Leading from the Middle

“A CROW in great want of food saw a Serpent asleep in a sunny nook, and flying down, greedily seized him. The Serpent, turning about, bit the Crow with a mortal wound. In the agony of death, the bird exclaimed: ‘O unhappy me! who have found in that which I deemed a happy windfall the source of my destruction.’"

And, so it can be at work. Sometimes, in haste, what we think is the best solution turns out to be the worst. The difficulty for the manager is knowing when to “leap” on a solution and when to “look” and think twice. In an organization of “yes people”, accommodators, and compromisers, the lack of spirited disagreement can lead to poor choices.

*Source: AESOP’S FABLES By Aesop Translated by George Fyler Townsend (probably from this edition): “Three hundred and fifty Aesop’s fables”. Chicago, Belford, Clarke & Co., 1886.
Available at the Gutenberg Project.

N.B. ”Leading Change”: A seminar on leading and following change in libraries and other organizations. Sponsored by the University of Latvia. August 25-28. By John Lubans & Sheryl Anspaugh. At Ratnieki Conference Center, near Sigulda, Latvia. Instruction in English. Cost: 170 €. Includes tuition, accommodation, meals and transport from Riga.

On August 29th there’s a special reason to be in Latvia: the grand opening of the National Library of Latvia in Riga!

@Copyright 2014 John Lubans

 

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