RE: Hillside yellers

["Alan Meekings" <alan@landmarkconsulting.co.uk>]

Bill, 

I completely understand how you feel, Bill. 

However, as someone once said to me, "You're not entitled to give up, Alan."
That message has stuck with me over the years.

Having followed your postings on the DEN, Bill, I know you really understand
this stuff. So where will the rest of us be if you give up in despair and
retreat from trying to change how others think?

Also, how can I say more clearly that Russ Ackoff is totally wrong when he
says 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"?

This may be the common phenomenon Russ Ackoff has observed in the workplace,
but, frankly, he's looking at outcomes rather underlying drivers. Someone
with serious credibility needs to remind Russ that, if you change the system
you can completely change the way people in organisations think and see the
world.

I fully accept, Bill, that if I were a manager in most companies, I'd
probably eventually get so fed-up I'd stop thinking ahead, but that wouldn't
be my original wish.

Indeed, my experience is that most managers I meet come to work to do a good
job and get frustrated at their inability to make a difference. However, if
you disagree with me, Bill, and really believe that most people are
congenitally born to be wastrels, let's explore this issue online.

What would it take to re-kindle your former enthusiasm for making a
difference at large, Bill?

Incidentally, please don't listen to Ayn Rand with her depressing picture
of: '"doers stop doing" and the world is left to those who do not think but
exist.' We've got enough problems in life without Ayn Rand making things
worse.

Keep the faith, Bill - please!!

Yours,

Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: clauson@deming.ces.clemson.edu [mailto:clauson@deming.ces.clemson.edu]
On Behalf Of BCoop1116@aol.com
To: den.list@deming.ces.clemson.edu
Subject: Re: Hillside yellers

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.