Gumption
Two different takes on gumption from Graham Durant-Law and Cairo Walker, from different contexts but heading in similar directions: stop complaining about other people and take some responsibility.
Cairo on leading intranet projects: “When I was much younger, a particularly well-weathered project management veteran, to whom I was grumbling, told me to get over myself and said “power’s not given, it’s taken”. He was right, it was up to me to take the initiative. Often we expect others to take the initiative in and to know how to go about doing things, yet we are the experts. The organisation looks to its intranet staff to provide that expertise and leadership.”
Graham on knowledge management (and management) journeys: “All knowledge management journeys require people to exercise individual discipline to constantly look to the collective good. All journeys require group and cultural discipline to work to a common cause. All initiatives require process discipline to follow corporate requirements, and all initiatives require technology discipline to work with what you have and not constantly seek the technological silver bullet. All initiatives are plagued by learned helplessness and selective non-compliance, and it takes discipline to overcome the plague. People matter, but if they won’t help themselves or are selectively non-compliant then management should not be afraid of “helping them out” – in every sense of the phrase.”
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