I saw Jeremy Gutsche at the ACUI Conference in Anaheim in 2009. I loved his presentation, and actually advocated that he present at the NC State graduation 2009 instead of the guy who focused on innovation at Xerox (huge innovators…no seriously, your copiers rock).
Exploiting Chaos is essentially the written (lots of pictures too) form of the presentation that he gave. The book is a wealth of information on how to get on the cutting edge of cool and how to create a culture of innovation from your current culture. It’s like drinking from a fire hydrant though; the book is literally filled with ideas and even encourages readers to just read the headlines on each page as they by themselves can be inspirational slogans.
Let’s be honest here, this book is not deep. Jeremy even says himself that when creating we should focus not on substance but on style and his book seems to have taken his own advice. Ever hung out with a person who feels too cool to be around your group (and he knows it)? Exploiting Chaos left me thinking “wow, jeremy gutsche is cool”. I wonder if Gutsche has read too much of his own press. Eventually, I left thinking that I didn’t really have much to learn from Gutsche except how to be a logo spouting, no substance tool.
I don’t mean to discount the value of some of what Gutsche says. He certainly provides us with some things to think about and how to be innovative and stand out. However, Gutsche feels a little too much MTV, just a bunch of cultural filler that is like eating a 5 lb bag of gummy bears, you might enjoy it at first but by the end it leaves you feeling bloated and a little disgusted with yourself.
Let’s be honest…most of our organizations suck. They’re overly concerned with creating bureaucracy to control every details of every interaction, they squelch innovation and employee creativity, and they’re filled with lifetime middle managers who probably don’t deserve the job they have. Such is life.
The best thing you can probably get from Gutsche is to stop wasting your life working in organizations that stifle the kind of creativity and collaboration that I found myself desiring after reading “Exploiting Chaos”. We’re bright people and we can do better. Much like Malcolm Gladwell said, the environment tends to dictate our actions and the culture of the organizations we work for can kill our spirit if you let it. Don’t be a casualty of bad work environments, make your own way and exploit the chaos in your own life to create real innovation and real opportunity.
