Out Of Context: A Creative Approach To Strategic Management

Out of Context: A Creative Approach to Strategic Management

Out of Context complements traditional texts in strategic management rather than substitutes for them. It helps readers to think about strategy conceptually and creatively, not just analytically, with a useful tool to achieve that end. Using metaphor as the principal means to uncover new insights, Wagner Weick has assembled a set of challenging resources. Combining readings from a wide-ranging mix of disciplines-sports, science, philosophy, art, and military history-with thoughtful introductions and thought-provoking discussion questions. Contributing authors include academics, such as Henry Mintzberg (McGill) and Kathleen Eisenhardt (Stanford), and practitioners, such as Boston Consulting Group founder Bruce Henderson.ReviewStrategic management, particularly when building new organizations, requires thinking in innovative ways. Out of Context encourages the reader to do just this. I have found concepts and terminology from sports strategy to be effective teaching tools for years. This book makes it clear there are many other contexts to which we can look to help chart the future of businesses, and explain that future to others in ways they'll better understand, leading to more effective implementation.Cynthia Wagner Weick's Out of Context paradoxically provides a wealth of new, analogical contexts for making sense of strategic issues. She clearly conveys the power of structural metaphors--which amount to complex, qualitative equations. The diverse selections that Wagner Weick has chosen provide educators and managers alike with stimulating vehicles for understanding and communicating strategic choice. I look forward to using this valuable resource in my own MBA and Executive MBA courses in strategic management.Planning for business strategy has always been a cornerstone of effective business management. Professor Wagner Weick's book does a great job of linking thought leadership and the use of metaphor both to drive strategy as well as communicate to the rest of the organization. Read it ... it will be a great help.About the AuthorDr. Cynthia Wagner Weick is Professor of Management at University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California, where she has been a faculty member for over twelve years. She has academic training and industry experience in both business administration and the biological sciences, and has held positions in strategic planning and technology management at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the United Nations Development Program, and Battelle Columbus Laboratories. She earned her doctorate at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and her M.S. and B.S. at the Ohio State University.