Weeds: a column about thriving when and where it matters.
Introduzione
Kellee K. Sikes da vita ad una nuova
rubrica su Linezine intitolata Weeds, erbacce.
Le erbacce sono tutte quelle persone che non si conformano esattamente alla
cultura dell'organizzazione in cui operano e che per questo motivo vengono limitate,
condizionate o, come dice Kellee, terminate.
Certo la cultura aziendale va curata e difesa, ma non a qualsiasi prezzo. E
il prezzo della conformità è elevato, in termini di idee, persone
occasioni e possiblità che vanno perdute.
La cultura è il cemento che permette ad una organizzazione di operare
come un unico organismo, ma è anche fonte di rigidità e di ostacolo
al cambiamento.
Impariamo allora, partendo dalle riflessioni di Kellee, ad accettare nel nostro
giardino qualche erbaccia, piante per altro tenaci e con grande capacità
adattiva, e a non dare troppo per scontato che quello che oggi permette all'azienda
di vivere possa garantirne anche la sopravvivenza in futuro. In periodi di cambiamento
infatti sono proprio le virtù delle erbacce, adattabilità e tenacia,
ad essere vincenti ed avere qualche erbaccia in casa potrebbe aumentare le possibilità
di vittoria delle nostre organizzazioni.
Un grazie a Kellee e Linezine per il permesso di pubblicare l'articolo.
While on sabbatical, between leaving my former job and starting my own company,
I purchased a house on a monstrously overgrown lot. As I attempted to revive
what had once been a meticulous lawn with well-kept gardens, I often faced the
challenge of trying to decide if a particular plant was a parasitic vine, a
weed or a desired garden plant.
As I began to pull up, turn under and chop out these annoying renegades in what
I hoped would one day be an orderly, controlled environment, a thought occurred:
"Who the hell determines what is a weed and what isn't?" I mean, what
makes a weed a weed any way?
I felt an affinity for the weeds slated for removal, and at that moment, the
reason for my feelings dawned on me. The etiquette of suburban gardening is
identical to the hierarchy of politically correct corporate life. Let me explain.
If something sprouts up in your flowerbed, that does not resemble the seeds
and bulbs you so carefully planted, you immediately rip it out to maintain your
flowerbed design.
It is no different in the corporate world. How many times have we seen a newly
hired employee, sprouting with fresh ideas, come into a painstakingly organized
corporate landscape, only to get pruned back or, even worse, terminated in the
name of preserving the corporate culture? So it goes for weedy flora and their
human counterparts.
I realized that my affinity for weeds stemmed from years of having my innovative
and "untraditional" ideas about business cut back by the corporate
powers that be.
What's Sprouting at LiNE Zine
To help us all grow a little weedier, to thrive when and where it matters, in
the up coming issues of LiNE Zine this column will feature a variety of real-life,
human, weeds. But enough about what's to come! In this issue's Weeds column,
we'll talk about what it is to be a weed. Who knows, maybe you can be the next
featured weed! Not sure you want to be a weed? Read on, and then send me an
email to tell me what you think.
Back to the Weeds Column
As a weed in the corporate flowerbed, I had simply wanted to put down roots
and grow. I continually searched for new ways to help my fellow weeds grow and
thrive in their unusual niches.
Weeds have amazing qualities. They can grow anywhere. They can survive almost
anything, including dogs. Yet, when flora of this type creeps into a backyard
or garden bed, we treat it like the plague. We wheel out the toxic spray and
administer it. Then, just to make sure the weed is truly gone, we mill the weed-and-feed
mixture through the spreader on to the oh-so-perfectly-manicured patch of grass.
Why should a weed be a threat? It is a tenacious grower with tremendous power
for preservation and survival-of-the-fittest tactics that lay to waste any species
of grass. Yet it does not, and will never, conform to the standards for lawn
configuration.
Take Tomima Edmark for example. After finding out what it was like to bump her
head on the glass ceiling at IBM, she decided to go out on her own. Edmark had
an idea about a hair-styling device but not enough money to finance her invention.
So, Edmark wrote a book on kissing and with the money earned from it went into
business with the Topsy Tail. Her drive coupled with wise marketing tactics,
such as securing spots on the QVC shopping channel, has generated over $100
million in revenue. In my opinion, Edmark has the characteristics of the most
tenacious and resilient weeds.
My personal favorite, though, is the weedy decision made by Jack Dowd of Hershey
Foods Corp.[ [1] ] In 1981, Universal
Studios was filming a movie about the friendship between a boy and an alien.
Universal asked Mars for permission to use M&M candies as the enticement
the boy uses to draw the scared alien out from hiding. Mars said no.
Universal then approached Hershey's head of marketing, Jack Dowd, to see if
they could use Reese's Pieces instead. Such co-promotion deals were not common
then. Dowd was uncertain. But after visiting the set and learning the story
line, Dowd saw the sprout of a very good possibility and agreed to sign on.
Dowd agreed to sign Hershey on by offering Universal one million dollars in
promotions for the rights to use the film in Hershey's advertising. Upon hearing
the news, Dowd's staff and former Hershey president Earl Spangler thought Dowd
had lost his mind. How could he commit to spending a million dollars on a movie
script about a space creature they had not even seen?
Of course, the movie "E.T." broke several box-office records. More
importantly, sales of Reese's Pieces tripled within two weeks of the movie's
opening. What a wise decision Dowd made by agreeing to Universal's then-unconventional
movie endorsement of a food product.
I assert that a weed is a weed only because someone has said so. Not because
it lacks quality, character or true grit, but only because it did not blend
into the gardener's landscape design. The enforcers of the corporate landscape
weed out great ideas before they have a chance to sprout-not to mention the
frequent extermination of brilliant employees through neglect or a pink slip
before their skills bloom.
And so, from the tip of my roots to the fullness of my voice, I say to the corporate
lawn with their First Lady holly bushes and Presidential peonies (varieties
that thrive only in full sun, enriched soil and adequate water): "You may
squash us in your patch of grass, but not every lawn has a traditional gardener!
We will thrive and live to succeed where mere grass can only fail!"
Know any thriving weeds? Think you might be one? Send
me an email and tell me the story!
[1] The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside
the Secret World of Hershey and Mars
J. G. Brenner. (Broadway Books, 2000)
Copyright (c) 2000-2001 LiNE Zine (http://www.linezine.com/)
(c) Learning in the New Economy Magazine and Kellee K. Sikes, 2001. Reprinted
here with permission. Visit the original article at http://www.linezine.com/5.2/articles/ksw.htm.
Contact the author directly at k_sikes@ix.netcom.com.