個案總覽

To move forward, society needs geniuses--those rare individuals whose flashes of insight and imagination change the way we live and see the world. Traditionally, we look for them in the arts and sciences, but geniuses appear in many guises. They can be engineers, designers, analysts, and even managers. Yet for all their creative energy, geniuses don't always make the best employees, colleagues, or bosses. They are notoriously prickly people, and they can be fiercely individualistic. Moreover, they can be surprisingly fragile. They frequently act with flamboyance, but inside they are deeply vulnerable. To understand how a manager might approach the challenges of genius, HBR senior editor Diane L. Coutu recently talked with choreographer and dancer Mark Morris. A MacArthur Fellowship winner, Morris has created some of modern dance's most enduring works, and his dance group is widely considered to be the most exciting company in the business. Morris' work with live music requires that he manage the genius of sopranos and virtuoso conductors who collaborate with his dance troupe. That makes him uniquely suited to discuss the realities of living with genius--from the inside as well as the outside. In this article, Morris discusses the roots of creativity, the truth about prima donnas, the dangers of living with mediocrity, and his drive toward authenticity. He also offers his candid opinion on geniuses: "These people are up against their own egos; that's why they're so delicate or flamboyant or insecure. Those qualities all amount to the same thing: vulnerability." To work with people effectively, he says, you must be completely honest: "Real artists or geniuses...especially need the truth. They're not fooled by false praise and empty encouragement."

TQM, thought leadership, dot-com, dot-bomb, golden parachute: the litany of business jargon could go on for pages. HBR talks with Marjorie Garber about jargon, why we respond to it as we do, and why it's here to stay.

In today's technology-driven world, who has time to pick up a 400-page novel? Most executives don't--they have urgent e-mails to answer, training seminars to attend, meetings to lead, and trade publications to scan. But according to Harold Bloom, one of America's most influential scholars, they should make time in their hectic schedules to read great works. In a wide-ranging conversation with HBR senior editor Diane Coutu, Bloom discusses the importance of literature: every individual--regardless of profession--needs to stretch his or her mind and reflect now and again on the human condition. "By reading great imaginative literature, you can prepare yourself for surprise and even get a kind of strength that welcomes and exploits the unexpected," he says. Because there are so many great works and there is so little time, Bloom presents a reading list for busy executives. Bloom believes the humanities have much to offer businesspeople: great books broaden their awareness and their range of sensibility, he says. But reading literature will not make businesspeople more moral, he cautions. Bloom also discusses other topics such as how to read well, the state of popular fiction, the role of irony, and the subject of change.

C.J. Albert, the head of family-owned Armor Coat Insurance, receives an unsettling phone call from his star salesman. Fifty-two-year-old Ed McGlynn has just returned from a business dinner with his younger technology mentor, and he's none too happy with the way he's being treated. If C.J. doesn't take this attack dog off him, Ed warns, he's gone. C.J. had indeed assigned 28-year-old Roger Sterling--the company's monomaniacal, slightly antisocial director of e-commerce--to teach Ed about digital strategy and the Web. Reverse mentoring seemed like a good way to create synergy between the sales and technology groups. The goal was to create a digital insurance product that would allow Armor Coat to keep up with its competitors. But there'd been tension between Ed and Roger right from the start--stemming from their personalities and their two departments. So when the two reluctantly agreed to meet for dinner to talk, the conversation didn't go well. C.J. faces some difficult discussions with both disgruntled parties. What should he do? Six commentators, including a mentor-protege pair, offer their advice in this fictional case study.

Though only five years old, employee-owned St. Luke's Communications has become one of the most talked about advertising agencies in the United Kingdom, increasing its profits eightfold. Chairman and cofounder Andy Law attributes the firm's success to its determination to continuously reinvent itself in a world populated by dot-coms and mega-ad agencies. St Luke's intends to revolutionize the way business is done and provide a credible alternative to the capitalism of both the old economy and the new. To that end, it pushes its people to take enormous risks. As Law says in this candid interview, "We're fundamentally convinced that there is a connection between co-ownership, creativity, collaboration, and competitive advantage." Safety and fear play key roles. No one has ever been fired for poor performance, so employees can feel secure about their jobs, but the firm requires people "to peel away all the levels of their personalities....That's truly frightening." Self-knowledge, Law says, "is the DNA of a creative company in the creative age."