Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) could not tell less experienced
organizers more loudly or more frequently: There are no rules. Creative life is
for fluid people.
Alinsky’s insistence caused cognitive dissonance
in many of his novice disciples. They read his Rules for Radicals
(Random House, 1971) and concluded there really are rules for public life. They
memorized his adages: “The action is in the reaction,” or “Reconciliation means
one side gets power and the other side gets reconciled to it,” or “Personalize
the target and polarize the issue.” Each of Alinsky’s so-called rules was
supported by examples from his reading of history, his contact with John L.
Lewis (1880-1969) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations and his own
pioneering organizing efforts.
Alinsky’s rules, properly understood, are more
like manila folders (in his day) or e-folders (for today). That is, label the
folder with bold marker. Then, as you read and particularly as you experience,
put examples under the relevant rule or in the corresponding folder. Then use
those folders to interpret additional reading and again especially additional
experience. Without folders, so to speak, a body of reflection cannot develop
and each new thing is just one more random fact or activity. In a sense,
curious reading and creative action and deeper reflection quickly become a
dynamic process—one not easily torn away from the others.
Business literature should be used in the same
way. Yet many people glam onto the latest business book (or latest self-help
book) and think it is a template for tomorrow’s day at the office.
Unfortunately, many writers of popular how-to business books and self-help
books are like their readers: There is too little sustained reflection that
goes into their rules for success and the result is a hodgepodge of personal
incidents that don’t contain too much wisdom. Perhaps that is why Warren
Buffett, upon being asked to name his favorite business book, reached back for
an oldie: Business Adventures: 12 Classic Tales by John Brooks
(1920-1993). Originally a series in The New Yorker, each “tale” derives
a lesson or rule from a specific company. Buffett was hardly looking for
one-to-one matches from those 1960s situations. Buffett treasured the creative
thinking and action—or lack thereof—in Brooks’ examples, not so much the
precise situations.
Peter Drucker (1909-2005) wrote several business
books that might appear to be how-to texts. They are loaded with adages and
rules: “Abandon what one proposes,” or “Performance trumps conformance,” or,
sounding like a Biblical commandment, “Know thy time.” Yet Drucker understood
his rules to be like folders to sort and reflect on experience. Events in
themselves reveal nothing, he wrote. The only method, he insisted, was one that
allows someone to test their opinion against reality. His books were not from
the how-to genre. In fact, his Drucker’s best books, like Management
(Harper & Row, 1973), are akin to humanities texts.
Chris Matthews authored a classic on public
life: Hardball: How Politics Is Played (Free Press, 1988). Each chapter
title is an adage or rule derived from Matthews’ reading of history and his
extensive experience around elected officials and in the media. Yet again,
anyone who reads Hardball with the intention of following one or another
rule in the week or month ahead will soon wash out of public life.
A subsequent column will feature some of
Matthews’ rules and will consider morality in the hardball game of business,
politics and community organizing. A column will also explain the process for
acquiring one’s own rules for success in public.
Droel edits a print newsletter on faith and
work, INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629).
No comments:
Post a Comment