Good but not a gamechanger

The latest book by Peter Fisk is good but not great.

In it, he is described as a “best-selling author, inspirational keynote speaker” and as having “25 years’ experience as an expert consultant helping business leaders to develop innovative strategies” and this description reflects my thoughts on the book.

It is obviously well researched. It is well written, accessible, engaging and informative. Fisk lives up to his billing as “inspirational” as the book is a rallying cry that should encourage readers to try and “change the world”.

His collation of trends supported by killer factoids in “Living in Zigzag Zeitgeist” is a great and eminently steal-able resource.

His selection of ‘Gamechangers’ by sector and region covering retail; finance; healthcare; consumer products; content & media; fashion; travel & hotels; food & drink; technology & networks and manufacturing was for me the strongest part of the book. The lists themselves spark debate, containing some oft-quoted examples but new ones as well. The pithy stories that accompany them are inspirational.

It is when Fisk comes to how you too, can become a gamechanger, that the book is weaker. The tools and techniques quoted throughout the book simply aren’t as fresh as the examples he quotes. As someone who can also claim 25 years as a consultant in innovation, I speak from experience when I say of many of the approaches he describes have been around for many, many years. Some I was taught as I started out in my consultancy career.

The final section of the book “Gamechanger Labs” is consultancy-heavy. Billed correctly as “16 canvases, practical toolkits and workflows to apply the best ideas to your business”, they are a series of classic management-consultancy-type boxes and flow-charts setting out very sensible well-structured, but not necessarily gamechanging templates.

In many cases they are logical and thorough. What they miss is that many of the gamechangers’ ideas were actually much more intuitive, random or more prosaically driven by the founders needs or personal passions. They do feel a bit like a guide for how an established business can try and become a gamechanger, but done in a ‘best practice’ ‘big business’ sort of way which of course misses the point. Few of the gamechangers he describes so well would have had the time or inclination to do some or indeed any of what he suggests.

The reality of becoming a gamechanger and what you need to do (e.g. focus on the cash-flow) is perhaps better analysed by James Watt, co-founder of Brewdog in “Business for Punks”

In short Fisk’s book champions and tells the stories of many gamechangers and so is an interesting and inspiring reading, but perhaps don’t get bogged down in the 100+ boxes in his Labs if you want the time and focus you’ll need to change the world!

Read more from Giles Lury here.