April 30 Book Discussion

Book: Wheatley, Margaret and Kellner-Rogers, Myron. A Simpler Way. 1998. 135 pages. $19.95.

Preliminaries: Seven of us met Monday night to discuss the book. Snacks weren’t up to par, but everyone ate the trail mix anyway.

Book Discussion: Although Jane was prepared and ready to lead a discussion, this book generated such a lively response, that the discussion soon took on a life of its own as participants reflected on different aspects of the book, and how it applied to their world. In some ways, the book created the very self-organizing, creative system it described.

The discussion began with one participant asking how we are tweaking our organizations, and ended with a lively discussion on tinkers and putterers. In between, we discussed fear and pain, and whether they inform or control; we talked about visionary leaders (“the most informed person in the organization”); we talked about whether knowledge was organic; we talked about the future of libraries (but didn’t figure it out – yet!); and we talked about the importance of information and knowing our customers.

The group discussed the role of the leader as tinkerer, or at least, nurturer of tinkerers. It’s the tinkering process that allows organizations to address change. We agreed that a tinkerer needs to be open to new ideas, inquisitive; and needs to be addressing an important question. We discussed whether a tinkerer needs to have a plan. While we didn’t reach consensus on this, I think we did feel the tinkerer has some vision of what they are trying to accomplish. In comparison, a putterer may take on small problems, but doesn’t have a sense of how their work ties into the bigger picture.

Something to Think About: How do you encourage tinkering in an organization?