The following is e-mail I sent to Winfried Deijmann, who suggested that I
send this on to the Learning-Org list despite my misgivings.
>Date: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 20:23:43 -0600
>To: Winfried M. Deijmann <Winfried@universal.nl>
>From: Bob Watson <bwatson@linc.lib.il.us>
>
>Hi,
>
>I'm one of the many lurkers on the Organ-Learner list and am intrigued by
>your post. I'm neither an academic nor a consulting practitioner, but a
>public library director running a middlin' sized library near Chicago.
>Which is to say I'd rather send this by e-mail since I'm rather out of my
>league regarding this listserve crowd!
>
>A similar issue, I think, after following the listserve for something
>close to a year is how much is said, but not agreed upon. Of course, one
>can't really expect agreement due to the medium, but it is curious that
>there is are so many differences of opinion among the experts themselves.
>
>I think you've hit upon a major issue.
>
>I think management should be "simple" in the sense that an art-form is
>simple.
>Painting consists solely of learning how to apply paint, but doing it well
>is not as much a matter of technique as it is of acquiring a vision of
>what one wants to accomplish.
>
>The problem is, I think, that people without "painterly souls" want to
>become painters, that people without "managerial souls" want to become
>managers, and that people without "leadership souls" want to become
>leaders. As the saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's
>ear. There is only so much an outsider can do without major alterations
>to the soul.
>
>People, I'm afraid, want to learn technique rather than reflect upon who
>they are and then try to change the latter. So they ask for help, much
>like a poor painter would ask someone else to tell him where to apply the
>paint.
>
>This can work in some situations, and the result may be a workmanlike bit
>of craft (a good thing in itself), but it is not the art and the success
>of the art which will sustain the artist in knowing that he's an artist and
>competent to produce paintings of his own.
>
>Bob Watson
>Executive Director
>Franklin Park Public Library District
>10311 Grand Avenue
>Franklin Park, IL 60131
>847-455-6016
>e-mail: bwatson@linc.lib.il.us
--Bob Watson <bwatson@linc.lib.il.us>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>