My name is Dave Birren and I'm resubscribing after a long absence from the
learning-org list. Rather than bore myself with creating an introduction,
I'll copy what I wrote the last time I subscribed to the list, in May
1997. (If anyone is so compulsive as to want to check this, see LO13533,
8 May 1997.)
I am an internal organizational consultant in a large state agency that is
in the process of implementing a major reorganization. My primary
responsibility is in helping develop and integrate management systems such
as strategic and work planning, program evaluation, consistency of
decision-making, and performance measurement. I also get into such areas
as cultural change, leadership development, operational problem-solving
and conflict resolution, and I do my best to teach and model various QI
and systems thinking concepts and tools.
My primary resources are the Tao Te Ching (the best management book ever
written), The 5th Discipline and its related Fieldbook, The Team Handbook
by Peter Scholtes, and my respect for the power of ignorance.
I hold the distinguished ABD degree - which many former graduate students
will recognize as "All But the Dissertation" - in Higher Education
Administration, with coursework in organizations and management. In the
past year I've been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, which
explains why the ABD isn't a PhD, as well as a lot of other things that I
thought were personality faults. I'm really perfect, it's just an
imbalance of neurotransmitters in my frontal lobe that accounts for my
chaotic work habits and social misanthropy. Oh - and by the way - I also
have a strange sense of humor.
I'm looking forward to stimulating conversations that justify spending
large amounts of time avoiding real work.
Dave
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