What did you perceive to be the main concepts presented in the book Orbiting the Giant Hairball?
The concepts of the book concentrate around the critical points that kill creativity and innovation and what it might take a leader to achieve innovation. Among the concepts therein include the need for conformity in schools, corporate normalcy and traditional models (MacKenzie, 1996). The need for conformity in schools is branded as creative games in education whereby the most kids in the institutions are forced to conform; thereby killing their innovativeness. In corporate normalcy, the article implicates a top-down command which leaves no room for creativity of the employees. In addition, the article also denotes the negative side of over-using models within organizations.
What specific challenges to creativity did you note as a result of reading the book?
As a result of reading this book has realized different challenges of creativity. Not everyone is willing to be creativity. Most people who are creative are considered geniuses and they are usually the best. Most of the schools did not provide room for creativity. Most of the creative people in early stages of their lives and innovation get shunned by the society. In schools they get to be isolated and shunned by other student. In places of work they also get to suffer in the hands of their bosses who don’t want them to be better than them. Creativity people in most cases interfere with the tradition model of activities as they introduce new facts and thoughts. In most cases their new ideas are ignored and considered untraditional. Creative people are considered to be out to destroy the model of the tradition.
What ideas for creativity have you developed for yourself, both in your personal work and as a leader, as a result of reading the book?
What were the one or two key components of the book that were most meaningful to you? Why?
I developed interest right from the concept of “giant hairball” build by leaders as implied in the title. This concept meant a lot to me since it defined the direction of leadership in the today’s world and how this was impacting on original thinking. The article implies a giant hairball in this case to mean that the leaders assume all the power while commanding and controlling the structures within the organization (MacKenzie, 1996). This end up making the people to heed to administrative authority, not allowing them to exercise their original creativity.
What did you read that surprised you? What, if anything, do you disagree with?
In the book orbiting the Giant Hairball Gordon recalls how the schools he visited suppressed creativity among children. Genius students got shunned and never got the permission to be creative. The practice of suppressing the children’s creativity blocked the room for more innovators and researchers which could have risen. Schools should support children’s creativity therefore I don’t agree with the fact that genius and creative students should be shunned as was the case. Business and companies do not give some employs chances to come up with great innovation. In most companies only the employees employed for this task are allowed to do that. Other employees who are employed in other sectors and are creative are left out. I disagree with this kind of work set.
What questions emerged in your mind as you read the book?
In the event of reading the book, I developed various questions that helped me to think over Gordon’s ideas. The first question was about how the book addressed the concept of closing the gap existing between the top management and employees. This question emerged when I read about corporate normalcy whereby employees are driven by job description and not their own thinking. Another question was where do the school’s curriculum fall in all these? Yet they are different entities. In which case, I believe that the management of the businesses should be responsible for nurturing their employees while not relying much on the product from schools.
How can you apply content from this book to leadership? Do you see an application for women and leadership?
The content of this book majors on challenges of creativity and how creativity has been shunned over the years. Leaders can learn from the book and adjust. School leaders should support creativity among the children’s in their schools. They should support the children’s ideas and enable them be more innovative. Woman leadership is an idea that is considered to be interfering with the traditional model and that is why it is not easily accepted with most of the communities. Leaders should advise on this concept and how it benefits the people as a whole in order to make it accepted by everyone. The books idea about leadership also implicates women and leadership in the modern world. The organizations rely too much on traditional models, thereby making them to view men as the ones suitable for leadership. Despite a situation where women have creativity and ability to lead, the over-reliance on the models makes organization to avoid this.
Reference
MacKenzie, G. (1996). Orbiting the giant hairball: A corporate fool's guide to surviving with grace. New York: Viking.
