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(1994). Competing for the Future.
"There beats in every person the heart of an explorer. The joy of discovery may be found in the pages of a new cookbook, in a brochure of exotic vacations, in an architect's plans for a custom-built home, in the trek to a remote trout stream, in the first run down a virgin-powdered ski slope, by the opportunity to explore the unfamiliar. Thus, it's not surprising that when a company's mission is largely undifferentiated from that of its competitors, employees may be less than inspired." (p. 132)
(1994). Coping with Difficult Bosses.
"There are certainly times when honest spontaneity is the key to improved human relationships, but while you are being harpooned by a hostile boss is not one of those times. It is then you need to do what actors do—communicate emotions you do not feel." (p. 20)
(1994). The Customer Comes Second.
"Everybody has ideas, some better than others. But they live in people's minds. They need to be brought out, refined, tested, and implemented. Ideas are the lifeblood of a company. The weave the fabric of its future, but they're fragile.
"Ideas come to the curious—those who ask, "What would improve our lives?" But ideas have to be nurtured and cultivated. The stifling of ideas starts when we're young and told, "Just do it and don't ask why," or "That's just the way it is." Creativity and innovation aren't emphasized enough in our schools, homes, or professional lives, but people who seek these gifts can and will find them in the right environment." (p. 156)
"Ideas come to the curious—those who ask, "What would improve our lives?" But ideas have to be nurtured and cultivated. The stifling of ideas starts when we're young and told, "Just do it and don't ask why," or "That's just the way it is." Creativity and innovation aren't emphasized enough in our schools, homes, or professional lives, but people who seek these gifts can and will find them in the right environment." (p. 156)
(1994). The Empty Raincoat.
"If we are not machines, random accidents in the evolutionary chain, we need to have a sense of direction." (p. 263)
(1994). The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era.
"NEARLY FIFTY YEARS AGO, at the dawn of the computer revolution, the philosopher and psychologist Herbert Marcuse made a prophetic observation—one that has come to haunt our society as we ponder the transition into the Information Age: Automation threatens to render possible the reversal of the relation between free time and working time; the possibility of working time becoming marginal and free time becoming full time. The result would be a radical transvaluation of values, and a mode of existence incompatible with the traditional culture. Advanced industrial society is in permanent mobilization against this possibility." (p. 221)
(1994). Enlightened Leadership : Getting to the Heart of Change.
"When playing the corporate game of seeing who acquires more power, who is most right, who has the best ideas, and who is going to look the best, we become reluctant to take the risk of having people do anything outside of our direct control. Therefore, we become hesitant to delegate responsibility, and stifle the creativity and effectiveness of our people. We also become less likely to take risks ourselves and tend to rely on the perceived safety of the 'way we've always done it around here.' We seek the comfort of the established methods, policies, and procedures. We lock ourselves in our own boxes." (p. 218)
(1994). Escape From Freedom.
"The inability to act spontaneously, to express what one genuinely feels and thinks, and the resulting necessity to present a pseudo self to others and oneself, are the root of the feeling of inferiority and weakness. Whether or not we are aware of it, there is nothing of which we are more ashamed than of not being ourselves, and there is nothing that gives us greater pride and happiness than to think, to feel, and to say what is ours." (p. 288)
(1994). The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook.
"People stay with roles that frustrate them because of the dynamics of the structure. Something about their own lives, relationships, or position makes each person 'right' for the part he plays. It all seems so predetermined, yet the factors that create this may, individually, be quite inconsequential. People may even be drawn into the roles which clash with their personalities. Then, horrifyingly, their personalities may change over time to match the role they have been given." (p. 412)
(1994). First Things First.
"Arnold Toynbee, the great historian, said that all of history can be written in a simple little formula—challenge, response. The challenge is created by the environment, and then the individual, the institution, the society comes up with a response. Then there's another challenge, another response. The formula is constantly being repeated.
The problem is that these responses become codified. They get set in cement. They become a part of the very way we think and the way we perform. They may be good procedures, good practices. But when we're faced with a new challenge the old practices no longer apply. They become obsolete. We're out in the wilderness trying to navigate with a road map." (p. 53)
The problem is that these responses become codified. They get set in cement. They become a part of the very way we think and the way we perform. They may be good procedures, good practices. But when we're faced with a new challenge the old practices no longer apply. They become obsolete. We're out in the wilderness trying to navigate with a road map." (p. 53)
(1994). How to Keep People From Pushing Your Buttons.
