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The Beauty of the Beast

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The Beauty of the Beast

Breathing New Life into Organizations

Berrett-Koehler,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Beautiful organizations? It must be a fairy tale...

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Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Geoff Bellman’s take on the Beauty and the Beast story is intended to help you breathe new life into stagnant, unworkable bureaucracies. While nicely written, this book fails to provide much in the way of hands-on technique that can be applied to real-life business. Nevertheless, getAbstract recommends this book to anyone looking for an uncommonly inspirational viewpoint of modern-day organizations.

Summary

Facing the Beast

Recognize this line? "We have created a monster!" It’s not just something out of a science fiction or horror story. It applies to today’s corporate life. The monster? The corporate organization. People have a love-hate relationship with corporations, and there’s certainly plenty to hate. But it’s a system that, ironically, people perpetuate - particularly, the parts that clearly don’t work.

The future of organizations can be compared to the fairy tale "The Beauty and the Beast," in which a merchant gives his pure-hearted daughter, Belle, to the Beast in exchange for his own life. At first, Belle is horrified, but she decides to look for the best in the Beast and gradually finds it. In fact, she finds fulfillment where she at first felt revulsion. Can everyone ultimately find fulfillment in organizations that can be similarly revolting? Perhaps, like Belle, you can face and find life where we stand, to choose in this moment to create the next. When you make such a choice, you may be able to breathe new life into your organization.

It’s time to reassess organizations and to develop new perspectives on their functions and on how they can be changed...

About the Author

Geoff Bellman  is the award-winning author of Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge, The Consultant’s Calling, and Your Signature Path. He has worked in the corporate world for 35 years as a manager, analyst, and consultant. His clients have included GTE, Intuit, Shell, Boeing, TRW, PacifiCorp, Booz-Allen Hamilton, and Simpson Investment.

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