Insights from 1-18-07

1) First I'd like to talk about what I'll call the ABC principle. It works like this Person A has an idea about how to achieve the desired results. To keep it simple the idea will be "idea A". Person B agrees as to what the desired results should be but has a different idea of how to get them. We'll call it "idea B." Person A and B go back and forth disputing about which idea is better. Both parties feel that their idea would more effectively produce the desired results. If they are truly interested in the best results and nothing more they’ll be able to come up with another idea. We’ll call this idea C. Idea C isn’t a compromise between both A and B it’s actually a better idea. The thing that prevents most organizations from ever coming up with a superior C idea is the egos of those involved. Both sides want the best results but they also want the credit for coming up with the solution. The ego of the people in the organization will hinder production of the best solutions. In some cases ego can even destroy the organization.
Ego is basically the world’s word for pride. The Lord often warns his people about the dangers of pride. The Book of Mormon shows us repeatedly the destructive nature of pride.

“And it came to pass in the eighty and fifth year they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction.”

Helaman 11: 37

2) Scarce resources have defined our civilization for thousands of years. We have always operated under the understanding that there is only so much to go around. Even today our economy operates on the idea of supply and demand.

When we as a class played musical chairs we knew that there was not enough for everyone. One chair, one person that’s it; so we began to fight to stay in. What happened when we played musical chairs might be similar to what happens when a company begins laying people off. Everyone begins to fight and undercut one another so that they can keep their job; as a result productivity drops and the situation gets worse. To prevent this, what needs to happen is what happened in our game of musical chairs. We realized that there was no rule that said “one person, one chair we could have as many people on a chair as we wanted. I know it’s a way over used cliché but the solution was to “think outside the box.” In the case of lay offs one solution is for employees to look for ways to help the company expand business. Another is for the employees not to panic but to look at other companies they might be able to get hired into. The possibilities are as limitless as the human imagination.
Twenty years ago and even in some circles today the well educated people say that there are too many people in the world. They say that the earth doesn’t have the resources necessary to support our rising population. In contrast the church has encouraged us to have large families. Learned men predicted that we would be starving to death by now. Once again we see the wisdom of the Lord. He thinks outside the box more than we can ever hope to in this life.

3) Ruthless compassion an interesting concept. Ruthless compassion moves beyond courage and consideration to achieve greater results. I do not dispute that an organization will function best at these levels. However, someone who seeks to utilize this technique should be aware that they will not have 100% success. The problems one would likely confront would be that most people are not used to functioning on that level. A boss who is working on that level may be taken advantage of and burned occasionally. For example working on this level requires a deep level of trust. Some employees will abuse that trust. This may come in the form of not doing their job, blaming others, or even steeling. The boss who takes up these tactics will be betrayed.

This is the best way to operate an organization. Despite the betrayals that will occur; the organization will achieve things thought to be impossible.

This is the way that Our Heavenly Father works. He places deep trust in us and is often betrayed. However, he has and will continue to achieve what most consider impossible. To make weak , selfish, men into powerful, compassionate Gods.