Rigidities

Years ago, my newspaper quoted Elmer Johnson, an executive at General Motors, from a memo he wrote remarking on the woeful condition of his company: “We have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our ability to execute.”* That bit of newsprint is yellowed and brittle now but I keep it handy, a succinct and prescient assessment of much of the misery we feel these days. Elmer proposed no overarching remedy, though I do see now that I might moderate my own “organizational and cultural rigidities” … and invite the Spirit to be my guide.

*The New York Times, column by David Brooks … some years ago