By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to focus on the the operator rather than simply on the operation. Reading time: 2:09.

Consider the fictional chief executive officer who purchased a machine that could virtually run every job in his factory. Thousands of jobs were eliminated in a salute to efficiency where “two machines can replace 114 workers.”

Finally, when the chief engineer loses his job to the machine, he confronts the CEO:

“They should have stopped you a year ago.

“Somebody should have held you down and put a bit in your head and poured in some reminders that men have to eat and work!

“And you can’t put them out to pasture. I’m a man—and that makes me better than that hunk of metal. Betttterrrr!!!!!”

That Twilight Zone episode on television in the 1960s still hits a nerve of every entrepreneur trying to balance people issues and bottom-line realities.

Inventive but not Thoughtful

Finally, even the chief executive officer in the “Twilight Zone” is finally replaced. By a machine. Twilight Zone, Rod Serling, observes:

“There are many bromides applicable here:
Too much of a good thing.
Tiger by the tale.
As you sow, so shall ye reap,’’
observed Twilight Zone author and producer Rod Serling.

“The point is that too often man becomes
clever instead of becoming wise.
He becomes inventive but not thoughtful.
And sometimes he can create himself right out of existence.”

Leaders create themselves and others into even greater existence. The most effective leaders develop a more comprehensive understanding of the creative essence of technology. Even the word itself has creative roots stemming from the Greek “techne” – an ancient term for “skill in weaving.”

No wonder that real leaders know that no machines, no robotics, no technology can operate without a MANual.

Today’s ImproveMINT

Focus more on the people than the process to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

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