Re: Hillside yellers

[BCoop1116@aol.com]

I have been reading all the email from all of the folks who call themselves  
"hillside yellers".
 
I must admit as I read them I hear in my inner self the frustration  
associated with anyone who wants to change the current thinking.  Russ  Ackoff says it 
best when he indicates that "most managers and leaders do not  want to think 
ahead but they want to return to yesterday where they  understood not only the 
problems but the solutions."
 
The more I read about all of us hoping for some transformation in a  lot of 
companies I am afraid we are all doomed to failure.  I was a  smoker for thirty 
years and tried all the ways to quit by listening to others  peoples reasons 
and that was to no avail.  Amazingly when I became mentally  ready I quit 
overnight and have not touched a cigarette in twenty years.  I  see the same thing 
in companies.  They are not mentally ready today, and  they may never be, so 
they defend the way they operate today because they think  they understand the 
company as well as themselves.  The go to seminars,  they hear speakers, they 
discuss the language with their counterparts and  subordinates but it is all 
noise with no understanding.
 
I know a few words in Spanish and if I talk fast some think I speak it  
fluently.  Wrong!  The same thing is true with a great deal of our  executives. 
They know some words and they think they are fluent in the  strategy.  Deming is 
just one example.  There are many others over the  years that have faced the 
same lack of implementation of great ideas and  wisdom.  Chris Argis, Peter 
Drucker,  Goldratt, Peter Senge, Russ  Ackoff and on and on are just a few 
examples.  We do not have a shortage of  ideas we have a shortage of individuals who 
are willing to move from where they  are today to some new state as yet 
undefined.
 
I have given up on trying to change others.  I try to improve my  
understanding and hope in my conversations with others I might have some small  impact on 
their thinking.  In the same vein I find it is those individuals  who help me 
think and learn on a continuous basis.  
 
Dr. Deming said it best and I will close with two quotes.  One from  Dr. 
Deming, no number of examples creates a theory" and the  other from an unknown 
source, to fools wisdom sounds  foolish."
 
I try to spend my time with folks who are willing to continue to learn,  
enter into a reasonable dialog with me on any subject and above all help me to  
learn.  
 
Having said all that I applaud all of you who in your own way and in your  
own circle of influence are trying to make a difference.  The real  danger is, 
that as was outlined in the Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged, that the  "doers 
stop doing" and the world is left to those who do not think but  exist. 
Meanwhile I will keep on voicing my view of future possibilities  based on theories 
rather than emotion.  While I can not change the  world I can be a party to us 
all learning together.
 
Bill Cooper
 
P.S.  I think we can all thank Jim Clauson who continues to help us  all 
believe we can make a difference.  Jim's Struggle on these issues for  the last 15 
years is an example of someone who cares and has a deep passion for  Dr, 
Deming's ideas and theories.
 
Thanks Jim for all your efforts.
 
 
 
 

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