Save the Truffula Trees: It’s your only hope.
I watched a video a Navy colleague had done some time ago about a unique way he led his command in Pensacola, FL. Now a Navy Captain, Sean Heritage worked to merge two worlds:
- The structured, top-down, organized, bureaucratic world that is the U.S. Navy;
- With the entrepreneurial, agile, creative, and much messier world of companies like Facebook, Google, Apple.
I invite you to watch his video below:
I was particularly drawn to his comparison of “people” to the “Truffula” trees of the Dr. Seuss book (and movie) The Lorax, and how it resonated with me – why is that organizations SAY that people are their most important asset, but continue to treat them otherwise?
The truth is that in most organizations, they take better care of their furniture than they do their staff.
If instead, they would really invest in their people, with development of good managers, better alignment of staff to work, reduction is stupid or useless rules and processes, better alignment between personal and business goals, increased opportunities for personal growth and development, etc, I think it would solve so many other problems these organizations face today – stagnant productivity, low morale, lack of creativity, high staff turn-over, increased cyber-security risks, and others.
r/Chuck
P.S. If you don’t get the reference to the Truffula Trees, than you probably didn’t watch his video 🙂