Financial Times Business Books of the Month
Economist Best Books of 2023
Read by the author, Andrew McAfee, and Sean Patrick Hopkins. With a foreword by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
'A handbook for disruptors' - Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google
We're living in a time of amazing innovation, but we're not paying enough attention to one of the most important of all: the innovation to the company itself. Now, bestselling author of The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee, explains how engineers and geeks are changing the world of business – with extraordinary results.
A new model is being pioneered by geeks; a radical new mindset that has shifted the paradigm entirely on what a business can – and should – be. They do not follow the rules of the Industrial era, with their hierarchies and bureaucratic ways of thinking. They do not follow the principles preached in business schools since the dawn of time. They have all dedicated themselves to approaching business as a geek would: through trial and error, egalitarianism, evidence and stress-testing ideas in a group setting – rather than relying on the boss's instincts.
By investigating and surveying the contemporary research in psychology, economics and the behavioural sciences, as well as first-hand accounts from the 'geek' leaders of today, McAfee's groundbreaking exploration of this emerging phenomenon gets to the heart of the tectonic shifts taking place all over the business world. We have entered a new age. And this age will transform how we achieve great things, now and into the future. The future is geek.
'The most compelling analysis I've seen of what Silicon Valley has learned about building more effective organisations' - Adam Grant, host of TED podcast Re: Thinking and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again Andrew McAfee is the New York Times bestselling author of The Geek Way. He is the co-director of the IDE and a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research investigates how information technology changes the way companies perform, organize themselves and compete. In addition to having numerous papers published, McAfee also writes a widely read blog, which is at times one of the 10,000 most popular in the world. He is also the author of More from Less and The Second Machine Age. The Geek Way explains the radical new mindset that is revolutionizing business culture, leadership, personal success and how to use it yourself.
