Sunday, September 01, 2002

My favorite scene from Silence of the Lambs: Hannibal Lecter : First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek? Clarice Starling : He kills women-- Hannibal Lecter: No! That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does, what need does he serve by killing? Clarice Starling : Anger, social resentment, sexual frustration-- Hannibal Lecter : No, he covets. That's his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer. Clarice Starling : No. We just-- Hannibal Lecter : No. Precisely. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? I hardly see how you couldn't. And don't your eyes move over the things you want? I was reminded of it while reading First, Break All the Rules. The authors claim (based on the results of a huge Gallup study) that the one thing that all great managers have in common is that they know that "each individual ... is true to his unique nature". People don't change that much, Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out, Try to draw out what was left in, That is hard enough. I feel sure Peter Drucker would agree. Don't focus on people's weaknesses (especially if you call them "opportunities for growth"). Focus on people's strengths. 11:07:14 PM

© Copyright 2002 John Sands.