The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson: a review

Rating: 5/5

Review By: Shilpi

This book was whistling at me from the shelf at a Hong Kong book store soon after a trip to Florence. My mind was still under the art haze from the Medici town. I billed the book without even reading the blurb on the cover. The book faced a wee bit of neglect as I realized after a few pages that it wasn’t about the Renaissance. However, recently my bookshelf gave in and I was shifting all books to my bedside window creating some kind of a book Jenga (COVID gave you time for all sorts of creativity). I was dusting the books one by one before stacking them and this one caught my attention for obvious reasons. The cover stared at me "What elephants and Epidemics can teach you about innovation". Of course, I had to read it and thanks to the lockdown, no excuses for lack of time!

And what an absolute find it was! Written by Frans Johansson and published by HBR, this book stays true to the academic reputation of the publisher and unfolds the organized wisdom and provides unique insights throughout. 

So coming to the book, let's demystify the title of the book! The book is not about the Medicis or the glorious era of the likes of Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo or Brunelleschi. But then it also is about Medicis and Renaissance. Read on and read the book to find out how.

When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas. The name I have given this phenomenon, The Medicis Effect comes from a remarkable burst of creativity in fifteenth-century Italy. The Medicis were a banking family in Florence who funded creators from a wide range of disciplines. Thanks to the family and a few others like it, sculpture scientists, poets, philosophers, financiers, painters and architects converged upon the city of Florence. There they found each other, learned from each other and broke down barriers between disciplines and cultures. Together they forged new works based on new ideas - what became known as the Renaissance

The book talks about interesting case studies around the world and differentiates directional innovation from intersectional innovation. Wise range of disciplines(pun intended) are covered in the case studies. From an architect who can create working space in Harare without Air Con to the intersectional fusion aspect of  Shakira's music that propelled the singer to an iconic success. 

The concepts of Associative barriers, Advantages of multi-cultural exposure, challenges with traditional brainstorming, taking risks and overcoming fear is discussed with interesting case studies. 

According to Marcus Samuelsson a black Swedish chef of the famous Aquavit restaurant in NY, Sweden today is international and mixed -

“Sweden today means sushi, rolled by a black guy, served to a Korean couple “.

And look out for this story- 

Three men have died and enter heaven, Saint Peter, the gatekeeper, tells them that heaven is full at the moment and that he will only admit people who have had an unusual death and therefore asks each of them to explain how they died. Wait till the third story unfolds. 

Johansson also outlines the upside and downside of formal education and the value of more than one discipline and provides toolkits for leveraging education and keeping the creativity intact.

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple and Pixar did not complete college. This is not to say he did not educate himself - just not at school. Quoting Charles Darwin - "I consider that all that I have learned of any value to be self-taught"

The measures to address the most pertinent racial topics of current times is seen by many organizations as humanitarian acts. This book opened eyes for me. it clarified that it is far less about humanity or inclusiveness but more about clearing high-performance cutting edge firms with tools and intellectual capital to innovate. It is the difference between successful and revolutionary. Diversity is a smart choice and organization and it is an imperative choice for the success of a firm.

Absolutely recommend for everyone to read. For parents to ensure the righting navigation for kids, for college starters to keep an open mind and use different perspectives in the academics and for leaders at firms to find tools to ensure diversity of all kinds. 

So my advice is - this one is for the keeps. Get this, read it many times and use the concepts to ignite the right and the left side of your brain!