"Certain conditions are necessary for creativity to flourish, one of which is the time to play with ideas while in an open mode of thinking: relaxed, expansive, less purposeful, more contemplative (Cleese 1991). Organizationally, this translates into administrative slack. Peter Drucker relates a company's ability to innovate to the amount of administrative slack it provides in its daily operations ('Creativity in Danger' 1991)." (p. 149)
"At great companies, management leaves the engineers alone. At good companies, management interferes but engineers ignore them. At lousy companies, management thinks it is the engineers. 'Engineers' is too specific a term here; I mean anyone who creates products, services, and projects." (p. 148)
"Organizational slack offers opportunities for reflection and learning, and also for dialogue. Further change and development demand slack, including the presence of fitness scouts who explore alternative solutions to organizational problems." (p. 71)
definition: an occurrence of control or strength weakening; "the relaxation of requirements"; "the loosening of his grip"; "the slackening of the wind"