Publications

Editorial

By: a-n

Exchange between public and private can be difficult – as politicians find when arguing for corporate investment into education, healthcare and transport. But what might first appear to be radically different viewpoints are perhaps less so when notions of sustainability are addressed. Whilst the subsidised sector tends to favour short term ‘pilot’ schemes and evaluation before something can be decided upon, those successful in the world of business know that it’s embedding continuous development that maintains a company’s critical edge and market position: something the arts also strives for. Why Most Things Fail1 by economist Paul Ormerod is a cautionary tale for managements – public or private – who have a blind faith in planning and monitoring. He argues that because human behaviour is harder to predict, the world is simply more complex for such an approach. The best tools for survival are flexibility and an aspiration to innovate, along with an understanding that far more things will fail than succeed: and that’s perfectly OK. Artists in our Future forecast publications have similarly noted the requirement for flexibility – within...

. . . to read the rest of this resource

and access all Knowledge Bank and Publication articles subscribe online - from only £6.

Go back »