Words of Wisdom from my Franklin Planner
“In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of producing has always been an enemy of the desire to create.” - Raoul Vaneigem
I’m not too familiar with Raoul Veneigem. All I know is that his words jumped-out at me when I opened my Franklin Planner yesterday morning.
And yes, I obviously still use the old fashioned Franklin Planner and a pen or pencil for my appointments and scheduling. I started the habit in 1996 when I took a job as an assistant mall manager in Charleston, South Carolina with the Richard E. Jacobs Group. Later I discovered that it was an “arranged” job to get me out of Dayton. Wasn’t that special !
The executives at the Jacobs Group (which has since been sold) required all managers to use Franklin Planners. The company also sent me to a Dale Carnegie Leadership Training course when they discovered that I wasn’t quite strong enough when it came to personnel management. Which takes me right back to why I love Vaneigem’s quote.
Raoul hit it dead-on. Bullseye. Nailed it. His words sum-up why I’ve always floundered with frustration in the corporate world. From working as a human resource manager in the family uniform business (also been sold) to an assistant mall manager in South Carolina to a credit union marketing manager in Utah to an account manager for a healthcare company (and they were sold too) and then back to Ohio as a marketing communications specialist for an elevator manufacturer. Some jobs were more tolerable than others. There are also couple of other “career mistakes” that aren’t even worth mentioning.
Frustration, frustration, frustration.
“Jim just doesn’t know how to get along in the corporate environment. Jim is not a team player.”
No kidding Sherlock.
Churning out numbers, whether widgets, words or billable hours, is a sure way to discourage, inhibit and virtually destroy the creative process. Playing office politics sure doesn’t help, nor does the fear that arises from subordinates who have the sad misfortune of working for a walking, talking insecurity complex.
Creativity flourishes in positive environments where individual talent is not only recognized and appreciated but is viewed as the lifeblood of the organization. The most successful business organizations (and we should re-think what constitutes success in business) know this and practice it, from top to bottom and back again.
Deep-down we are all happiest when we are “creating,” whether through individual or collaborative efforts. Work that is truly worth our limited time must respect the creator in each of us. Ultimately, that is the highest level of productivity to be achieved.
All of us are creative. Some of us are artistic. Regadless, any business organization that seeks to thrive beyond the all too frequent outcomes of acquisition or liquidation (or even worse in the case of Enron and company) must place and keep the creative process first and foremost ahead of short-term profits and cash flow.
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