Things that will destroy a church, business or nation

I have NOT read this book, but I was forwarded this page. It really speaks to the decline of a church, a company or even a nation. Look at the list

Leadership Is An Art, Part 3 Max Depree,
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc., New York 1989, A Critique by Dale Roach

Depree presents communication as essentially important for the survival of any organization. I agree with his theories. He says that “only through good communication can we convey and preserve a common corporate vision.”(107) His thesis on communication includes the need for leaders to “sharpen” and help “enact” the vision of the organization. (107) These acts of any leader will enable or cripple the purpose and mission of the organization.

Communication cannot be ignored. A strong and memorable quote used by Depree to describe the need for clear communication was by Plato. “Plato said that a society cultivates whatever is honored there.” (108)

This is a good quote to use in team development. “What is of value here?” Depree goes on to give an easy way in understanding any congregation. That which an organization values is “it’s life’s blood.”(108)

Depree notes that this list will help leaders recognize signals of impending deterioration in their organization. These signs are:

• a tendency toward superficiality
• a dark tension among key people
• no longer having time for celebration and ritual
• a growing feeling that rewards and goals are the same thing
• when people stop telling tribal stories or cannot understand them
• a recurring effort by some to convince others that business is, after all, quite simple (The acceptance of complexity and ambiguity and the ability to deal with them constructively are essential.)
• when people begin to have different understandings of words like “responsibility” or “service” or “trust”
• when problem-makers outnumber problem-solvers
• when folks confuse heroes and celebrities
• leaders who seek to control rather than liberate
• when the pressures of day-to-day operations push aside our concern for vision and risk (I think you know that vision and risk can never be separated.)
• an orientation toward the dry rules of business school rather than a value orientation that takes into account such things contribution, spirit, excellence, beauty, and joy
• when people speak of customers as impositions on their time rather than as opportunities to serve
• manuals
• a growing urge to quantify both history and one’s thoughts about the future (You may be familiar with people who take a look at a prototype and say, “In 1990 we’ll sell $6,493,000 worth”– nothing is more devastating because then you plan either to make that happen or to avoid it.)
• the urge to establish ratios
• leaders who rely on structures instead of people
• a loss of confidence in judgment, experience, and wisdom
• a loss of grace and style and civility
• a loss of respect for the English language