I think Robert's point about this list being very philosophical is more or
less true. I could sense his frustration (Robert, excuse me if that is the
wrong word), as he has mentioned this once before.
A couple of observations of my own:
a) In my world, business is a philosophical endeavor. The numbers we
measure (financial as well as performance measures) , and the structures
we use to organize our businesses, represent and/or reflect our business
philosophies.
My previous manager is working on his MBA, and he and I spent a lot of
time talking about his "business philosophy" and how it impacted his
managerial style. I found these conversations to be beneficial to both of
us.
b) Eventually our business philosophy must be translated into practical
application. Perhaps this is Robert is frustrated with: We collectively
shy away from conversations that deal with specific, real-world problems.
. .at least publicly. I've posted some practical challenges I face in my
work, and have found the many private responses and on-going dialogue to
be perhaps more beneficial than the public conversations on the list.
Perhaps the role of this list, in practical terms, is to put us in touch
with those people who share our frustrations and our problems, and who are
willing to work with other people, behind the curtain of public
discussion, in solving those problems.
Nonetheless I find much of what is said to be valuable and worthy of my
time.
--Benjamin B. Compton ("Ben") | email: bcompton@novell.com Novell, GroupWare Support Quality Manager | fax: (801) 222-6991
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>