FJ Rich asked:




The building of organizations-commercial and nations-rely on these three more than any other, and the contradictions inherent in each–the obstacles that must be overcome. Foremost among them in imperial organizations, even among the strongest and most monopolistic, which seemingly face no outside threats-is the tendency to rely on the machinery but the failure to provide the necessary oiling to keep it running well. Simply, it is the tendencies to self-destruction that are born of a flawed original state. Even the Terminator, in its glorious construction of a “thinking robot,” was prepared first by men who prepared the machines that built it. Ultimately, though programmed for a singular mission its code was corrupted, which led to an immobilizing “abort” flashing across its ocular screen.

The organization is imperialistic in its essential guise, though crypto-imperial by license-namely, the freedom to conquer. While nation builders may run afoul of the freedom card drawn by those in their sights, no such obstacle constrains organizations in their pursuit of markets and the besting of others. For its unique coding the organization is the metaphorical American Eagle, which despite its majestic guise is a cunning predator. By definition, organizations are a collection of individuals that form a team to accomplish the ideas of a few, and thus, require the manpower to achieve them.

This is also true of nations, but the directing of commercial organizations is more naturally endowed of the effective control necessary to that direction: of which governments (the nations’ management and workforce) are less capable. The irony in the analog between nations and business is the marauder’s freedom to search and conquer without sanction. The four antitrust laws notwithstanding, the fundamental arch of business is to “capture the market.” The presumption is that it be done within the guidelines of the law, and for the most part it is no less the typical practice. However, underlying every initiative is the inescapable human condition, that which actualizes its contribution through unique expression and seeks the gains that complete the math of competition.

An economic system that employs more keyboards than handicraftsmen redefines the means of production to include capital and labor for the unique way in which today’s knowledge worker commands all the elements of production. If we are held accountable to anything, save the legacy all are born to leave, it is to the muscle, manpower, and mindset that inform the means of production and which secure each day’s tomorrows.

Muscle

The strength of organizations is the mental toughness that informs decisions. The glamour of executive decision-making is the stuff of movies and egoists not yet aware of their own failure by the tongue of idiots. It is hard work made to look easy by those whose art balances need against performance-the latter defining the former. The need for more people may be apparent in the minds of workers and managers alike, but until the ROI outlines the opportunity in terms of its positive outcome the appeal is little more than conversation to a decision-maker.

Venture funded organizations look first to a management team that will secure the first three rules of a start-up: don’t run out of money, don’t run out of money, and don’t run out of money! In this fever-pitched model of competitive efficiency it is more often the promise of rising equity value that drives workers to extraordinary performance and achievement, and by the mindset of the entrepreneur. Muscle equals mindset in this tense game of pitch and toss in which the winner takes all.

Manpower

The successful empire does not trade only for jobs. There must be social and economic gains that satisfy the most basic desire of serious workers-to be actively engaged in meaningful work. Nothing less will do, which is why a disassociated and disengaged workforce (71 percent) delivers productivity equal to only 25-75 percent of its capacity on a given day. It’s as though showing up to work each day-the delight of HR and senior management in full attendance-is no guarantee that real work will be accomplished. A stagecoach laden with gold fails as a means of production without the horses to drive it to productive employment.

Without a head the proverbial beast crashes and burns. Similarly, the absence of worker bees in the hive makes impossible the production of honey. This second element of the organization is nevertheless insufficient if only present; it must also be productive.

Mindlessness

The human condition is the contradiction of extraordinary ability and a least-resistance nature. We are information hungry and attention poor, a nation hobbled by low self-esteem and the anxiety of busyness. If organizations are to succeed today they must manage information more effectively; that is, learn better what is valuable and useful to the task at hand. And they must reach desired outcomes more quickly than in the past, if for no other reason than to skirt the natural tendency of people to lose interest in what they are trying to accomplish. Long and steady is a seldom-practiced virtue of modern organizations.

If we are to achieve the stated goals of our institutions of commerce and community we must steel the mind against the distractions that divide our attention and we must impute more value to the process of achievement. We must keep moving, and as we move accomplish more of what is available to us. And we must avoid the self-destructive nature that lives in each of us in favor of productive lives.

“Each of us is the sum he has not counted; subtract us into nakedness and night again, and you shall see begin in Crete four thousand years ago the love that ended yesterday in Texas. The seed of our destruction will blossom in the desert…” Thomas Wolfe.

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