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No, this is not a reflection on Get Smart... I was reading The Forgotten Ways, and was taken by this reflection...
Seth Godin, marketing guru and generally creative dude, posted this blog recently...
Sitting behind the pilot on a tiny plane today, I was reminded how important, difficult and tedious this job is.
Pilots have to get it right every time. They have to follow a myriad of procedures. They must be calm and focused and consistent, and yes, boring. No one wants to notice the pilot.
Good pilots probably do very well in job interviews - and not just for pilot jobs. They have many of the traits that hiring managers look for. They follow instructions with an eye on detail. They don't fail (if they did, they probably wouldn't be at the interview). They show up on time.
I'm grateful there are pilots. I'm also glad I'm not one.
Here's the thing: I think (outside of the airline business, of course) that our need for pilots is diminishing, and rapidly. I think the value add of a person who carefully follows instructions and procedures keeps going down. I think the fact that pilots would do well in a job interview at your organization means your organization probably should change the way interviews get done.
We don't need pilots. We need instigators and navigators, rabble rousers and innovators. People who can't follow a checklist to save their life, but invent the future every day. original post here.
Alan's response?
Now here is an apt comment for the church of our day if ever there was one. For far too long we have tried to over-legislate, control, stifle chaos, predict outcomes, steer decisions, etc. Church history is quite simply full of the activity of passive aggresive clerical engineers (popes, canons, rule books, denominational heavies, inquisitions, etc) and control freaks. Little wonder missional creativity and genuine innovation in modes of ecclesia have gone out the window.
It is time for the chaos freak to arise. Take your place instigators, rabble rowsers, innovators, holy rebels. This is your time to shine.
It is romantic to jump on the bandwagon and scream "Yes! We don't need pilots any more... Roll on the chaos freaks..." but we ought to be prepared to move past this dualistic notion of life where one approach is right and others wrong. We still need procedural people. I'd hate to jump into a plane piloted by a rabble rouser following random patterns. I'd probably end up jumping out of one! And I think it is foolish to consider such discipline to be the enemy of creativity and innovation. Some of the most creative artists and sportspeople spend hours in the disciplines which allow them that spontaneous creativity which we marvel on the sports court or field. They use both procedure AND creativity. The skill which makes them the greatest is knowing when to take the risks, when to try something innovative. And far from being those who don't fear failure, they are more likely to be those who fear not maximising their potential more.
Perhaps we need to shift the balance somewhat, but let's not throw out the joystick with the navigator's map.
Posted by gary at December 27, 2006 07:31 PM
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