When it comes to business management and stuff, I shy away, because I believe I am simply not someone made for doing business. However, when it comes to movies, I believe I am someone who was born to be a movie lover.
So when I came upon this book which proclaimed to provide "Movies & management lessons for dreamers", more than anything I was curious to see what this book offered. Also, the description of the author Lakshmi Narayana read – "Business leader plus movie enthusiast". And so I decided to give this book a try.
THE PLOT
First things first – this is a non-fiction book. Broadly, it is a book containing lessons regarding business management, pitching, how to be a successful enterpreneur, etc. However instead of taking the conventional preachy route, author Lakshmi Narayana takes up a rather interesting route of explaining things with numerous references of movies.
It is a novel concept, and I really loved it. This is a method to increase the audience of the book, and it is a clever method. For instance, had this book focussed only on business, I would never have dreamt of reading it, leave alone considering it. However the inclusion of movies made me a reader. And like me, there will be a lot of similar people who will be interested and invested simply because of the fact that the book is related to movies.
THE POSITIVES
As mentioned above, the cleverest trick was to include movies. However even after that, the book could still have been a dull affair. But Lakshmi Narayana makes sure things are kept interesting. The chapters are short, the font size is big, and the presentation is excellent. There are less of lengthy paragraphs and a lot of bullets and numberings. It makes reading and understanding very easy.
Secondly, one big plus point is the length of the book. Lakshmi Narayana keeps things short, and doesn't try too hard to rub things in by explaining everything. Some things are meant to be kept short, and he does just that.
The chapters regarding how to pitch, enterpreneurs, teamwork are very good. Another lovely chapter is related to what is good and bad for your company and who are the time wasters in your company.
I particularly loved the analogies related to Chak De India, Lagaan, The Godfather movies and Shawshank Redemption, amongst the rest of the movies.
THE NEGATIVES
Despite its abbreviated length, the book tends to get a tad dull at places. However I guess I was more at fault rather than the author. There were a few English movies which were relatively old and which I haven't seen. So relating to them became a bit difficult.
I would have loved if there were more Indian films included. It would have only widened the reach of this book.
Apart from that, I have no issues with the book.
OVERALL, "DIRECTING BUSINESS" is definitely a very good, interesting, innovative and informative read which is a healthy mix of movies and management, providing some valuable lessons with some excellent movie references, making sure you remember them for a longer period of time.
While it is not for someone who is expecting the book to be a full blown movie book, it is definitely a must read for those who have a keen interest in business management and who love watching old classic Hollywood movies.
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