Lessons in learning from the Academy of Rock

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the challenge of learning and reinvention from the twin perspectives of academia and the earthy pragmatism of popular culture. It provides a set of lessons to assist organisations to learn and, more importantly, unlearn, so that they can stay ahead. Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts with a brief review of some of the more important ideas around learning. It is followed by a case study of a “glorious failure”, taken from the music business using action research as the methodology. Findings – The main findings may be summarised are: selected people who are able and willing rather than simply putting up with what you have available at the time; if your project is much bigger scale/different than that attempted previously to recognise this and act accordingly; when working with highly creative people, ensure that there is sufficient focus on end customer requirements to avoid the project becoming too self‐obsessed. These findings are highly transferable from the original field of the music industry to other environments. Originality/value – Some principles for commencing the processes required to encourage learning and unlearning are developed for adaptation to particular organisations in the paper. These will be of value to anyone who seeks to introduce adaptive or transformative change in their organisation.