On Thu, 06 Jun 1996 21:41 John Constantine wrote -
> I surely did find John Conover's response to Valdis Krebs "increasing
> returns" concept to be right on the money. I would add to the discussion
> the notion that there is in a complex system the need for a "critical
> mass" or adequate number of "operators" without which useful work cannot
> commence and which is then merely random. The utility of this sort of
> thinking is that it may apply to business and economic units which might
> be considered complex systems and who can and do often operate short of
> chaos. More than one input is needed in modern business and other
> organizations, with the danger point in the leader's needing to be
> correct" all the time. Fascinating material...
Leaders must always be right about values, but not about things. A boss'
juniors follow leads by extracting the value standard they reflect and
then using that standard in performing their work. No boss has any more
chance of being right about things or technical issues than juniors and
perhaps far less. Not to openly admit to this leads toward arrogance, not
humility - toward mediocrity rather than excellence - and results in a
degradation of performance. Besides, the more the leader allows juniors
to strut their stuff and take charge, the less robotic and the more
creative/innovative they become. This is a part of the road to LO.
If you meant to indicate that leaders too often act as if they are always
correct, I would be forced to sadly agree. But it certainly is
self-defeating and counter-productive.
Regards, Joan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joan Pomo The Finest Tools for Managing People
Simonton Associates Based on the book
jpomo@gate.net "How to Unleash the Power of People"
--"jpomo@gate.net" <jpomo@gate.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>