Associations Now published an article not too long ago by David Riveness titled "Bring in the Jester: Encouraging Open Interaction in the Workplace." I blogged about it, because I thought it made some important points about telling the truth in organizations. In fact, I'm going to have an article coming out on that topic in May. Stay tuned!
David was kind enough to send me a copy of the book that he wrote on that topic so I could review it here on my blog.
The Secret Life of the Corporate Jester
by David T. Riveness
Jardin Publishing, 2006
Riveness' basic point about jestership has nothing to do with funny hats or juggling. In fact, the tradition of the jester that he talks about in the book comes from the Ming dynasty in China, where regional leaders realized they needed a "court jester" because he would say things that the other advisors wouldn't. The value of this was critical, simply because it helped to illuminate blind spots.
That's the core message of the book: helping organizations see things it might not otherwise see. This is a critical part of leadership capacity (at all levels), and for that reason I like the book.
The first section lays out the reasons why this is important and how missing these blind spots can create problems in organizations. The second section then provides thirteen fables/fairy tales that each demonstrates an application of jestership in organizations. Following each brief story (right brain), Riveness also provides more traditionall bullet lists on how to do it in organizations (left brain).
The entire book is less than 100 pages, with fairly large type to boot, so you can finish it quite quickly. Personally, I would have rather seen it offered as an ebook, as it is something that might be more valuable to me resident on my computer where I could go back and look at the applications during the work day. I think it would better fit the amount of content, as well.
But it is definitely worth a read, particularly if you start to implement some of the recommendations and really pay attention to blind spots in your organization.