Nic Beech is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of Management at the University of St Andrews, Vice Chair of the British Academy of Management and Lead Fellow of the UK Advanced Institute of Management. He has undertaken significant projects funded by the ESRC, EU and industry partners and his five previous books include Human Resource Management: A Concise Analysis (with E. McKenna, 2008) and Managing Creativity (with B. Townley, Cambridge, 2010). He presents regularly to professional and business executives and teaches at undergraduate and graduate levels.