Friday: Wine, Conversation And A Free Book
by Miki SaxonI have very smart readers from all over the world. That means a variety of cultures, experiences, politics, attitudes and ages that provide a wide range of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™).
I’d like to take advantage of that diversity to ask some questions.
I ask them because either I haven’t heard ideas that strike me as solving anything or because I haven’t seen them directly addressed. I honestly want a range of answers, not necessarily ones with which I agree, but a stimulating conversation! To that end I’m offering only the questions, no commentary or opinion.
I hope you’ll treat this post as a conversation among friends, perhaps over a good bottle of wine on a Friday afternoon.
Please add your own queries, whether you want to respond to mine or not.
If it turns out you like this feature we can do others in the future.
- Relatively speaking, how global is the sense of entitlement so visible in certain areas today?
- Can people at any level in an organization drive real cultural change if it goes against the “leader’s” MAP?
- How large a role does ideology play in the business world?
There’s nothing like something free to add an incentive, beyond the bottle of cyber wine, to a good 
conversation, so I’m going to give away a copy of Divide or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict Into Strength by Diana McLain Smith to one lucky participant—no matter where you live.
Conversations involve lots of give and take, back and forth, therefore every comment posted will be assigned a number. At midnight February 28, I’ll enter the total numbers into Random.org and announce the winner on this post. So the more you add to the conversation the more chances you have to win. How cool is that?
Your comments—priceless
February 13th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Well, Miki, the “sense of entitlement” is perceived rather subtle in our society and (business) culture. And I am talking about Romania, only. One might reckon we have just came out of a system which entitled none and nothing, yet we managed somehow to build a particular package of values. A sort of parallel axiological system, where nobody represents either the judgement or the law. Yet nothing inside was chaotic. I don’t know if I am plain clear, so far. The freedom of speech, the freedom to access and manipulate capital, the freedom of movement (travel, work, education) are therefore not conceptual, these days, too.
Secondly, I am a strong believer in change. What means a strong MAP if a need for change pops out? What if the need for change is the real, the genuine vector of the cultural frame, for the cultural progress? Then you must change the MAP. You have to adapt, to change. To suck in the new vectors, make them work for you in order to improve your MAP.
Ideology in business is pure local culture. Is having a nice lunch with same ingredients all over the world, yet breathing different types of air in different countries. Ideology, as local business culture, plays a significant role as it defines the space and time in many markets and industries. Business people believe in ideology, as their first and last resort in fighting, winning or losing battles.
I would have been more prolix: thanks God I realized my comment is already too long :)
February 13th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Rares, it must be fascinating to live in a country that is adding such drastically different elements to its culture.
Isn’t it great that MAP can not only change, but that doing so is within each of our control. No one can make you and no one can stop you.
Do you think that ideology may cause some of the rigidity that prevents businesses from seeing potential; from changing to meet new challenges; from the ability to be flexible and innovative?
February 16th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Can people at any level in an organization drive real cultural change if it goes against the “leader’s” MAP?
I believe that people at any level can drive change despite the leader’s MAP if and only if they can influence others in the organization including key leaders. Other than that, the answer is “no” in my opinion. Most organizational leaders discount employee feedback unless it is tied to organizational values.
Substantial CHANGE within an organization must be driven from the top down. A person who is not in a key position within the organization will have a difficult time affecting change. Influence is key to driving true change in the organization. Unless a person can influence the MAP of the leader, the organization will not see CHANGE!
Darlene
Interview Guru
http://www.interviewchatter.com
February 18th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Hi Darlene, thanks for stopping by. You are so right! The cultures I’ve seen that are ‘bottom up’, such as Best Buy, work because the guy at the top enabled culture to rise from below. It’s never an accident.