Excerpts A Troubled President The Numbers Do Not Add Up Sleepless Nights Torn in Half! The Military Understands Already Beyond the Value Chain Aspirations and Opportunities Emboldening Customers and Strengthening Their Capabilities Boxes and Lines Distrust Bigger than the Boxes Rethinking the Model

Excerpts #2 of Chapter 3 Excerpts: Next | Previous Distrust Vincent sees Gregory struggling to keep up with the discussion. "A often fosters a relationship of distrust between B and C. If C knows B is looking for his or her weaknesses, he keeps not only his weaknesses hidden, but also many of his talents. This engenders distrust. Moreover, because they are looking for weaknesses in one another, they tend to devalue each other." Marjorie suddenly sees something she hasn't seen before. "I have often wondered why, with so many highly paid professionals, we don't get more out of them. If their colleagues don't really see their talents, it's small wonder that these talents are not effectively used. This knowledge base, this talent pool, this resource of experience . . . it's not really being used effectively. This is a cost I've never calculated, and yet it's a real cost, the cost of underutilized assets, knowledge assets." "Frank, could it be that this 'distrust' is the ballast that slows us down?" asks Marjorie. "When you put it that way, why, yes, it certainly seems to be," responds Frank. Alan is staring at the flip chart. Slowly he turns his head towards his colleagues. "I haven't seen this before, but I see that our reward system has focused almost exclusively on what people do in their boxes; it doesn't really measure collaboration between boxes. In an innocent sort of way, have I colluded with this traditional approach to reinforce a distrusting environment?" Carol looks at Alan, and after a pause, says, "That was a courageous thing to say, and a very honest and open statement. Thanks, Alan. Yes, I think it is true. But you are not to blame; this is the way we've all been thinking. We've all participated in this collusion, without really even knowing it." Wesley is thinking back to his high jumping analogy. "Could it be that we have been caught by 'either/or' thinking as if there is nothing but the scissors jump? It seemed the most obvious way at one point in time. Is there another way to see the relationships between A, B, and C?" Excerpts: Next | Previous