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 #3 of Chapter 3 Excerpts: Next | Previous Bigger than the Boxes Wesley continues, "If what Marjorie and Alan are saying is true, we are not really using the richness of people's talents, either as individuals or as functional groups. We have resources we are seriously under-utilizing. It would be like Vincent only using his manufacturing equipment 30 percent of the time. I have always felt that our people are bigger than their boxes. They have more talents than fit the simplistic job descriptions. Come to think of it, it's not just our individual talents, but how we knit these talents together that gives us our core competencies. I'm beginning to understand what Tom Peters has been saying for a while." Marjorie seems never to want to sit down. She is still at the flip chart, and this time she is adding something to the three boxes. "Would we agree that our people are bigger than their boxes?" asks Marjorie. "And A's challenge is to help B and C combine their talents in ways that enhance the strength of the organization? In other words, A is a coach and mentor, whose challenge is to identify and combine talent creating a collaborative rather than competitive environment." "Marjorie, do you realize that with this approach, there's likely to be more trust between B and C?" asks Wesley. "What has really changed, the relationships between the three, or A's attitude? By redefining A's role we are able to effect a significant change in the relationship between B and C. They learn, with A's coaching, to leverage one another's talents, one another's capabilities, one another's experience, and one another's aspirations. B and C are put in a relationship where they will learn to discover, value, and build off one another's abilities. This is a relationship of valuing." "Fascinating . . . we've kept the hierarchy relationships, but have redefined them in a most intriguing way," notes Vincent. "Frank, perhaps the problem isn't with the traditional organizational chart, but instead with our understanding of how it operates. I'm beginning to believe there is something in Wesley's high jump analogy. By a shift of attitudes, we're able to build on the natural energy and talents of our people and our functions more effectively. With this shift, we may well be able to increase productivity and scale new heights of market performance. If we see this in relation to the scissors kick, the Western roll, and the Fosbury Flop, it's unlikely we will flop as we have been doing." Laughter . . . Gregory shakes his head at Vincent's play on words. Excerpts: Next | Previous