Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Euphoric Purpose Multiplies Creativity

 R. Buckminster Fuller is one of the most creative individuals in recent history. Fuller is often recognized as the “DaVinci of the 20th century” for his novel, useful contributions as an inventor, engineer, architect, mathematician and poet. Reflecting upon his creative achievements, including the geodesic dome (Fuller & Kuromiya, 1981, p. 125), he wrote that “The larger the number for whom I worked, the more positively effective I became. Thus, it is obvious that if I worked always… for all humanity, I would be optimally effective.”

Quote from: http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/07/motivating-creativity.aspx
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, October 15, 2012

Organizational Design Matters

"All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get." -- Arthur Jones

"Problems are the fault of the system 96% of the time and individuals 4% of the time." -- W. Edwards Deming

Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , ,

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Find Joy in the Journey...

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

How Will You Measure Your Life?

I recently read this article by Clayton Christiansen out of Harvard entitled, “How will you measure your life?” It is what he tells his students on the final day of his class.

One of the items that he mentions sticks out to me. It reads as follows:

“One of the theories, . . . . . how to be sure we find happiness in our careers—is from Frederick Herzberg, who asserts that the powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements. I tell the students about a vision of sorts I had while I was running the company I founded before becoming an academic. In my mind’s eye I saw one of my managers leave for work one morning with a relatively strong level of self-esteem. Then I pictured her driving home to her family 10 hours later, feeling unappreciated, frustrated, underutilized, and demeaned. I imagined how profoundly her lowered self-esteem affected the way she interacted with her children. The vision in my mind then fast-forwarded to another day, when she drove home with greater self-esteem—feeling that she had learned a lot, been recognized for achieving valuable things, and played a significant role in the success of some important initiatives. I then imagined how positively that affected her as a spouse and a parent. My conclusion: Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. More and more [people think] that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies. That’s unfortunate. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people."

I’m sure you can see why it sticks out.