If you’ve ever been told to tidy up your desk by your boss, make sure Secret Santa delivers them a copy of this book.
You’ll be vindicated and your boss will learn about the benefits of a little disorder in boosting creativity and innovation.
Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist examines the positive impacts that mess and complication can have across a wide range of situations. From battles won by German officer Erwin Rommel because he ordered his troops to do the unexpected, to the impact of a lack of rules in a building at M.I.T., which resulted in some of the most creative scientific and engineering thinking of the last century, he cites clear examples of the benefits of a little chaos.
Harford’s explanations are good stories. He shows the downsides that mess can create for some people: Musicians subjected to Brian Eno’s deliberately disruptive strategies hated the process that expected them to play outside their comfort zone, while investment clubs where everyone was friendly had worse results than those which had arguments about where to invest their money.
And he flags up warnings about taking things too far – with the Chiat Day agency building that was full of play with nowhere to work – so your boss is right too – you just need the right amount of mess.