EGOS frenzy

In a frenzied state again, hammering out the final details of a paper I'm co-writing with Richard Whittington, for the European Group of Organization Studies conference, due on Sunday. The paper is about how managers become strategists and how this revolutionizes or adapts their fundamental views on strategy. I find this topic utterly fascinating, and am impressed by the data which we are using (produced by Richard). This is also a very important time for the family as my wife is defending her PhD the day after tomorrow. So, no time for an extended entry.

Music has a remarkable capability of granting strength in stressful times. Right now I am listening to Bach's Musical Offering. The piece has a nice story, which illustrates the mastery of the composer. The Prussian king Fredrick II had "composed" a short theme which he wanted Bach to develop and that he did. The theme itself sounds rather clumsy but Bach turns it into something wonderful.

Incidentally, the Musical Offering plays a part in a detective story called The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, probably best known for his novel The Club Dumas, which Polansky transfomed into movie The Ninth Gate. The Flanders Panel was a kind gift from a PhD student and was a part of my last holiday experience.

Two other great pieces of music I need to sneak in before I get back to work:

- Timeline by Ralph Towner. A sublime offering of solo guitar, bordering between jazz and classical, played on nylon string and 12-string acoustics. Towner does his thing, and that's it.


- The Ultra Zone by Steve Vai. I have never been one to appreciate guitar pyrotechnics over song content, and there is no fear of that on this album. The playing is fiery and inventive but it's the songs that capture your attention. A wonderful mix of influences ranging from Indian to metal.

Ps. Those intrigued by the previous post might want to check out the comments. Fuze himself commented on the problem I posed! I am looking forward of using that example to explore the text/context issue in organizational aesthetics as soon as I have the time and placid state of mind.