The phrase is from John Lennon who stole it from TS Elliott ‘amateur poets borrow; mature poets steal’. There are other names who borrow it as well. Picasso is in the list
The rule applies to management. Management has been too much on the borrowing side and less in the stealing one. Innovation and excellence requires looking outwards. Looking at the outside world and looking in the less obvious places.
I have shared before that I have a habit of asking my clients to make a list of their competitors (usually hassle free, fast exercise), put it on the flipchart, put the flipchart aside and then start comparing themselves with anybody else who isn’t on the list.
You’ll learn more from outside that list. Dare I say you’ll be stealing more. When you use the flipchart list, you are bound to borrow.
In my world of large scale change, Viral Change, we steal from Social Movements organizations (SMO) whilst others borrow from Harvard Business School.
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Culture is the new workplace.
What is Viral Change?
Viral Change [1] delivers large scale, sustainable behavioural and cultural change in organizations and society. Viral Change [1] harnesses the synchronicity of top down communications and bottom up activity – focused on peer-to-peer influence and storytelling – to drive the desired cultural change.
But to create true behavioural and cultural change, you need an engine of change and transformation, a permanent capability for change-ability, more than the one off method of ‘going from A to Z’. This is Viral Change [1] – a modern, flexible and powerful Organization Operating System focusing on 5 disciplines.
For an example of the power of Viral Change – find out about the work we’re doing with GSK Vaccines. [2] (article written by: Hilton Barbour).
We’d love to hear from you. Our team of experts are here to discuss your needs. Contact us [3] to find out more.