The Hidden Organization LO12255

Edwin Brenegar III (brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu)
Wed, 29 Jan 1997 06:43:41 -0500 (EST)

Replying to LO12241 --

On Tue, 28 Jan 1997 VMRC@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 97-01-28 01:22:32 EST, dank@novanova.com (Dan Kaufmann)
> writes:
>
> > Based on recent personal experience I would like to ask the group to
> > consider the concept of the hidden organization. Consider for a moment
> > situations where within a group of people it is appropriate for an
> > individual to take the center stage in terms of driving a project (my
> > personal experience of late where it was necessary for my colleague to be
> > considered the project owner). And yet, behind the individual are many
> > others who contribute to the conceptual formulation of the idea, yet the
> > rest of the group may not be public at all.
>
> This is an interesting question. I've often wondered how often the
> superstar CEOs featured in laudatory media stories (and management
> courses) are figureheads who are almost literally creations of
> behind-the-scenes types. Obviously there are real visionaries and real
> leaders out there, but there have got to be some Orville Redenbachers,
> too. Probably the majority fall into the "I owe my success to..." school.
> Guess I'm betraying my prejudice that we generally have more to learn
> about organizations from second level management types than from CEOs who
> write books.
>

Dick,

I'd take your point another step. Every CEO's success is the product of
their collaboration with others, and therefore a success of the network of
relationships with make of the leadership community. And it is easier to
portray heroic individuals, than the community which leads.

Ed Brenegar
Leadership Resources
Hendersonville, NC 28791
704/693-0720 voice/fax
brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu

-- 

Edwin Brenegar III <brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>