Replying to LO26109 --
Dear Learners,
greetings Peggy, greetings At!
>I have read similar themes on this listserv. People seem to be a bit
>adverse to the idea of strategic management. Maybe there are existing
>mental models here that might be worth exploring?
Oh yes, they/there are! And thank you for your account on them.
I have written 3 stories as an exploration. Taken together, they happen to
form a 'fantasia' - a father-son love story with an intermezzo.
I have taken the opportunity for a case study on linear and parabolic
thinking as suggested by the imaginary tour by At de Lange in 'Parables
and Parabolic Thinking LO26070'. For those who did At's excercise, I will
indicate which kind of thinking I have applied to create those stories
('setup').
Story 1: Father
(Setup: Straight black wire, negative slope, cutting the X'OX axis at
'very good' and cutting the Y'OY axis at 'implicit knowledge')
You ask me about strategic management? And if I will die tomorrow I will
tell you today the truth. The truth I gathered in lifelong learning as
founder, owner and many years of CEO of my company. I retired only 5 years
ago and gave the company into the hands of my son, but I already can see
how 30 years of buildup go down the drain. I have had my share of
strategic consultants. If you ask me which decisions brought progress to
my company I can tell you: Talk to the customers until you know from your
intuition - yes, it is just a strong feeling - what to do. You have this
feeling or you don't have it. I am afraid there is not much that could be
done about it. I have many friends of my age who were just marvelous
business men. In fact isn't it us who built the world of today? But the
young people don't have that feeling. They are disabled for business life.
And what harmed them most were those books and colleges and MBA-programs
whatever, shooting their guts and brains out of their bodies with the
'lessons' on strategic management as bullets. I can tell today that I have
always saved the company whenever I decided NOT to follow the advice of
any strategic consultant. (Sarcastic:) At least this is what they were
good for: Giving direction towards what not to do.
Story 2: Intermezzo
(Setup: Straight black wire, positive slope, cutting the X'OX axis at
'bad' and cutting the Y'OY axis at 'explicit knowledge')
Story: You know, what really troubles me is that all the wealth we could
accumulate over the last say 30 years is not sustainable. Adam Smiths
invisible hand leading to the good for all when everybody is striving for
their selfish ends is raising for an incredible smash in our faces. Worst
of all is the sensory manipulation of people by the media. People see it,
people want it, regardless the cost and harm for the commons or even their
own health. Seemingly even bad experiences do not prevent them from doing
wrong. Do headaches after too much alcohol prevent them from drinking? You
know the answer. Fortunately the archaic bounds to families still have
some influence on the intuitive or tacit level. But with todays
possibilities we must recognise that this is simply not enough. With the
real threat that the human species may become extinct, there is not much
hope from social bindings. But there is still one spark in the darkness:
The progress which is made by some unique workgroups in the field of
systems thinking. There has always been nice systemic stories which shed
light on special relations, for instance between man and nature.
Anthropologists have collected them as the wisdom of ancient societies.
But frankly, for me these tellings are just neutral, thank god they do not
harm, they may even help some people to make a shift, but they are not of
real help today. Were it not for those brave systems thinkers who really
managed to formalize, even symbolize whole systems using whatever they can
get from whatever discipline, I would despair. Yes, there is still hope. I
must not look at all that is needed to be done until this new language of
systems become common matter of course to all who have to make responsible
decisions for society, or even the world as a whole. I will simply focus
on what I may contribute to this bigger whole. And I am sure, if everybody
else would follow this magnificent reasoning, we will get another chance.
Story 3: Son
(Setup: Parabolic black wire, vertical position, legs up, cutting the Y'OY
axis at 'implicit knowledge', fulcrum below the X'OX axis, cutting first
at slightly good and coming up again at very good)
Story: So you have talked to my father? (deep sigh) I am so sorry for what
happens to him since his very earned retirement 5 years ago. I love him so
much for all he has done, both as entrepreneur and also as a father. He
was so much inspired and radiated from energy for work. Well, probably
like any child, I didn't appreciate his influence on me at all times. He
could be quite despotic. He was the one who knew everything, decided
everything and the world had to turn according to his will. And he was the
hell of a teacher. Once I remember that I asked him something and I
remember him answering that he cannot explain it, I have to FEEL it. All I
felt was endless hunger for chocolate. The crisis came when I left home
for college. My father was furious. He wanted me to enter his business and
get the feeling. But I knew that I had to go as far away as I could get.
Today I can say that he was right and that in fact I did exactly what he
wanted me to do: follow my feeling. But this was only a beginning. You can
imagine that I had not much respect for learning. When I brought home bad
marks it was ok: "You will never need that theoretical stuff my boy."
Don't ask me what would have become of me should I not have met that great
teacher Mr. Mintzlong at univerity. Just one example: I thought that I had
a bad fate with my father and if I don't want to give up I better start to
learn. He helped me to become aware that my father gave me most of all the
assets I have and that there is indeed a bad way of learning, rote
learning as he said, which harm and even destroy the ability of authentic
learning - as I would say today. Well, he helped me to dive into the deep
world of all the unknown to me. He helped me to question whatever I got
into my hands, to observe precisely and to speculate far and wide on what
I have observed as well as how to invent ways to falsify such
speculations. I became deeply involved in the topic of strategic
management. My admiration for my father and his success grew as I learned
more and I could see and how they feed on their ability to impress rote
learners. But I also discovered just how fast the world is changing, with
some signs of hope but also many signs to worry about. And one day I said
to me, what I already knew for quite a while: I have to return to my
fathers company and see what I can do for it. My father and I had a few
really good years together in the company. He was a great leader to his
people. They were following him blindly. Because I understood his mode of
leadership so well, I also could communicate with him by suggesting ideas
which were not too far from his, leaving away any reasoning - just saying:
It seems to me to be the right thing to do. But the signs to worry about
grew and I was happy when the day came when he finally retired. Not one
day too late, if you ask me. The company has become unstable and the next
two years we had to do some turnaround. Today we are stable again and some
bad weather may come. What really hurts me is, that I lost my father on
the way. He could not understand what I knew needed to be done. Now I hope
that his state of mind is intermediate and that he will regain confidence
again when he develops a new feeling towards what I am doing. Every day I
pray to God to give him the peace he deserves.
Ok, so far my 'fantasia'.
I have enjoyed every minute of writing. It helped me to digest At's
information on parabolic thinking into the body of my knowledge using my
favorite subject 'strategic management' as an 'umlomo'. Now that they are
written, they are nothing but some information in english by a german
author - until they may become alive again within the imagination of one
or the other reader.
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
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