Reviews
"Frank Barrett's remarkable fusion of jazz improvisation and organizational innovation promises to reshape how we think about creative work. Innovations are improvised into existence and here, for the first time, is a backstage look at how that happens." -- Karl E. Weick, Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor, Ross School of Busiss&siness; coauthor, Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity "Barrett's insightful book shows how business can learn from the 'risky business' of jazz. Yes to the Mess is a great treatise on improvisation and on the courage to persist irrespective of a predictable outcome." -- Ellis Marsalis Jr., Professor Emeritus and Jazz Studies program founder, University of New Orleans "Jazz provides an illuminating metaphor for managing in the knowledge era. Frank Barrett writes beautifully about leadership, learning, and innovation and pulls together great stories from a range of industry settings--from jazz performance to automotive manufacturing. Yes to the Mess is a great read, which I recommend enthusiastically." -- Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School; author, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy " Yes to the Mess provides a fascinating view into the world and mind-set of jazz musicians and will stimulate you to think differently about leadership and organization. Read this book." -- Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management "This book describes a powerful and necessary paradigm shift to advance the craft of leadership in the twenty-first century. Barrett gives every aspiring leader a new model for proactively dealing with the chaos and disruption that has come to characterize the world of work in our time." -- Douglas R. Conant, former President and CEO, Campbell Soup Company; coauthor, TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments, "The book is breezy and fun, and offers vivid real-life stories from Barrett's musical career and observations about some jazz greats, all juxtaposed with anecdotes from the business world." -- Forbes "a short but powerful book about how to be more focused at work, how to understand chaos as opportunity, and how to be better prepared to approach it." -- 800 CEO READ ADVANCE PRAISE Karl E. Weick, Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor, Ross School of Busiss&siness; coauthor, Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity -- "Frank Barrett's remarkable fusion of jazz improvisation and organizational innovation promises to reshape how we think about creative work. Innovations are improvised into existence and here, for the first time, is a backstage look at how that happens." Ellis Marsalis Jr., Professor Emeritus and Jazz Studies program founder, University of New Orleans -- "Barrett's insightful book shows how business can learn from the 'risky business' of jazz. Yes to the Mess is a great treatise on improvisation and on the courage to persist irrespective of a predictable outcome." Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School; author, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy -- "Jazz provides an illuminating metaphor for managing in the knowledge era. Frank Barrett writes beautifully about leadership, learning, and innovation and pulls together great stories from a range of industry settings--from jazz performance to automotive manufacturing. Yes to the Mess is a great read, which I recommend enthusiastically." Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management -- " Yes to the Mess provides a fascinating view into the world and mind-set of jazz musicians and will stimulate you to think differently about leadership and organization. Read this book." Douglas R. Conant, former President and CEO, Campbell Soup Company; coauthor, TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments -- "This book describes a powerful and necessary paradigm shift to advance the craft of leadership in the twenty-first century. Barrett gives every aspiring leader a new model for proactively dealing with the chaos and disruption that has come to characterize the world of work in our time." Roger H. Brown, President, Berklee College of sicΜ cofounder, Bright Horizons -- "Finally! A book that applies the tools of an improvising jazz musician to great leadership. The modern world can no longer afford the orchestral model of management--lots of people playing the same part and a leader who stands apart from it all. The new world is premised on intense communication, lightning-speed decision making, risk taking, and a degree of perfected competence that allows spontaneous and brilliant composing--namely jazz. Yes to the Mess gets it right." Richard Boyatzis, Distinguished University Professor, Case Western Reserve University; coauthor, Primal Leadership and Resonant Leadership -- "With the velvety tones of Wes Montgomery and the wail of Miles Davis, professional jazz musician and management scholar Frank Barrett plays a set to enchant us. Pour a glass of wine, sit back, and listen to this engaging story of how to help teams and organizations innovate instead of replicate." Ken Peplowski, award-winning jazz clarinetist and saxophonist -- "I've known Frank Barrett for over thirty years, and we've often discussed the strange confluence of learned experience and pure intuition that exists in jazz improvisation. Frank gives us an insight into that world and how its lessons can be applied to almost any walk of life--truly fascinating!"
