As part of the program that I started a month or so ago, I will be reading lots of business books. I started on the first two, Built to Last and Good to Great by Jim Collins. I actually have liked them more than I thought I would. Built to last examines what makes a great company, visionary or what makes them go on and on and on. Suprisingly it is not the making money and get bigger and bigger and bigger concept. That may be an outgrowth of their core principles, but it is not THE core principle. I think THE core principle of the book for me, is that these companies had a core VALUE. Something that drove them in all aspects. And for many of the ones examined, in fact most of them, it was to do good, to make a positive contribution to society. Even Philip Morris, whose core value appears to be to promote independence and freedom of decision whatever the health consequences of that decision may be. I think Merck might have impressed me the most, or at least the way they were written up in this book, with investing in NEW, pharmecutical discoveries and products that will make a positive contribution to our society by making our health better. Not out for the big buck... although that did seem to be the consequence of most of these companies decisions but not what drove them.
I am really not sure how many of the principles of this book can be applied to government unless we have more accountability and can actually trim the fat both in process and personnel more nimbly. I am not saying there are too many government workers. I would say there are too many contractors and that the govt doesn't take enough personal responsibility for the work that it does... we need the continuity. But there needs to be more effective workers. Workers that are held to a higher standard of accountability for the salary they earn - it really is a trust you know, when I think about my tax dollars paying part of my salary. It makes me more conscious of how I spend my time and efforts. And we need a process that values the workers by thinking ahead, making a plan, and a well thought out plan, so that an employees time can be spent profitably, working toward the well defined and well thought out long term and short term goal of the organization. Is that pie in the sky? Am I being too idealistic?
Anyway second book I am in the process of reading is Good to Great. This study faces the more difficult challenge of taking a good or mediocre company and examining what factors turn it into a great company. Again the key appears to be clearness and focus of purpose. Focusing on what you can do BEST and not getting sidetracked by what you can be good at.
I had thought at the beginning of this course that I did not want to be a manager, just a better leader in what ever projects I am able to participate in. But the real challenge is to motivate a group of people to excel in a common goal, instead of just working toward that end myself, so maybe I will start to reconsider the manager thing a little.
For some reason, put rocks from the drive way into water filled buckets was at least an hour's worth of entertainment.... well ok maybe not a whole hour but it could have been. So easy to please ;-)
Notice the drops of water on Isaiah's neck and how wet his shirt is. The boy LOVES water. Dave squirted him with the hose a few times while he was in the pool and he just laughed. Dave would squirt his belly and he would just get a big grin on his face. Even inadvertent squirts in the face would just bring a brief moment of astonishment followed by a huge grin
Ah the cheapo miracle pool. We were all just sweltering. Everyone got in except ....
Me... notice the black chair and kleenexes next to it in the background. I set up the where the hose connected to a different hose and was squirting a little to give me a nice and constant cool mist on my legs. And with the kleenex box close by I was well prepared for those nasty allergy sneezes (I went through all of Sarah and Dave's kleenex and started on at least one new box)
Such a contented little guy. He sure loves his big sister. Anything Ellen does or has, Isaiah wants to copy. Such fun watching him bonk heads with Dave and walk around the house in Ellen's new princess high heels all in the same hour.
When we heard it was going to be a record breaking 101 degrees we quick ran to my FAVORITE Fred Meyer store and got a cheapo pool to hang out in. Watering the yard was also a favorite, as was a squirt bottle armed with cold water for those no airconditioning in the car rides
Ellen really wasn't in favor of the party hats until Dave came up with the napkin trick
Some of the plaster work on the outside was so interesting.
