The vacation was great, Myrtle Beach was relaxing and an important time to go offline and reflect. The trip was not without mishap - on the drive down we managed to hit a deer (bagged my first buck) and wreck the minivan. The accident didn't deter us from continuing and was a great way to consider priorities when you look at the harm that could have occurred, although this was not the closest brush with death I or my family have encountered. Last July when driving back from the West Coast an oncoming pickup truck on the freeway veered across the road into our path and to this day the only way that I can explain how we survived is that G-d's hand saved us. (The other alternative is that we all died and this is some 'Outer Limits' type existence.) Although a crash seemed inevitable (everything 'shifted' to slow-motion) with a combined speed over 100 MPH, the weird swerve we pulled resulted in neither vehicle even touching each other. So after this 'minor' accident I had to choose whether to grouse about the damage to the car or to be thankful that no one was hurt - I chose the latter.
My 6 year old son rediscovered his interest in fishing, although all of the piers were closed. We also discovered the joy of mini-golf (Myrtle Beach is mini-golf crazy) even playing during some of the cold rainy days. An indoor pool at the resort was also a hit - but toward the end the kids came down with some strange rash from the pool - perhaps too much chlorine or just too many hours in the water.
My time offline also gave me a chance to reflect on this blog - it struck me that I am satisfied with the direction and effort, but that the focus and aim was not clear enough to me. As I reconsidered my priorities it seemed that the best purpose of this blog is to impart to my children who their father is. Who wouldn't want to know more about their father or other ancestors? I would give my eyeteeth to be able to read the musings of my father or other ancestors - blogging may change the nature of history and genealogical research. So this has resulted in the change of the name of this blog although I doubt the direction and content will vary significantly. I will keep the intimate and private stuff in a separate protected section (for the benefit of all concerned).
I didn't really get any reading time in, I tried to start Rise to Rebellion but ended up trying to give the wife a break from constantly taking care of the kids. So she got a mini vacation as well and I got a lot more time to enjoy the kids and develop the bonds that will last a lifetime. Next week I get to go back to North Carolina and pick up the repaired minivan - we sure miss it.
This week I cracked open the Return of the King extended DVD I bought myself and indulged. This trilogy is one of the greatest modern film making achievements created. The additional story material and the bonus material are incredible. The story has improved enough to consider the original theatrical release to be a "Reader's Digest" version. Aside from the 4+ hours of story, I watch the 12 hours of commentary and the 6 hours of bonus materials (and again for each of the other movies). I may post a review on Amazon, but let me say that this effort by all involved was a labor of love. I have had a little experience in Hollywood with professional film making and those who worked with Peter Jackson to make Lord of the Rings put Hollywood to shame - I am gratified that Hollywood had the good sense to award the trilogy with its sweep of the Oscars. One of the great surprises of the DVD is the section on Appendix 6 that reveals the story and work of Cameron Duncan - don't miss it - in its own way it outshines the trilogy.
In considering the making of Lord of the Rings I was struck by the potential parallels to corporate life and what lessons may be learned. Specifically I am interested in comparing Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's thinking with how corporations are run and how Peter Jackson handled the trilogy. Some of the points of interest to me:
1) Allow the employees to determine their actions given the direction by the company (strategy).
Mihaly shows that you get better results from employees (both in terms of performance and customer satisfaction) that are free to choose their actions (versus micromanaging). In the making of the LOTR we see how Jackson sets the direction of the film but often gives the talent (cast and crew) latitude in creating content, in fact some of the best work is a result of allowing that creativity to flow (such as Andy Serkis' creation of Gollum, the art by Howe and Lee, the songs in ROTK, the music and sound effects). Jackson seems to be at his best when providing the vision (book), viewing the results from a customer viewpoint (camera/editing), and ensuring harmony between disciplines (coordination). Could CEOs take this as a lesson for what roles to play: setting vision, market position and how to choose management?
2) If free and democratic governments are more viable than socialist (or other top down authoritarian regimes) does it also make sense that corporations should also become 'free and democratic'?
My impression of many large corporations today is that they are run like benevolent dictatorships or other centralized planning regimes. If a corporation can be structured like a democracy where there is limited government (management which has a core function, specific responsibilities, term limits, transparency) we might see the corporation of the future. I believe this may be viable for the same reason that socialist societies are far less effective and enjoyable than free market societies - our society functions remarkably well despite it complexity and lack of centralized planning, the market knows better than any individual or committee. Mihaly says take the hand off the worker and let them (workers as the market) decide what is best. I am not advocating anarchism or a lack of governance but rather a rebalance - management needs to be very disciplined about where it should tread and where it should not. [Barnett's rule sets again - and as he notes that in a democracy or horizontal organization you are given free reign unless you cross certain defined lines of action - whereas in a vertical organization (autocracy) there is an attempt to constrain what you think or are exposed to. Corporations are not that extreme but somewhere in the middle - I think there is more room to move toward Mihaly's democracy.]
3) A 40 hour work week?
Peter Jackson demonstrates that people involved in a clear mission with faith in that mission put in hours far beyond the norm and taking on tasks that went beyond their job descriptions. Certainly this involves equitable pay (either the pay is very good or there is a degree of equitable profit sharing), a sense of contribution and recognition and personal satisfaction. Perhaps we get better output (in any measure) by shedding the concept of an 8 hour day (or 10 or whatever) and 5 day work week in exchange for flexibility where we work extreme hours at some times and few at other times. This begs that companies resist the urge to see their workers time as the company's but rather loosen up and seek reasonable results. This might also lead away from our tendency to want permanent employment and accept federated forms on a 'per project basis' as we become more comfortable with our value and demand for our services. Today's companies often dread permanent staff due to the inability to scale as business needs dictate, in exchange for guaranteed paychecks we expect higher pay (and benefits?) for our flexibility. This is not the same as contract work (independent contractors or contract service) which has much more difficulty in setting up per project, but rather an accepted norm for 'employees' or 'associates' to work in this manner.
In the blogosphere as I followed the ZenPundit and Barnett blogs to History News Network and The National Interest I also encountered some intriguing perspectives on Anti-Americanism here and here. Maybe the problem is the term 'Anti-Americanism', if it were simply replaced by the generic term 'hatred' then there would be less need to debate the issue. There are people that hate us because they are jealous or are miserable and want to blame it on someone or have political gain to take such a position or ... but they hide behind nice intellectual criticisms founded on myth (such as the U.S. is stingy - even though in 2003 we provided 40% of all global humanitarian aid - I now even see that our critics are associating the horrendous effect of the tsunami with our position on global warming - perhaps they will figure a way to blame Halliburton, now that is innovation!).
I posted this over at Zenpundit as well, but in case you don't get back there I'll leave my comments here too. A very interesting post. Especially the part about LOTR, I was unaware of that. I think that while you may be able to tap certain employees in certain positions and allow them increased autonomy, I do not think that the top-down structures of corporations are outdated, yet. In my view our education system needs to catch up with corporate reality before this kind of de-centralization can occur. Currently, you have a system where (presumably) the best and the brightest are at the top running corporations and making the decisions that Mihaly wants to push down the heirarchy. You need dramatic educational reform, begginning with primary education, that focuses on developing critical thinking skills and other facultys of reasoning that would allow workers to become more adaptable and creative. You need employees who may not neccesarily be trained in a particular field but instead have highly developed abilities that promote innovation and ingenuity. Robert Reich talked about this in his book the Work of Nations, and for many reasons I think this is where we are heading. As of now though, I think a only few small companies with highly competent work forces can achieve this sort of model.
Posted by: andrew | January 03, 2005 at 01:47 PM