Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Academy of Management 2009


More than 8,000 attendees (mostly academics), 35,000 papers submitted, and 1,600 papers accepted. Amongst which a paper on 'scenario-based strategy maps' written by Pietro Micheli of Cranfield U, Toby Hatch of Oracle and myself.

The start of the conference couldn't have been better. I check into the hotel, get into the elevator and am standing next to... Henry Mintzberg. He is one of my heroes, his work "Strategy Safari" was one of the best strategy books I've ever read. I was so perplexed I didn't say "hi" or anything. Then again, can the gentleman please have 30 seconds of peace and quiet in the elevator, people are bothering him all the time.

The number of presentations was overwhelming, covering every conceivable management topic. I was happy to see that the conference guide has contact details of all presenters, so we can ask for their papers.

So Pietro, Toby and I showed our work on scenario-based strategy maps in a bit of a different style. Not a formal presentation, but almost a market. We had an 8"-4" board where we attached a number of slides to, and people were wondering around, stopping at stands they thought were interesting. We got good traction, have been busy all the time.

The bookstore was unbelievably big, with a full range of books from most large publishers. Shopped till I dropped! 

Oh, and lastly, Henry Mintzberg did a book signing, so I got my autographed copy of his latest book and was even able to give him a signed copy of my book. Silly, but I had to...

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