"Sometimes we get terribly bent out of shape when someone treats us insensitively, manipulates us, takes advantage, or is downright unfair. Therefore, we are not suggesting that if you are treated unfairly, you roll over and say 'Hit me again, baby. Beat me to a pulp' or 'Well—ha, ha—nobody's perfect. Maybe they didn't mean it.' You can still decide to do everything possible to redress injustices and unfairness, whether they be personal or social, without overrreacting and becoming part of the problem." (p. 72)
(1994). The Jobless Future: Sci-Tech and the Dogma of Work.
"In the past twenty-five years, computer-mediated work, despite its potential for reintegrating design and execution, has been employed, typically but not exclusively, in a manner that reproduces the hierarchies of managerial authority. The division between intellectual and manual labor and the degradation of manual labor that was characteristic of the industrializing era have been simultaneously shifted to the division between the operators and the professional-managerial employees, but also the division between the "lower" operating and "higher" expert orders broadly reproduces within intellectual labor itself the old gulf separating manual and intellectual labor in the mechanical era. Hierarchy is frequently maintained despite the integrative possibilities of the technology. Under this regime of production, the computer provides the basis for greatly extending the system of discipline and control inherited from nineteenth-century capitalism. Many corporations have used it to extend their Panopticonic world-view; that is, they have deployed the computer as a means of employee surveillance that far exceeds the most imperious dreams of the Panopticon's inventor, Jeremy Bentham, or any nineteenth- or early twentieth-century capitalist." (p. 89)
(1994). Jobshift.
"The integrity I am talking about is psychological rather than ethical. It means 'wholeness', and its opposite is disintegration and not dishonesty. With so much change and fragmentation in the new career world, you need a solid core of self. You have to be true to who you are—to your identity." (p. 129)
(1994). Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian.
"Any form of concentrated power, whatever it is, is not going to want to be subjected to popular democratic control or, for that matter, to market discipline. Powerful sectors, including corporate wealth, are naturally opposed to functioning democracy, just as they're opposed to functioning markets, for themselves, at least. It's just natural. They do not want external constraints on their capacity to make decisions and act freely. It entails that the elites will be extremely undemocratic." (p. 242)
(1994). Leadership and the New Science: Learning About Organization from an Orderly Universe.
"For many years, the prevailing maxim of management stated: 'Management is getting work done through others.' The important thing was the work; the 'others' were nuisances that needed to be managed into conformity and predictability. Managers have recently been urged to notice that they have people working for them. They have been advised that work gets done by humans like themselves, each with strong desires for recognition and connectedness. The more they (we) feel part of the organization, the more work gets done." (p. 144)
(1994). On Becoming a Leader.
"In sum, we have the means within us to free ourselves from the constraints of the past, which lock us into imposed roles and attitudes. By examining and understanding the past, we can move into the future unencumbered by it. We become free to express ourselves, rather than endlessly trying to prove ourselves." (p. 79)
(1994). The pursuit of wow!: every person's guide to topsy-turvy times.
"Have you noticed?
Most good (neat, innovative, wild, woolly) 'stuff', large and small, happens in the boondocks, far, far, from corporate headquarters, corporate politics, and corporate toadying....
So how healthy is your fringe? How loony are its inhabitants?" (p. 301)
Most good (neat, innovative, wild, woolly) 'stuff', large and small, happens in the boondocks, far, far, from corporate headquarters, corporate politics, and corporate toadying....
So how healthy is your fringe? How loony are its inhabitants?" (p. 301)
(1994). Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution.
"We found that many tasks that employees performed had nothing at all to do with meeting customer needs—that is, creating a product high in quality, supplying that product at a fair price, and providing excellent service. Many tasks were done simply to satisfy the internal demands of the company's own organization." (p. 4)
(1994). Self-Esteem : A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing and Improving.
"Within a given profession or social level, our culture next awards worth based on accomplishments. Getting a raise, a degree, a promotion, or winning in a competition are worth a lot. Acquiring the right house, car, furnishings, boat, or college education for your kids—all those accomplishments are worth a lot, too. If you get fired or laid off, lose your home, or in any other way slip down the accomplishment ladder, you are in deep trouble. You lose all your counters and become socially worthless.
