What is it with all of this machismo stuff? The cowboy/cattle/herd
metaphor is a bit offending to me. While I realize that some of these
comments (If's, I hope) are being said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I think
they convey ideas that do indeed roll around within too many people's
meaning schemes. Leadership is not about controlling and manipulating a
herd, but about providing resources necessary for all of us to develop our
capacities to contribute in a meaningful way to the lives of others. I've
not seen gender issues discussed here, e.g., masculine vs feminine ways of
being within leadership positions (granted, I've not been on this list all
that long, either), but perhaps that's a worthy area of discussion. All
the "hootin and hollerin" has pretty much gotten us to the dominant
organizational paradigm which we see today, and the resulting
commodification of our skills and ourselves is a sad thing to see. Maybe
it's time to drop the cowboy/herd metaphors, or the team one for that
matter as well (another machismo, competitive term), and see what other
options are out there.
Thanks for letting me spout just for a few moments.
Terri Deems
> Scott used cowboy metaphors for management
>
> > Traditonal - Lots of wear and tear, imposed stress, sleepless nights,
> yelling and shooting -- but it works, you do get the cattle to their (final?)
> destination.
>
> >Another approach is to be at the front of the herd with some sweet
> feed (oats, barley, molasses etc. all mixed together) and toss it on
> the ground.
>
>
> I do not want to be one of your sheep on the sidelines but IMHO the
> problem is yellin and shootin is fun godammit. All cowboys know it is what
> all cowboys do which is why they all wanted to become cowboys in the first
> place and nobody got to be trail boss by tossin molasses. How do you get
> turkeys to vote for Christmas?
> If Price
--tdeems@unlgrad1.unl.edu (Terri Deems)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>