Hey Ben, appreciate you taking the time to write this in-depth comment. It means a lot to me.
"While I agree in general with this post and the things it tries to promote, it falls very short of the actual problems."
I see the problems you highlighted, in part, a consequence of the lack of leadership we observe in most place. In that sense, I still stand by my emphasis on setting direction, coaching, etc. When we outsource core, important decisions to an AI (as you pointed out), we are fundamentally abdicating responsibility and leadership.
"I agree that it would be great for managers to provide ongoing coaching, but that person has to be mature, perceptive and have communication ability."
Of course. What's keeping us for realizing this truth and then developing the necessary skills?
My main takeaway from reading your comment is that you believe individuals are largely powerless in the face of the (often perverse) forces of the systems they exist in. In my opinion, there's a truth to that insofar as the environment does create very powerful incentives to not do the "right thing." Reading my newsletter's past issues should give you a pretty good sense that I fundamentally believe change must happen at the system level.
That being said, I do not believe individuals are entirely powerless. At the very least, most of them can vote with their feet and go elsewhere. And I do think that middle managers, being the "connective tissue" of any organization (see the book "Slack" by Tom DeMarco), have a lot more influence than they think. However, I suspect your first-hand experience has reinforced a much more pessimistic view of this.
Hey Ben, appreciate you taking the time to write this in-depth comment. It means a lot to me.
"While I agree in general with this post and the things it tries to promote, it falls very short of the actual problems."
I see the problems you highlighted, in part, a consequence of the lack of leadership we observe in most place. In that sense, I still stand by my emphasis on setting direction, coaching, etc. When we outsource core, important decisions to an AI (as you pointed out), we are fundamentally abdicating responsibility and leadership.
"I agree that it would be great for managers to provide ongoing coaching, but that person has to be mature, perceptive and have communication ability."
Of course. What's keeping us for realizing this truth and then developing the necessary skills?
My main takeaway from reading your comment is that you believe individuals are largely powerless in the face of the (often perverse) forces of the systems they exist in. In my opinion, there's a truth to that insofar as the environment does create very powerful incentives to not do the "right thing." Reading my newsletter's past issues should give you a pretty good sense that I fundamentally believe change must happen at the system level.
That being said, I do not believe individuals are entirely powerless. At the very least, most of them can vote with their feet and go elsewhere. And I do think that middle managers, being the "connective tissue" of any organization (see the book "Slack" by Tom DeMarco), have a lot more influence than they think. However, I suspect your first-hand experience has reinforced a much more pessimistic view of this.
Thanks again for the comment!