I've read with interest all of the replies to my post about Dilbert.
Some laconic, others more verbose. All of them interesting.
Here's where I'm coming from.
A few months ago it occured to me one morning while showering that in
business we don't effectively use all of the available methods of
communication. For instance, the flow of music, the power of poetry, and
the insights of drama are largely left to those people with artistic
ability. However, they can be great vehicles of change.
And so I set out to find those people who possessed artistic abilities,
put them together with a bunch of scientists and managers and see what we
could do about changing the way others thought about business. I first
began talking to the few scientists I knew: A few physicists and a couple
of biologists. We talked about the stuff going on at the Santa Fe
Institue, and the impact it had on business. I've tried to convince them
that they could also have a positive impact. They've expressed at least
some interest. (They're still more fascinated by X-ray microscopes than
they are with business, but they tolerate me.)
I then started working my way into the "artistic" circles (which, IMO,
are a strange bunch of people). I found a musician who was very
interested in my work, as he wanted to use his talents to meaningful
stories that brought about change. And soon there was some dialogue
going on (still working to find a good play write and a few good poets).
As we talked we decided it was probably not the best idea to "show what
was wrong" with business, but rather show future possibilities. And
hence my interest in scenario planning (outside, of course, of its
benefit at Novell). Dilbert does a great job showing the problems (a
necessary thing; you've got to know where you are before you can get to
where you're going); he doesn't show possibilities.
We're now preparing to take our thoughts into cyber-cafes where the
socially conscious people hang out, and tell them, "You want to save the
environment? You want to corporations to have a conscience? Then you've
got to go to work for a company, and you've got to influence it. Most
meaningful social change comes from the corporate world. Don't condemn
them from the outside. Get a job, and change business from the inside."
We're putting it together with music, so the presentation will include
both dialogue and music.
We may fall flat on our faces, but it's been a lot fun and a great
learning opportunity.
-- Ben Compton The Accidental Learning Group Work: (801) 222-6178 Improving Business through Science and Art bcompton@geocities.com http://www.e-ad.com/ben/BEN.HTMLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>