Keith's comment about HP as a long distance runner caught my
attention: Keith suggested that HP had reinvented itself a couple of times
without fanfare: yes, indeed. I had the priviledge of interviewing David
Packard some years back, and his successor sometime after he'd come on
board: such a transition is a major event in a corporation's life, when
the baton is passed to "the next generation." HP weathered the change very
gracefully, and made some significant changes in structure and approach at
the time. In subsequent years, further transitions have likewise been
successfully navigated, as nearly as I can tell with elegant attention to
the original spirit - not the virtual words - of the founders. In my book
INNOVATION MARATHON, that sort of reinterpretation is depicted as the only
way a new generation can possibly retain its soul, and travel on:
fundamentalism - seeking to recreate the literal word of the founders - is
a fatally flawed approach, for times do change. The only way to keep the
faith, is to make it really yours by reinterpreting what it must mean in
spirit, in the context of contemporary times.
Sam
MXJELI@MAIL.WM.EDU
Mariann Jelinek
Richard C. Kraemer Professor of Business
Graduate School of Business,
College of William and Mary,
Williamsburg, VA 23185
Tel. (804) 221-2882 FAX: (804) 229-6135
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The only enduring strategic advantage is the ability
to change the rules of the game.
--mxjeli@mail.wm.edu (Mariann Jelinek)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>