They say they favor a “team” that works & lives in “harmony.” I say “give me a raucous brawl among the most creative people imaginable.”They say “Peace, brother.”
I say “Bruise my feelings. Flatten my ego. SAVE MY JOB.”
(Continuing to tie up loose ends re: my integrationalist's - a reader writes in and gives me a definition of myself - perspective of Tom Peter's rant. Here's the stream of thoughts around the two rant-bites above:)
We don't know peace. We toss the word about loosely. And we aren't accorded the mutual respect of casual friends - much less the deeper bond of brothers and sisters. Peace is liberating. Peace doesn't get in its own way or hamper or throttle. Peace is an unshakable sense of moment-to-moment power - akin to the power of water that sculpted the Grand Canyon. Peace does not keep the soul in chains nor... Hold back life. PEACE is definitely NOT = BORING = STATUS QUO = STATIC = DEAD.
Harmony? Nah, what's often really substituted is: Monotony. Symphony implies diversity - everyone attuned to their instrument - but united on a goal: to play in concert.
Let's say we drop the ego - it's not semantics - it's a quite different effect than flattening (still validates its existence). Bruising people's feelings is nothing new - it's done ALL the time - sometimes quite intentionally. So let's do something different. Radical. Subversive - who would suspect?
An impasse among twelve contentious Canadians started to melt away simply when the first person felt deeply listened to. To be truly heard, to be understood is a greater human need than to be agreed with. Agreement is not necessary.
Raucous brawls devolve into parts/division/you-I/separation. The opposite of raucous brawls is not consensus - but a higher order of synthesis and integration.
Synergy. 1+1 = infinite.
A Nobel Peace Prize winner says it better than us. Thich Nhat Hanh says: Deep Listening and Mindful/Loving Speech.
Everyone is creative and perfectly capable of saving themselves (we throw away power if we entertain the thought our employers are our saviors, or the government is). Were they dead wood when you hired them? (- Peter Drucker) You cannot mandate productivity, you must provide the tools to let people become their best. (- Steve Jobs) Shift from "most creative people imaginable" to "imagine the most creative people."
How would one know we'd witnessed a company truly at peace and in harmony (not one just appropriating language) - that's harmony as in symphony: they could move mountains with ease. (Actions speak louder than words: you can say anything, but demonstration is where it's at.)
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