Substance of Style + Change Management = biz trends to watch

The quarterly magazine Strategy in Business just published its list of the best business books. Randall Rothenberg, editor in chief, recommends:

The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness (Virginia Postrel)

The “look and feel” of people, places, and things are more important than we think. Aesthetic pleasure taps deep human instincts and is essential for creativity and growth. Drawing from fields as diverse as fashion, real estate, politics, design, and economics, Postrel deftly chronicles our culture’s aesthetic imperative and argues persuasively that it is a vital component of a healthy, forward-looking society. MORE: http://www.dynamist.com/tsos/

After reading, I am convinced and would only add "imagination and sound" to her list as well. If you don't have time to read the book, I have two words for you: "Apple Ipod."

Change Without Pain: How Managers Can Overcome Initiative Overload, Organizational Chaos, and Employee Burnout (Eric Abrahamson)

Abrahamson advocates changes that avert the cynicism and anxiety bred by "change or perish" leadership fads. Abrahamson, a management professor at Columbia Business School in New York, calls his technique "creative recombination," in which companies look within for the resources to bring about change rather than destroying what they have and imposing new processes and structures.

READ MORE: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_6_49/ai_n6076899