The Story Behind 28 Cartoons in My Management Book
Apt cartoons can help to break the monotony of a management book
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In my management book — 21 Office Situations & How to Deal with Them — there are cartoons by the famous cartoonist Randy Glasbergen.
The idea for the cartoons came from an interview I saw of the Hindi Bollywood scriptwriter, Javed Akhtar.
In the interview, Akhtar relates an anecdote during the making of the hit movie ‘Don’ (of Amitabh Bachchan fame, 1978).
He mentioned that, while writing the scene where a revenge-filled Helen traps Don Amitabh and is waiting for the police to arrive, they felt the scene was dry.
So, to spice it up, they incorporated the famous song ‘Yeh Mera Dil ’
I felt my book too — with 20+ chapters — could be a monotonous read, and so decided to include the cartoons. 🙂
I evaluated cartoons of many artists, and finally settled on Randy Glasbergen’s cartoons. They fit the title of my chapters like a glove.
Another reason was that in cartoons by other artists, the humor comes in a strip, whereas in Randy’s cartoons, the humor is delivered through a single scene.
I share 3 cartoons from the book below. The same are in the chapters as under:
Chapter 3. Why a Senior Won’t Reply to Your Email?
Chapter 9. How To Manage With Less Effort?
Chapter 25. How To Get a 5 (Excellent) in Appraisal?
I hope you too will like the way these cartoons fit the chapter titles.
These cartoons are not custom-made.
Instead, I surfed through Glasbergen’s website and selected the cartoons as appropriate for the chapter title. I then interacted with him for the purchase, copyright, etc.
Initially the plan was to buy a couple of cartoons.
But then they fit so well I ended up getting a cartoon for each of the 28 chapters!
I had the pleasure of interacting on email with Randy for the cartoons. In the acknowledgment section of my book I also thank him.
Sadly, Randy Glasbergen passed away soon after the book was first published, at the young age of 58, in 2015.
I take solace in the fact that I couriered a copy of the book to him to New York which he saw before he passed away. He appreciated it greatly.
As I kept updating the book, I have interacted with his website for subsequent cartoons.
Thank you, Randy.
You will always be an important part of my book. The book is better because of your cartoons.
If you are writing a business / management book, do check out Randy’s cartoons at his website.
There are thousands of cartoons on his website.
You can also search it topic-wise — Leadership, Management, Financial, Diversity, etc. You can then contact his website for the price, rights, etc.
An aptly placed cartoon can provide much-needed breathing space and humor for your reader.
It also shows how much the author values the book and the reader experience.
Which cartoons resonate with you? Especially in the business realm?
I’d love to hear about your favorite business-related cartoon.
P.S.
We might not recognize but we all enjoy Randy Glasbergen’s cartoons daily. They appear as ‘The Better Half’ comic strip in newspapers around the world.
The cartoon at the beginning of the article is from the chapter titled ‘How To Delegate Work Properly?
