Being Point

Tag: understanding

  • Drucker On Command And Control Organizations

    Peter Drucker for several decades was the nation’s pre-eminent business educator and author.  He wrote over 38 books, and his insights are seering . . . and legendary.  Consider this classic Drucker:

    “Increasingly, command and control is being replaced by or intermixed with all kinds of relationships: alliances, joint ventures, minority participations, partnerships, know-how, and marketing agreements – all relationships in which no one controls and no one commands.”

    “These relationships have to be based on a common understanding of objectives, policies, and strategies; on teamwork; and on persuasion, or they do no work at all.”

    Drucker nailed it. Most organizations have insufficient common understanding which, like common sense, seems to be decidedly uncommon.

    How fares your organization . . . work, family, charity, philanthropy, church?  Is there common understanding, teamwork and persuasion?  If not, Drucker predicts that such organizations will have difficulty or fail.

  • How Open Are You To Changing Your Mind?

    Is your mind sufficiently open to change it if the circumstances which were part of your original decision have changed?  Some people pride themselves in never looking back – saying, “A decision is a decision.”  Others constantly second-guess themselves and doubt their choices.

    A workable middle ground can be:  make clear decisions based on your core values; and if circumstances change favorably in alignment with your core values, be open to reconsidering your decision.

    Author, Robert Collier said, “One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true or false.  It comes to be a dominating in one’s mind.”

    Flexibility is key to having an open mind.  Stubbornness in holding on to a decision may mis-serve us because that old decision may harden and have us experience being stuck.  Giving people and situations the benefit of compassion, understanding, and empathy can bring balance to issues where changing your mind could be a better choice.