Resources

Not long ago, an executive from one of the largest corporations in the world showed a group of us at a meeting the “corporate values” tee shirt he had recently acquired. On the back were the corporation’s values: integrity, respect, communication, openness. On the front was the corporation’s name: Enron.

Foreword by Peter M. Senge

The crisis inside the American corporation runs deep. It shows up when office politics dilute an organization’s sense of mission, or when euphemistic language masks honestly held viewpoints, or when managers adopt a game-playing veneer that stunts their authenticity. Operating matters consume daily agendas. We have meetings to attend, reports to prepare, people to see, e-mail to read, calls to return, and deadlines to meet. Often we push aside the very values that normally steer our lives and instead simply give in to the pressure to perform.

Excerpts

This is where the average American city is headed. It’s not a pretty picture. If you recently have been to Hartford, New Haven, Springfield or Syracuse you have experienced the phenomena of the declining American city. It is characterized by high dependency on welfare, growing numbers of people who are illiterate and innumerate, failing public education and increasing breakups of families. These cities have declining economies, severe budget problems, and rising conflict over how declining tax revenues are spent. Municipal workers are demoralized. Downtowns are dead or nearly so.

Choices

An Epoch Change in Our Paradigms

Leanness Pamphlet

In 1969, as we undertook the rebuilding of Hanover, we also set about defining our corporate purpose. We saw it as having three interrelated parts.

Openness Pamphlet