2nd edition (December 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0273659073
• ISBN-13: 978-0273659075
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #573,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action Book, July 2, 2002

By	Denis Cherkasov (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance (Paperback)

Move it.
Move it fast.
Move it faster.
Move it now.

These are the words, which summarize all the 245 pages of the book and energize them. Although casual in style and easy-to-understand in language, Funky Business is yet a profound and philosophical survey of the recent shift of basic values in social and business structures of the global society. Those, who understand the spirit and emotions of Mission Impossible II or Swordfish - Password Accepted, will definitely appreciate both the style and the message. For the `businessmen', who love ACID Jazz the message of the book is also easy to catch. The other guys may miss it out.

True, none of the business concepts, exposed in the book is new to the business community. But the authors created the brand new vision of the modern business through hy-phe-nation (as they describe the phenomenon themselves) of the latest ideas. Only such a weird combination of ideas helped them to produce the most beautiful (and harmonious?) description of a competitive advantage I ever learnt: "Competitive advantages weigh no more than the dreams of a butterfly". I understood the vitality of this phrase when I heard one of businessman in Russia (not oil, timber or caviar tycoon) telling, that he is "dedicated to the quality of idea in his business, because the highest quality of idea is the only thing impossible to be replicated immediately". And this gives him a competitive advantage. Once again: it was asserted not from the sends of California, but from the woods of Russia. What else should be said or done to prove the unambiguous victory of Forces of Funk throughout the world?

But above all, this is not the book to read, to learn and to forget. This is the ACTION book. It wakes up those who haven't yet understood that Future Just Happened. And it puts more pressure on those who are already awoken in order to move faster. My judgement is that Funky Business is a must-read for everyone in business: from an intern to the CEO. We already did it in our office. Every newcomer MUST read Funky Business in a bid to speak with his peers and bosses (very few, really) in the same language.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the New Economy's Killer Book!, August 3, 2000

By	Rich Preece ([e-mail]) (Hamburg Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance (Paperback)

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like being hit by a machine gun, June 26, 2000

By	Marque Pierre Sondergaard "World's Best Textu... (Liverpool, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance (Paperback)

This is the way business books ought to be. Michael Porter take cover. These Swedes have something to say, and they do so no holds barred. The contents might not all be white hot news to everybody, but all in all the book is a great place to start if you want to get up to speed on the immediate future and present. The books main attributes are:

A very refreshing approach to the world, not just business/economics, including humans as persons. Very wholistic, and I admire the way these intuitives manage to link everything together in the cobweb we name the world.

The style of writing is very intriguing in the way it is unheard of so far in this genre. It is like a machine gun in its rhythm and explosiveness.

The chapters on how to live and maximize your potential as a worker in the future. Very useful to anybody.

I reccomend this book to anybody that wants to know what this "new economy", "network economy" or "internet economy" means.