Tuesday, January 11
Lessons of today
I sat all day in a cloud up there on the fourth floor at work. We looked out into a thick drizzly overcast day, too warm for snow. When I came outside at 4:30 and crossed the damp asphalt parking lot, I could see far to the south -- and faintly hear -- a large flock of geese. So I unlocked my car, and as the noise grew, stood there at my open car door and watched and listened as these hundreds of geese came flying high overhead northbound, stung out along the wintery horizon, their honking growing louder by the wingflap.
One saw the corporate pond just across the street from the parking lot, and soon a big contingent reversed course and came floating honking down. Then another committee swung into action, cutting through the first group. Then a task force reversed course and spun a different direction. Soon the whole organization of geese, what we at work would call the entire enterprise, each following the orders of the leader of its own little silo, was yelling and screaming and going all different directions, each group somehow listening to a different set of orders, all of them spiraling down ('auguring in from the forty thousand foot view,' as our corporate consultants would say) towards the lake. No low hanging fruit here, folks. I watched for a good five minutes, captivated by the action, as these geese kept making false moves toward their goal, then be cut off by a new leader shouting louder and spiraling off to a new direction. It was fascinating to watch, and, after a day listening to a corporate communication consultant sharing his best in class strategic communication practices and processes, the irony was not lost on me.
One saw the corporate pond just across the street from the parking lot, and soon a big contingent reversed course and came floating honking down. Then another committee swung into action, cutting through the first group. Then a task force reversed course and spun a different direction. Soon the whole organization of geese, what we at work would call the entire enterprise, each following the orders of the leader of its own little silo, was yelling and screaming and going all different directions, each group somehow listening to a different set of orders, all of them spiraling down ('auguring in from the forty thousand foot view,' as our corporate consultants would say) towards the lake. No low hanging fruit here, folks. I watched for a good five minutes, captivated by the action, as these geese kept making false moves toward their goal, then be cut off by a new leader shouting louder and spiraling off to a new direction. It was fascinating to watch, and, after a day listening to a corporate communication consultant sharing his best in class strategic communication practices and processes, the irony was not lost on me.
