Gary Hamel’s new book, The Future of Management, is out. I’ve been waiting for it ever since I heard him speak at Fortune’s Innovation Forum in New York last year. His fundamental insight is that while there are many aspects of our lives have undergone fundamental change and in some cases, innovation, the way we manage our organizations are stuck in the industrial revolution. The quote I remember from the conference is, “Our management structures are essentially the same as those of third world dictatorships. And we know the dictatorships don’t work.” I am not through the book yet, and while it can be a little redundant, its thesis is strong, his objective modest and open-ended “you’ll have to figure out what management innovation means for your organization,” and he provides several examples of companies with innovative management such as W.L. Gore, Google, and Whole Foods Market. While I come at it from my particular point of view of Creative Production, Hamel’s sense that our paradigm of management needs a revolution is refreshing, exciting, and spot on.

The New York Times reported that anthropologists have been deployed in Afghanistan to help the local military units better understand the more subtle aspects of tribal relations. It is both surprising and encouraging the the military has done so, realizing that culture is far more powerful than explicit force. While I do understand the debate in the anthropological community about whether the deployed anthropologists are able to work objectively for the people of Afghanistan, it seems their overall impact is highly positive. As the Times reported, “Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division unit working with the anthropologists here, said that the unit’s combat operations had been reduced by 60 percent since the scientists arrived in February, and that the soldiers were now able to focus more on improving security, health care and education for the population.” And i think we can all applaud their bravery and selflessness. If anyone is still under the impression that ethnography and other social science methods don’t deliver objective and substantial results, that they are somehow “touchy-feely”, they should take note of this latest evidence from one of the most extreme environments one could imagine. Empathy enhances perception of what is REALLY going on and provides decision makers productive clarity.

Having been pressed by numerous clients about why the iPhone is being so well received when they’ve tried the same functions, the best way I could describe it is, “Dramatic Features.” Dramatic Features are those that resonate with a person on a human level.

To understand better what I mean, consider the definition of drama: “A composition, …accommodated to action, and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result…”

Take a look at the pins that fall from the sky and populate Google maps on the iPhone — you feel them! Why? Of course, they could just appear — just use the frame buffer and make a call to the graphics card. But to make the user feel them, we use perspective animation and a sense of gravity — all things we experience on a daily basis and can relate to.

Dramatic Features are the next step beyond features that look good and work well. They inspire. You not only understand and can use them, you enjoy them. To design Dramatic features you need an organization open to and skilled in, well, drama! With so many students in animation and game development programs, I can imagine they’ll be designing the interfaces of the future — not traditional graphic or interaction designers…