BOOK REVIEW: Business is Beautiful

Business is Beautiful

Authors: Jean-Baptiste Danet, Nick Liddell, Lynne Dobney, Dorothy MacKenzie 

Publisher: LID Publishing

Reviewer: Alan Kittle, Creative Director at Mason Zimbler

Business is Beautiful: The Hard Art of Standing Apart, written by global design and innovation business Dragon Rouge, was a well-timed addition to my library of “curated case study” business books.

 Its authors make the case for great businesses not simply measuring success in monetary terms, since “everything that counts cannot be counted”. They outline five necessary hallmarks when setting out to make a beautiful business, which in turn makes a valuable contribution to society:

Integrity; Curiosity; Elegance; Craft and Prosperity.

This book was given to me when our agency’s leaders are reflecting on our current values and brand essence. I was delighted to find – as I read through the stories of great brands like Arup, BMW, Rabobank and Threadless – that we are not alone in wanting to stand apart.

In fact, like our vision to create beautifully effective technology marketing, there’s a consensus that you can’t have just business or pleasure; science or art … you have to have bit of both.

One chapter – entitled ‘Encouraging challenge’ – particularly resonated when it suggested that businesses which culturally place too much emphasis on harmony and consensus are “doomed to mediocrity”. We’re looking to embed a winning culture based on brave decision-making here and I’ve already quoted directly from this section to my creative department … I can assure you the message was warmly received!

As you’d expect from a branding agency the book features beautiful typography and its illustrations are bold, simple and demand a second look.

I suspect its contents will also be referred to (on many occasions) as I continue to seek inspiration from brands who’ve taken the path less travelled and ultimately been vindicated for doing so.

I’d recommend this to any business leader who’s at the point where they’re trying to work out how to build a great business and brand.

Star rating: 4/5

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