Mission stmt; Top 10 List LO12871

Jim_Bender_at_RLT014@ccmailgw.mcgawpark.baxter.com
Wed, 12 Mar 1997 13:34:55 -0600

Replying to LO12800 --

Re: Personal mission statement

I know its not mercenary enough for a "business" discussion but I've
always liked this quote from Walt Whitman--

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise
riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and
crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not
concerning God...

Re: Book Recommendations?

I appreciate all the feedback on good books in this area. From the
responses I would say that Synchronicity by Jaworski emerged as a sure
bet. I plan to buy that book ASAP.

OTHER:

I also made a recent presentation about LO at an offsite meeting to a
combined group of technical people from Europe and the US. It was well
received. One slide that seemed to work was a top ten list. I post it
here for your amusement.

TOP TEN Signs Your Organization May Have A Learning Disability

10. When asked what you do for a living you describe the tasks you do at
work
9. Toll-free customer support line is 1-800-GET-HOSED
8. Mission statement: " thou shalt always find an external agent to
blame"
7. In your most recent performance review the word "crap" appeared 78
times (Sign your not getting a big merit increase this year)
6. Often "proactiveness" is "reactiveness" in disguise
5. You spent $10,000 trying to Rogaine yourself into Chewbacca (Sign
you're seeing too many Star Wars movies)
4. A fixation on events
3. Closest you've come to doing a scientific experiment-- putting a
sleeping friend's hand in warm water (Sign you're not getting the Nobel
Prize)
2. The delusion of learning from experience
1. Functional hierarchies, formed for convenient division of labor, have
mutated into fiefdoms

Number one left everyone stunned. It's probably one of our most obvious
dysfunctions. Later I found that there is also some confusion as to the
correct pronunciation of fiefdom.

Good luck

Jim Bender
Immunotherapy Division
Baxter Healthcare Corp
Round Lake, IL

-- 

Jim_Bender_at_RLT014@ccmailgw.mcgawpark.baxter.com

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