24 Jun 2010, Posted by Josh Allan Dykstra in Leadership, Life, No Comments. Tagged leading, organizations, philosophy

Death by Info v. Death by Ignorance (& Gummi Bears)

In the longstanding tradition of dividing the world into two types of people, I present to you two ways of thinking — both equally deadly, but for different reasons.

Also, today our camps will be played by gelatinous colored mammals (reference above picture).

On one side we have The Camp Of Information — Green gummis.

This Camp states that the more information we have, the better leaders we are sure to be. They incessantly attend seminars and read magazines, blogs, books, articles, and tweets to gorge on a constant deluge of models, bullet points, acronyms, and metaphors, thinking that more content will ensure better practice.

In truth, these folks generally spend time creating problems by continually disseminating new models, bullet points, acronyms, and metaphors that only serve to confuse an already overwhelmed population (i.e. the Red gummis).

On the other side we have The Camp Of Ignorance — Red gummis.

This Camp maintains an undying, unwavering faith to the “If it ain’t broke, please for the love of God don’t fix it” mentality. They fear change more than public speaking,* haven’t read a non-fiction book since… well, actually they’ve never ‘technically’ read a whole one, and spend most of their energy ignoring trends and shifts, hoping this means they won’t ever have to deal with them.

In truth, these folks generally spend time fixing problems that could be easily solved by better practices, new science, or automation. (If only they could decipher what the hell those Green gummis were talking about!)

The middle ground is hard, but it’s the only place that actually works.

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*Statistically scarier than death.
Photo by furiousgeorge81.

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