"A theatre company consistently delivers a valuable, innovative product under the pressure of a very firm deadline (opening night). That product, a play, executes with great precision, incorporating significant innovations every time, but finishing within 30 seconds of the same length every time."

Wish your project teams could do this?

That this book is the collaboration of two professors is not so odd, but wait... Rob Austin is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School; Lee Devin is a professor of theatre. What could they possibly have in common? Their conclusion:

"Like it or not, artists have something useful to say to business people. Let's get use to that. And use it."

This book is not about agility, not about software development, not about project management. So why recommend it? How a theater director guides an ensemble of actors in making a play is a remarkably potent model for leading knowledge workers. Carefully tracing the evolution of leadership through the eras of ancient making and industrial making, Austin and Devin make their case that artful making drives the forces of convergence and emergence to reliably create innovation. Artful Making provides a profound model for agile leadership and had quickly become one of may favorite books.

Read it today, regardless of your role, it will make you a better leader.