Jim makes some very good points in his reply to Ginger. This thread has
interested me, but I've been silent about the subject because of how
strong my feelings are about the issue. After several days of thought, I
think I can bridle my emotion and present a pretty coherent and logical
message.
The other night I was home with my 9 yr. old daughter. A couple of months
ago I bought the book "Organizing Genuis" by Warren Bennis, but hadn't had
a chance to read it. So I thought this particular night a good time to
start. While I sat in my recliner and read, my daughter watched TV.
She was watching "Above the Law" starring Steven Seagal. One of the
earliest points Bennis makes is that in America we have a myth (my words,
not his) about heroic people. . .people, who single handedly, solve
complex and difficult problems. He mentioned Michael Jordan as such a
person. . .
And, there on my TV, was Steven Seagal, who, in fiction, was uncovering
and busting a corrupt government operation involving illegal narcotics and
government conspiracy. Everyone else in the movie, of course, was unable
to even begin to solve the problem. The problem was so big and so
ignominous that it was up to a single superhuman person to solve the
problem. . .
Now that I've read Bennis's book, and I've seen what he's talking about in
the movies, and I reflect on my life's experience, I find this attitude to
be rather pervasive. Hence the abdication! Our problems are for our
leaders to solve. After all, they run for public office, make a bunch of
great promises -- which inevitably include various solutions for "fixing"
our problems -- and go off to Washington, or to State Capitals, and
whittle away their time on the mundane or the tedious issues. Their
solutions to the nagging and life-threatening problems seem to somehow
always prove impotent!
Any organization, be it a business, a local community, or a nation, if it
is to survive, must have people in it who willingly accept responsibility
for the problems that threaten it's survival. Those problems exist both
within the organization itself, and without the organization.
How many businesses bring in a new CEO with the expectation that this one
person is going to change the entire organization and improve it's
competitiveness? How many elected officials have been booted out of
office, with the expectation that the new person will solve the problems
the last one couldn't? The real work of saving an organization doesn't
exist in the echelons of leadership; it exists in the bowels of the
organization, the place where the people who are most affected by the
problems reside!
In my work at Novell I felt as responsible for the success of the company
as did the CEO. My work was different from his, but I worked just as hard
and just as smart as if I were the CEO. But not everyone felt the same
way. Everyone had a different view about what their role was in the
organization. And when we didn't perform well as a company, many of those
around me would scream: "Fire the f****** leaders! Their the problem.
We're just doing what we're told." This attitude says "The many are at the
mercy of the few!" I don't buy it!
Bennis goes on to make the point that truly great organizations are built
upon the foundation of collaboration. They are inspired by a shared
vision. And they are filled with people who have a passion for what they
are doing. That is what I think is missing in our society: We're so
focused on our differences that we forget there's common ground. Therefore
we don't collaborate, we don't share visions, thus leaving our passions to
do little but divide us.
-- Benjamin B. Compton bcompton@enol.comLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>