Sublime

Can we organize and specialize our people in innovative ways, so that they become particularly skilled and valuable to the market because of their focus on a particular market segment’s needs?

To see people’s development as a means toward the organization’s ends subtly devalues the relationship that can exist between individual and organization. Max de Pree, retired CEO of Herman Miller, speaks of a “covenant” between organization and individual, in contrast to the traditional “contract” (“an honest day’s pay in exchange for an honest da

successful leveraging of top professionals is at the heart of the success of the professional firm.

b. Can we train our people better than the competition in a variety of technical or “counseling” skills so that they will be more valuable

Studies by Peter Heslin, Don VandeWalle, and Gary Latham show that many managers do not believe in personal change. These fixed-mindset managers simply look for existing talent—they judge employees as competent or incompetent at the start and that’s that.

When we are fused with our ego, we are driven to make decisions informed by external factors—what others will think or what outcomes can be achieved.

For more material on archetypes, see Systems Archetypes: Diagnosing Systemic Issues and Designing High-Leverage…

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change. Edgar Schein, former professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, said: “Learning only happens when survival anxiety is greater than learning anxiety. Learning anxiety comes from being afraid to try something new for fear that we will look stupid in the attempt. It can threaten our self-esteem and even our identity.”