Idee Strampalate Che Funzionano: Weird Ideas That Work is Published in Italian

Idee Strampalate Che Funzionano was just published in Italy.  They tell me the translation is "Ideas Weird That Work."  The publishing industry works in weird and mysterious ways. Weird Ideas That Work came out in hardback in the U.S. in 2002 and paperback in 2007. But after the success of Il Metodo Antistronzi, as they call The No Asshole Rule in Italy, my publisher Elliot (a scrappy start-up) decided to purchase and publish Weird Ideas in Italy.   I am quite curious to see what happens -- the little staff at Elliot are more impressive and relentless than any big publishing house I have ever worked with -- especially when it comes to marketing.  You can read a bit more about them here, as I wrote a trip report after I went to Italy to do some book promotion.  Il Metodo Antistronzi actually sold more copies in Italy during the first year of publication than copies of The No Asshole Rule were sold in the U.S. during the first-- and it was a New York Times bestseller here, on the BusinessWeek bestseller list for 6 months, and of all books published in 2007, it was the #32 bestseller on Amazon (and the #8 business book).  So these people can hustle. 

I wasn't surprised when they were able to land a big story in L'Espresso on the book, which they described as sort of like the Time Magazine of Italy -- you can see at least the first page of the article here -- Download lespresso.JPG.  But I was shocked -- and then amused -- to realize that a long email  interview that I did with a reporter from the Italian version of Marie Claire (and I think some text from the book) was used in a joke calender (that contains a blend of English and Italian). If you speak Italian, I would love to know how they used my text -- I can read the English like "Trouble. Luck can last a lifetime unless you die young" with a picture of a cheetah chasing its prey.  Here is a pdf of the entire calender if you are curious -- Download marie_claire.pdf

I squirm a little when I see things this over the top, but then I realize that there is no reason to take myself so seriously.  And I've also learned that when you have the luck and privilege to work with people who are creative, work very hard, and not afraid to take some risks, it is better to go with it, enjoy the ride, and realize that change and innovation is about pushing the edge.  And when you feel a uncomfortable, that is a sign you are doing something new.

Creativity happens when people are in their discomfort zone and they entice others to join them on the unsettling and uncertain ride.  Indeed, this one of the main messages of Weird Ideas That Work.

P.S. As an important footnote, another message is that creativity, taking risks, and pushing the edge are things that should be done under conditions where it isn't possible to do much harm.  Having a silly calender published in Italy, at worst, will leave some people with the impression that I am not a sufficiently serious management thinker.  But if the same approach is used by the pilot flying your plane, the surgeon who is taking our your spleen, or the people who are managing our investments can lead to disaster.  As Diego says, a great question is "Where is your place for failing?"  Every organziation needs one, but you need to pick a place -- or a set of problems -- where the learning and upside can be high and the potential damage is low.

Comments

[Bob Sutton]

Maurizio,

Thanks for the correction -- I fixed it!

[Maurizio]

The tiger in the calendar is not a tiger, it is a cheetah :)

[nraynaud]

"Every organization needs one, but you need to pick a place -- or a set of problems -- where the learning and upside can be high and the potential damage is low."

I suppose you take Italy as a sandbox for your marketing experiments ? I'm not sure Italians will appreciate this.

This is not a personal attack, I find your books interesting, it's just that I think you overlooked something.