1st Edition

Brain Based Enterprises Harmonising the Head, Heart and Soul of Business

By Peter Cook Copyright 2018

    Brain Based Enterprises offers a unique synthesis of intelligent thought fused with pragmatic and pithy insights on the art and discipline of leading enterprises, where intelligence, ideas and innovation are the currencies of Sustainable Coopetive Advantage (SCA).

    From the first signs of intelligence through making axes and fire, we now have access to unprecedented powers of creation through the convergence of humanity and technology. Rapid and dramatic advances in our understanding of genomics, biotechnology, computing and robotics make it possible for us to create a better world or destroy what we have created. The author explores both sides of the Man-Machine dynamic so that you can choose wisely.

    Expressed clearly and concisely, this book is essential reading for busy people seeking to inform and illuminate themselves with a rich mixture of pragmatism, inspiration and wisdom. Featuring numerous micro case-ettes from enterprises ranging from biotechnology to banking and bots, Brain Based Enterprises grounds the ideas for people seeking to make the most of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

    Acknowledgements   Prologue   Dialogue I: Brainy People (Personal Intelligence)   1. The Man-Machine paradox   2. Wickedness, complexity and the Man-Machine age   3. The Brain Based Enterprise   4. Intelligences for a machine led world   5. Seven habits for the Man-Machine age   Synthesis   Dialogue II: Brainy Teams (Collective Intelligence)   6. Leading brainy teams   7. Team chemistry   8. Connecting collective synapses    Synthesis   Dialogue III: Brainy Enterprises (Global Intelligence)   9. 'Video Killed the Radio Star': continuous disruption   10. Strategy is dead. Long live strategic improvisation   11. Corporate agility: enterprise-level learnacy   12. HR strategies that liberate minds, bodies and souls   13. Cultivating intelligence: cultures that liberate minds   14. Networked intelligence: structures that liberate minds   Synthesis   Epilogue: Future manifesto   Bibliography   Index

    Biography

    Peter Cook leads Human Dynamics and The Academy of Rock, a creativity and innovation consultancy. Blending business, science and music, the authors background is in developing life-saving drugs, including the first HIV/AIDS treatment and human insulin. He is the author of eight books and a writer for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin brand.

    Brain Based Enterprises invites us to take a fundamental look at our humanity and adjust our strategies and practices to make the best meeting of hearts and minds between men, women and machines. If you lead an enterprise which produces sustainable advantage through intelligence, ideas and insight, Peter Cook's book is a must-read compendium of thought wisdom on the topic.’ Nadine Hack, CEO, beCause Global Consulting

    ‘Peter Cook has applied his extensive experience of facilitation in creative workshops to the contemporary practice of the generation of value from knowledge and data. The book is packed with invaluable insights that any entrepreneur or business leader will readily recognise and be able to leverage in their activities. Indeed, this book highlights the value in harnessing the abilities of those around you, whether on a collective or global basis, in addressing the challenges of the era.’ Peter Childs, Head of School, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London