Out-of-the-box writing

To break the monotony in laying down management theory as it is, some authors are experimenting with new forms of storytelling

Let us accept it. Management literature is suffering from theme fatigue. Just browse through a list of recently published management books and you will be able to tell the subject matter in the title itself: Leadership Conversations, Leading with Conviction, Redefining Leadership, What Leaders Ought to Know. When they are not telling you how to turn into a great leader and make people genuflect before you in obeisance, they would be trying to demystify 'innovation' for you or force you to learn to deal with 'uncertainty'.

Mind you, it is not just about the theme. In terms of treatment too there is unwavering sameness. Most management books that you will come across today can be divided into two broad categories.

The more common 'how to' category will teach you 'how to be a good negotiator' or 'how to build self-confidence' and so on. No pretensions here - they are about plain vanilla management spiel. Then there is the category that follows the simple template of identifying a problem and then explaining how companies grappled with it. Over the years, this category of books has become a way of saying thanks to the clients of the author. So it may not come as a surprise to see the ex - or even a current - CEO of an advertising agency or an independent CEO coach putting a few chapters in a book that glorify the company's clients. If you look at them carefully, there is hardly any difference between the two. One is about you-can-do-it-this-way; the other is about I-did-it-this way. From the looks of it, there is a third way emerging. In fact, in recent years many authors have experimented with this framework.

Looking beyond the traditional treatment of management theory, authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble have used fables as a teaching tool in their book, How Stella Saved the Farm. Packed with insights on team building, project management and on driving innovation, the story is set in a farmhouse run by animals. Glossy pages and colorful pictures have been used to create the look and feel of children's fiction. All this contributed significantly towards creating the right hook.

In Bosses of the Wild, author Manjiri Gokhale Joshi likens boss personality types to 10 kinds of animals. The analogy provides an insight into where the boss comes from, what affects her behaviour, and even predicting how she is likely to behave in specific situations. In Confucius on Leadership, John Adair culls out leadership insights from the revered Chinese philosopher's ideas. While the subject matter is not new, the presentation makes a difference by giving the average reader a reason to flip the pages.

Business Sutra is another example of a business book with a twist. Future Group's chief belief officer Devdutt Pattanaik strings together ideas from Jain, Hindu, Buddhist, Greek and Biblical traditions to find an Indian approach to business. His ideas are supported by diagrams, flowcharts and illustrations. Most chapters begin with a story pulled out of Indian mythology and culminates with an imaginary business case study. Since the narrative defies linearity, the reader can start from any page.

Dwell time on books has been falling dramatically in today's digitised world and the author shows no intention of forcing readers to go through their tomes.

Repositioning management literature shall we say?