patrick.net

I like this, but, suspect it is the same gibberish as 'think outside the box.' One problem with Pete is- does he think outside the box or at least understand it? I work for government and know that thinking outside the box will result in punishment and career stagnation. There is also the problem that because people do not 'know the box' they continuously redefine it or make new rules governing thinking. I just did a 10 hour overtime project. It lived up o the adage that too many cooks spoil the broth and there were continuously changing rules, forms, and direction. Ultimately they preferred to use up 25% of the OT in administrative tasks concerning the OT and not the work at hand for fear that someone just might waste 10% of the OT. Lots of record keeping that degraded the actual work by forcing focus on the OT administrative tasks for fear of punishment. Immediately it dawned on me that they had no clue as to what I was actually doing, or the time each task took, and thus sought to reassure themselves they had 'control' by creating rules. It was tempting when presented with the challenge of their distrust and conviction of the safeguard against time wasting created by their rules, to say challenge accepted and waste time just because. It would have been easy and all the more so because the rules merely obscured matters further.
Thinking outside the box is a meaningless cliche and organizations do not actually want too much creativity because it threatens the organization. Don't think, you are not paid to do that and we will think for you; if you really must think, do it the way you were told and trained to. There is help from

'It started out innocently enough.

I began to think at parties. You know, just a little now and then -- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a 'social thinker'. I began to think alone -- 'to relax', I told myself. But even back then I knew it wasn't true.

Thinking became more and more important to me, and eventually I was thinking all the time. I would get up in the morning and start thinking before breakfast and I would think right up until I passed out at night. That was when things began to go bad at home. One evening, I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She freaked out and spent that night at her mother's.

Then I went to far; I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I would avoid friends and co-workers at lunchtime so I could take off and read Thoreau or Kafka or Payne. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What exactly is it that we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me into his office. "Listen," he said, "I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, I'm going to have to let you go. Now go home and pull yourself together"

Ironically, this gave me a lot to think about.

I went home that day after my conversation with the boss and I could tell my wife knew something was up. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she cried, "You've got the smell of books all over you. I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious." I pleaded with her

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we're going to be broke! I just can't live like this anymore."

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with her emotional drama."I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door and drove off. I was in the mood for some Nietzsche.

I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me right then. As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. 'Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?' it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.

I go to meetings regularly and have even taken a service commitment at one. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was 'Porky's.' Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I even have a great sponsor; he is incredibly thoughtless.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seems ... easier... as soon as I stopped thinking. I have come to terms with the fact that recovery is a series of small victories achieved one day at a time. Yesterday, I figured out how to set my DVR so I can record 'Dancing with the Stars'. Today, I registered to vote Republican...

I may never think for myself again.'

anonymous says

here are seven things leaders ought to know how to do

The problem is not that our leaders aren't good enough. The problem is that we don't need and shouldn't have leaders in the first place. The pinnacle of collaboration is peer-to-peer, asynchronous, and distributed. The system's infrastructure should facilitate all interactions. There should be no need or benefit of leaders. Inherently leaders will always do what's best for them even when in conflict with what's best for their team, their company, the company's shareholders, the customers, the employees, the economy, or society. This is true for all kinds of leaders: business, politicians, and clerics.

I've never felt the need to have someone tell me what I should and should not do or how to do it. Why does anyone else feel the need to have a leader?

That's a good point. Many problems have solutions that aren't even all that creative. They simply require a clear understanding of the problem.

But it's probably in areas such as advertising or product design where you're competing with others for different approaches to a market or consumer need, and that type of thing where so called "thinking outside the box" is useful. But even in these cases, often it's not always that much about creativity..

Facebook wasn't any major brainstorm, other than realizing that social media had huge potential. Zuckerbergs big success was based on taking other peoples outside the box thinking and improving on it in lots of relatively small ways. But also the brilliance or luck of starting it as a college thing.