"... management guys always behaved the same. They never understood the technical issues; and they thought that screaming was the way to make things happen. And maybe it was, if you were shouting at your secretaries to get you a limousine."
Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
On payments and requirements:
"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little too. When you pay too much, you lose a little money.....that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The Common Law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot...it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
On Generalists and IT:
"The industry is made up of either gifted techies or smart generalists -- The people who were bored with high school -- the sort of people the teacher was always telling, "Now, ...you could get A's if you really wanted to. Why don't you apply yourself?" Look for these people -- the talented generalists They're good as project and product managers."
--Douglas Coupland, Microserfs
Red Queen's Dilemma:
'A slow sort of country!' said the Queen. 'Now, HERE, you see, it takes all the running YOU can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!'
Why won't my employees engage for the good of the company?
This perhaps?
As companies have delayered, restructured, and downsized, employees who were already feeling distanced and detached have become more disillusioned and even cynical. Too often, layoffs have been the aftermath of grand corporate visions that promised personal opportunities. Companies tout the "partnerships" they have with their organization's members, then shower them with pink slips. It's not surprising that employees are unlikely to commit to new goals or values until they're convinced that the future holds new opportunities for them.
Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Strategy to Purpose, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1994, Christopher A. Bartlett, Sumantra Ghoshal (emphasis added)
