The Trip Takes Us (III of IV)

Geoff Smith Portrait

BY Geoff Smith

POSTED ON DECEMBER 16, 2011

"We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip, the trip takes us." - John Steinbeck

These four blogs are striving (OK, struggling) to express what may be wrong with the conventional wisdom around how companies should be managed.

Corporations are all about rationality and control. They set clear goals, clear strategies and tactics, and employ a host of processes and policies so that

But there are two reasons why it doesn’t work as well as it should. First, obviously, people don’t want to be in servitude. They want to be a part of something

The second reason, I believe, is Steinbeck’s insight. The trip takes us. We keep trying to control everything (especially in companies), but things won’t be

So, what if the objective, measurement oriented rationalists who run the corporate world could ever acknowledge that the poets and the zen types have a

Zen adage I just picked up: One must seek his destiny as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond. So, with all the passion and meaning and determination

Thanks.