Creative Company : How St. Luke's Became "the Ad Agency to End All Ad Agencies"

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Summary: A great review of Creative Company pub. as Open Minds in UK
Review: A reader from London , 6 November, 1998 This is such an eye-opening book on the world of work. After reading this amazing book, I was left wondering how I could face another day at my present company, when you realise that the people at St Luke's could lead such working lives filled with energy, creativity and a sense of worthiness. I wish my CEO would pick this book up and learn and apply the lessons of St Luke's! Andy Law has written a book for those managers who want to succeed in the future. But his writing is not typical of any management book so far published. He gives 20th century managers real hope that there is a way out of today's rut, and that the most important thing to remember is your people.

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Summary: Establishing and Then Nourishing a Landscape of Creativity
Review: According to Law, business "can treat you as well or as badly as it chooses, yet we devote our lives unthinkingly to it and donate almost all of our knowledge and learning and creativity and sweat without any regard to its true value." On first blush, this comment seems cynical (or so it did to me when I first read it) and yet I agree with the implication that the unspoken but primary objective of most organizations is to protect their own status quo. As a result, "we have achieved only a small percentage of the innovation we could achieve." In this book, Law discusses St. Luke's, "the ad agency to end all ad agencies," in which he and his associates keep on developing new ideas. Their perpetual vision is to open minds. "And because [St. Luke's] has opened its own and the minds of those who have come to know it, I hope this book contributes to the pursuit of that vision and that you, the reader, husband, wife, employer, human are changed by it in some way."

At this point, I hasten to add that Law does not then provide a series of checklists of key points, what to do and not do, etc. His is what I guess could be called a personal memoir whose focus is on a truly unique workplace, the St. Luke's advertising agency in London. It would be foolish -- however -- for any of his readers to use St. Luke's as a model. Worse yet, to attempt to transform their own organizations into clones of St. Luke's. Rather, if I understand Law's objectives in this book (which I may not), he challenges and encourages his readers to think differently about what they do and how they do it, to think differently about the organization in which they do it, and -- in ways and to the extent appropriate -- to redevelop the "landscape" of their working lives.

There are several reasons why I have such a high regard for this book. Here are three. First, Law shares a number of profound insights concerning quality of life in the workplace. To summarize them in this brief commentary (out of context) would, however, trivialize them. Suffice to say that believing in the value of what you do to earn a living and feeling appreciated by others with whom you do it are two of the most important values within a workplace. Second, much can be done to create a physical environment within which to nourish creative thinking. With meticulous care, Law explains how he and his associates at St. Luke's did so. Finally, Law makes an eloquent as well as convincing argument to support his belief that creative ideas about the process of creative thinking are at least as important (if not more so) as the results of that process. Stated another way, creative thinking requires both new "wine" AND new "bottles."

Law insists that this is not just a business book. "It's also a kind of fairytale I guess because at times I still can't believe it all happened the way it did." In addition to being an entertaining raconteur, Law also offers a number of excellent insights as to how almost any human community can become a "creative company." It remains for each reader to answer various "soul-searching questions" which Law poses. Efforts to formulate those responses as well as the responses themselves will largely determine the value of this book.

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Summary: A human being first, a businessman second.
Review: Don't let the blurb fool you. Andy Law has not written a how-to book about manging creative businesses. If you pick up some tips about how to do so, that's bonus.

Rather, the author poses some fundamental questions about the role of work, and the interplay of one's economic, intellectual and emotional lives. A subject which ought to exercise us more than it does.

I personally wouldn't like to work in the St. Luke's style. But that a company looks first at its role in the community of its stakeholders, and second at how it might make money, makes it an example for companies far beyond the creative sphere.

Unfortunately, I have heard rumours that St. Lukes has actually had to, er, let people go. Not easy in a co-operative. Does some better-informed reader know if it's true? Sad, if it is. And it doesn't discredit Law's philosophical arguments, nor diminish their importance.

BTW, Andy Law writes beautifully.

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Summary: Best business book I've ever read. It ended too quickly
Review: I envisioned someday building a company like St. Luke's even before I picked up the book. I read an article about them in Fast Company and knew I had to pick it up. Amazing "too good to be true" stuff that I believe can really happen if everyone involved is on the same page. Unfortunately, politics and red tape take over in 99.9% of all companies. Egos get in the way and everything the creators had in mind has changed.

It's for people who want to be in business to make a great living, not necessarily great money!

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Summary: Excellent
Review: I just completed this book last week, and it really made me think about my business, where I wanted to go (I don't want my employees to be employees... so this opened up new ideas on how to work on projects, with clients, and run an business).

This book does give information about how salary's were done, vacation time, benefits, and even how shares are allotted, etc. It is a very personal testimony of a life ambition.

What this book is not: it is not a book about how a one person business became like St. Lukes. It is about how a merger happened, and a group of people joined together to keep the big-name clients they already had and make a new company. You won't find tips on how to take a 1 person shop to a 5 person shop, but the book will certainly make you think about how to organize your business, how you will work with clients, and give you a glimpse of a company that runs very well.

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Summary: Amazing reviews from the Europe edition (called Open Minds)
Review: [e-mail] from London , 2 March, 1999 Essential reading and thinking for the office-bound This is a marvellous book in all kinds of ways and an inspiration to all who feel there has to be a better way, but don't see it in "virtual" offices, telecommuting or any of the other dubious possibilities thrown up by new technology. I sincerely hope St Luke's fulfils its potential and provides a model for enlightened 21st century business. The sense of humanity running through the text is so palpable, and the whole is terrifically life-affirming.

A couple of gripes. First, I cannot reconcile all of the proud claims made on behalf of St Luke's output with the questionable quality of work such as their campaign for the Express. Honesty is the key note of Andy Laws' philosophy, and I feel this should extend to a properly critical view of St Luke's work. The risk inherent in their approach (and this applies to other radical agencies such as HHCL) is that in their drive to innovate and be different, the occasional dog will get out. The Fox's work also falls into this category for me: I applaud the originality and bravery of the approach, but find it hard to believe it sold many biscuits. Of course, these may be the deluded opinions of an advertising luddite.

Second, am I alone in finding the epilogue painfully artificial by comparison with the text that has come before? Again, if honesty is the byword here, I simply cannot believe that this high-order philosophical debate (complete with word-perfect quotes from Greek and German philosophers) actually took place as reported. And in the unlikely event that it did, I find the tone desperately pretentious. The protagonists go perilously close to disappearing up their own fundaments, and it's a disappointing ending to an otherwise superb book.

Congratulations to Andy Law and all at St Luke's on their courage and imagination. You deserve to make a mint, then give it all away to society.

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Summary: A wonderful book for anyone starting a new business.
Review: Whether you plan on starting a business in advertising or animal husbandry (or perhaps they're the one and the same ;-) you would do well to read this book. Not only is it a tremendous source for innovative ideas on how to start and run a small business, it's also an engaging and inspiring read. While St. Lukes' ideas and methods certainly aren't for all businesses, all business owners, big or small, will benefit from this story of dogged determination in the face of trememdous odds and the power of a shared idea.