Buying into these cultural concepts of worth can be deadly. For example, John was a bank examiner who equated his worth with his accomplishments at work. When he was late in meeting an important deadline, he felt worthless. When he felt worthless, he got depressed. When he got depressed, he worked slower and missed more deadlines. He felt more worthless, got more depressed, worked less diligently, and so on in a deadly downward spiral." (p. 88)
Buying into these cultural concepts of worth can be deadly. For example, John was a bank examiner who equated his worth with his accomplishments at work. When he was late in meeting an important deadline, he felt worthless. When he felt worthless, he got depressed. When he got depressed, he worked slower and missed more deadlines. He felt more worthless, got more depressed, worked less diligently, and so on in a deadly downward spiral." (p. 88)
(1994). Spirit Of Community.
"If businesses would cooperate with parents to make it easier for them to earn a living and attend to their children, the corporate payoffs would be much more than social approbation: they would gain a labor force that is much better able to perform." (p. 67)
(1994). Success through teamwork: a practical guide to interpersonal team dynamics.
"Not all team members are equally motivated to participate and be productive. In addition to motivating productive members, you must motivate average or nonparticipating members to increase their commitment to the team.
The following strategies can help you turn nonparticipating team members into active participants:
* Seek their advice
* Make them teachers
* Involve them in presentations
* Delegate 'star projects' " (p. 85)
The following strategies can help you turn nonparticipating team members into active participants:
* Seek their advice
* Make them teachers
* Involve them in presentations
* Delegate 'star projects' " (p. 85)
(1994). To Engineer is Human: The role of failure in successful design.
"There is a familiar image of the writer starting at a blank sheet of paper in his typewriter beside a wastebasket overflowing with crumpled false starts at his story. This image is true figuratively if not literally, and it represents the frustrations of the creative process in engineering as well as in art." (p. 75)
(1994). The Unwritten Rules of the Game: Master Them, Shatter Them, and Break Through the Barriers to Organizational Change.
"The orthodox wisdom tells us that if we want major and rapid changes in behavior, then the only way to achieve them is for people to feel that their jobs are on the line. So, we are supposed to engineer circumstances that will create a sense of urgency—let us be honest, a sense of fear—within the body of our organizations. And with that stick we can beat our employees into a new mindset.
The established dogma is a lie. Worse, it is a self serving and dangerous lie. It has become a myth that we have all been told for so long by so many people, that we in turn have passed it on to our own colleagues and so reinforced the apparent validity and common sense of the gospel." (p. 137)
The established dogma is a lie. Worse, it is a self serving and dangerous lie. It has become a myth that we have all been told for so long by so many people, that we in turn have passed it on to our own colleagues and so reinforced the apparent validity and common sense of the gospel." (p. 137)
(1994). The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World's Greatest Investor.
The Institutional Imperative
"...an unseen force he calls 'the institutional imperative'—the lemminglike tendency of corporate management to imitate the behavior of other managers, no matter how silly or irrational it may be. It was, Buffett confesses, the most surprising discovery of his business career. At school he was taught that experienced managers of companies were honest, intelligent, and automatically made rational business decisions. Once out in the business world, he learned instead that 'rationality frequently wilts when the institutional imperative comes into play.' " (p. 84)
"...an unseen force he calls 'the institutional imperative'—the lemminglike tendency of corporate management to imitate the behavior of other managers, no matter how silly or irrational it may be. It was, Buffett confesses, the most surprising discovery of his business career. At school he was taught that experienced managers of companies were honest, intelligent, and automatically made rational business decisions. Once out in the business world, he learned instead that 'rationality frequently wilts when the institutional imperative comes into play.' " (p. 84)
Compare with "group narcissism" (Fromm) or "institutional narcissism" (Duncan). Also Howard Schwartz, et. al.
(1994). Why Climb the Corporate Ladder when You Can Take the Elevator? : 500 Secrets for Success in Business.
"Many corporations encourage independent thinking right up until the day they fire you for it." (p. 382)
(1994). Working Without a Net: How to Survive and Thrive in Today's High Risk Business World.
"Self-disclosers explain to others who they are, not just what they do. No one builds relationships unless they reveal more than job-related facts. Contrary to the old paradigm—which held that others don't have the right to know about your personal life—the new paradigm says that it's a necessity that they know." (p. 71)
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