represents this difficulty that this horror is also happy

IDEAS

by Claude Riveline

School of management Paris,

130 pages, 10 euros.

Those who, since its first release in 1997, rush on the page "Ideas" of the Journal of the Ecole de Paris to enjoy the smiling paradoxes and scholarly analogies of Claude Riveline could dream a better gift: they are finally brought together in a single book, with the friendly complicity of Michel Berry, host of the Centre for research in management of the Ecole polytechnique. Too often, these free comments on the management, distant descendants in the order of the management of the famous "Words" of the philosopher Alain, the reader, even faithful, had kept the fragrance but lost track, the malicious titles by Riveline facilitating not the task of mnemonic enthusiasts. To understand what kind of pleasure can be felt to accompany the Professor of management at the Ecole des mines de Paris in its free figures, simply start at the beginning. "The startup is decisive," explains the author about the manufacture of these miniatures inspired by a world, business, causing the growths usually more grandiose. A few examples will illustrate how Riveline set the tone, that he well envy the writing professionals. "The leaders of large French companies are often engineers, those of large American companies of lawyers." Why "If you do not see the report with the very distinct ways in which the two countries entered the modernity in the 18th century, refer to the Chronicle"the engineer and the lawyer ". Reflection on economic happiness begins with this Benedict observation: "fight the economic horror and its cortege of suffering (unemployment, exclusion, stress, etc.) represents this difficulty that this horror is also happy.". Through a little parable between four young engineers launching a start-up and four retirees who founded a String Quartet, the ingenious Professor proposes his solution to the dilemma.

Four ingredients

How not to have wanted to penetrate more forward in a meditation on the power of dynastic in business when it begins: "the late Hassan II and François Michelin have one thing in common: their son succeeded them.". Or to embark with this literary mathematician when he began his prompt thinking by the true aphorism "home made": "there is a paradox of thinking: it reflects really that under the weight of the emergency, and much thinking takes time."

Chiselled and set of cultured pearls, these columns are however not simple exercises in style. In a few lines, Claude Riveline managed to draw a portrait any finesse of managers of today, that are more recognized with the naked eye and who lose their functions of command in favor of a triple mode of intervention: "they explain, they animate, they satisfy. His reading of the management grid uses four ingredients: matter, i.e. the basic data such as the course of the dollar or the performance of a machine, the people, with their charisma and their own character, the institutions, which set the rules, and the sacred, which delimits the unwritten prohibited. "From a satisfactory situation, a shift of one of the four levels triggers a crisis", analysis our expert organizations, but "a contrario, a perfect match between these four realities operates miracles." Delicate exercise to master who is sometimes said that the management is an art. Claude Riveline chooses in any case to speak in artist, naturally found the good artisan words to describe the application that it makes "truss" a paragraph of conclusion, "as it sews a hem at the bottom of a skirt or pants".