Dusty Volumes

One of the most important things leaders need to learn is to recognize the signals of impending deterioration. I have made a list of these signals over the years. As you read this list, remember that many people in large organizations relish apathy. They often fail to see the signs of entropy:

• a tendency toward superficiality
• a dark tension among key people
• no longer having time for celebration and ritual
• a growing feeling that rewards and goals are the same thing
• when people stop telling tribal stories or cannot understand them
• a recurring effort by some to convince others that business is, after all, quite simple
• when people begin to have different understandings of words like “responsibility” or “service” or “trust”
• when problem-makers outnumber problem-solvers
• when folks confuse heroes and celebrities
• leaders who seek to control rather than liberate
• when the pressures of day to day operations push aside our concern for vision and risk
• an orientation toward the dry rules of business school rather than a value orientation which takes into account such things as contribution, spirit, excellence, beauty and joy
• when people speak of customers as impositions on their time rather than opportunities to serve
• manuals
• a growing urge to quantify both history and one’s thoughts about the future
• the urge to establish ratios
• leaders who rely on structures instead of people
• a loss of confidence in judgement, experience, and wisdom
• a loss of grace and style and civility
• a loss of respect for the English language

— M DePree, Leadership Is An Art, quoted in Jerry Weinberg, Quality Software Management Vol 2, Chapter 1