Managing the Chaos: the Eiffel Tower, Differing Perspectives
Unfortunately, most business managers are deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to valuing the creative process. They have learned their reward is following instructions and the power of consumption is an aid for a better title.
Marty Neumeier illustrates this well in telling this story about railroad baron Collis P. Huntington, who visited the Eiffel Tower just after its completion. When an interviewer for a Paris newspaper asked him for a critique, he said, “ Your Eiffel Tower is all very well, but where’s the money in it?”
“It’s not that spreadsheet thinking is wrong”, Marty said, “It’s just inadequate.” An artist might have offered a completely different critique of the tower, “What a stirring symbol of achievement! From now on, people will never forget their visit to Paris.”
Accounting to one estimate more than $120 billion worth of Eiffel Tower souvenirs has been sold since 1897. The trinket business alone has been worth the investment.”
