Mike Finley
Mike Finley is a writer, poet, and videographer from Amherst, Ohio. He is author of a series of business books with psychologist Harvey Robbins, including Why Teams Don't Work (Peterson's, 1995), Why Change Doesn't Work (Peterson's 1996), Transcompetition (McGraw Hill, 2000), and The Accidental Leader (Jossey-Bass, 2003).
Why Teams Don't Work
Why Teams Don't Work, the first of their collaborations, was named "Best Management Book, The Americas, 1995" by the Booz Allen Hamilton/Financial Times Global Business Book Awards. It was published in a second edition, titled The New Why Teams Don't Work, by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2000.
In addition, Finley is author of a business book of his own, Techno-Crazed (Peterson's, 1996).
Finley is a Pushcart Prize author, with work appearing in the 1985 Pushcart Prize Anthology.
In 2009, Supersession Press published an art book of Finley's remembrances of growing up in Amherst, Ohio, titled The Orchard.
In 2001, Finley self-published his collected works, Yukon Gold: Poemes de terre [Kraken Press]. He described the 500-plus page collection as the largest chapbook ever published.
And he has published many books of poetry, nonfiction, and humor, from presses such as Litmus, Inc. (Lucky You, 1976); Minnesota Writers Publishing House (Home Trees, 1976); Vanilla Press (The Movie under the Blindfold, 1976); and Salthouse Press (Water Hills, 1985). Other books by Finley include:
- For the Young Poets of Cleveland (NightBallet Press)
- The Poet Voznesenski
- Spit on the Griddle
- Poets Ruin Everything
- Letting God Go
- The Curtis Hotel and Other Confabulations
- Don't Be Like the Moon
- Defending the Cake
He is coeditor with St. Paul bread baker Danny Klecko of LIEF Magazine, an online journal of arts dedicated to bright messages, Finley has collaborated on three print volumes with Klecko: Out for a Lark (2013), The Bluebeard of Happiness (2013) and A Pox on Your Blessings (2013).
Finley is a video maker, with over 50 short films.
Prizes
Winner, the KPV Kerouac Award, 2011
Finley's journalism, criticism, and other work have appeared in Rolling Stone, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Monthly, Paris Review, Success Magazine and Guideposts.
He was awarded a Wisconsin State Arts Fellowship for fiction in 1985.
In 2010 he published Zombie Girl, a novella about the death of his daughter Daniele Finley.
Finley manages Robots & Pirates, a small foundation providing services to young people in trouble in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Finley lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.