the absurd

Johnnie recommended I pick up Management of the Absurd by Richard Farson. As usual he is right. Most management writers fancy themselves as system builders (pocket Kants if you will). Farson is a writer more in the tradition of Nietzsche. He is less interested in the six things you need to do tomorrow to become an effective manager and more concerned with provoking you into thought and self-reflection. Some taster headings:

• Effective managers are not in control.
• Individuals are indestructible but organisations are very fragile.
• We think we want change or creativity but we really don't.

Farson is a purveyor of paradox - that disconcerting situation where a thing and its reverse can both be true. An ambiguity that is unresolvable (and ambiguity is what managers most fear). You cannot eliminate paradox, only embrace it.

my life as a fake

i'm the spoonman. talks to god. transfusion. penetration.*

So I'm having a coffee with Brad. And we start talking about roles & preferences & stuff. As you may have gathered, I am a big-picture, wave-my-arms-about kinda guy. And yet I have worked with people who are even bigger-picture, more-wavy-of-arm than myself. In this situation I find myself playing the role of "detail dude". I get my Gantt chart on. I might even trot out my serial killer face. I am shifting role. Now Laurel is talking about acting. And this is relevant. Because when you act, you don't pretend to be someone else. That will fool no one. If you are being a villain, a lover, a leader then you find the bit of you that is evil/loving/charismatic. Because it's there. It may be minute and undernourished but it's there. And you amplify it. I find it most fun to play something completely different to my normal character. You want to stretch yourself.

And going back to the "role at work" thing, that's what a good manager will do for you: "Yes you are great at playing the project manager, system tester, strategic thinker but how abouts you try a different role for a bit?" Now a good manager will also know that you can't be playing a role all the time. You don't give a details person a highly ambiguous brief. Just asking for trouble. But you do want to stretch people because they are a bit like muscles. They only grow if you stretch them.

*There is no reason for using this snippet from Underworld except that I love it. Unless you want to find one - in which case knock yourself out.