Official Corporate Mascot
Professional Communications, Inc.
First Published: February 27, 2005
I was born into an organization. Mommy and Daddy were both their when I arrived on June 27, 2003. When I was four weeks old Mommy took me to work. Mommy works at a company called Professional Communications Inc. and they do Organizational Engineering. I was appointed Official Company Mascot.
MY INITIAL STRATEGY: THE EXCITING RS
As soon as I was able to crawl, Dr. Gary Salton made an Apprentice Organizational Engineer. I am now 18 months old, able to walk and am gaining increasing language capability. I have decided to use the Blog to document my journey to maturity using my knowledge of Organizational Engineering as a lens.
When I arrived at work I was using a Reactive Stimulator (RS) strategic style. I was entirely focused on "doing things" and wanted them quickly. When I cried, I wanted my diapers changed. Or, I wanted food. There was no need for perfection, just performance. I was using an unpatterned method for input. I was responsive to anything that caught my eye. Action was my favored output—typically "grab it." It was uncoordinated action, but action nonetheless. This is classic RS.
My original RS strategy did me a lot of good. I learned about a lot of things in my environment. I discovered that if you pulled a wire out of a wall you could disable an entire computer system. I discovered that buttons did things. If you pushed the one on the Uninterpretable Power Supply you could turn all of the computers off at once. These were valuable lessons. They are also directly relevant to my job as an apprentice Organizational Engineer.
I also discovered that the people who worked with me knew a lot of nifty stuff. Umpah (my name for Dr. Salton) knew all kinds of good stuff to do with toys. Esther read to me a lot and showed me that words made sounds I could understand. Carolyn knew a lot of good games like "row, row, row your boat." Mommy—well she’s just Mommy – she knows everything.
My RS strategy gave me a lot of good info about the world. It also helped me to discover that people could tell me things and do valuable things. The problem was that RS is less than dependable. Sometimes I got what I wanted, other times I didn’t. It was exciting but I knew that there had to be more.
MY NEXT STEP: THE DISCIPLINED LP
As I was navigating life with my RS strategy I noticed something. There seemed to be a pattern in stuff. Esther always opened the book the same way. Her fingers always moved from left to right as she pointed to words. Umpah always had a few M&M’s in his breast pocket that I could get if I got him to lift me up. The games Carolyn played were a lot of fun but you had to play them a certain way to really have fun.
I’m now beginning to generalize on my RS experience. I’m still a bit of an RS—there is too much interesting stuff in the world not to pay attention to it. However, I’m getting more interested in getting exactly what I want on a more regular basis. My knowledge of "I Opt" tells me that the Logical Processor strategy is the way to dependably get what I want. Being an apprentice Organizational Engineer really helps in setting your life course.
My first professional experience with LP happened when I debriefed Steve and Nicole, two of the consultants who use "I Opt" technology, on our new Advanced Leader Report. I sat on Nicole’s lap and watched her going through the report. She turned the pages over. She did not throw them on the floor like I did. When she got done, I grabbed the report and began doing the same thing. WOW! Did I get the praise from everyone around the table. Doing things "right" has a payoff!
On a personal basis, I discovered that rituals are nice. Mommy and I go through the same routine every time I go to bed. Mommy does this and I do that. It is a process. This gives me assurance that everything has been taken care of and that it is safe to go to sleep. That is important. At my age you cannot be sure what sleep means. It could be dangerous. The ritual gives me comfort that the outcome will be the same as last time.
I am leaning a lot of other processes and procedures everyday. At school I learned about the song circle—it is a lot of fun to do things in unison with other kids. I learned that if you hold a pencil in a particular way you can draw more good stuff. I am now learning about the mouse and keyboard. If you do things in a particular way you can get Elmo to play games with you on his website. I figure I have a ways to go to really command the LP strategy but I am on my way. Things get better every day!
I do have an observation on the LP acquisition process. It is important to tell me what to do. Telling me not to do something does little good. There are too many things not to do. Excluding a few of them by "disciplining me" does not really help. Umpah tells me that there is something called the behavioral cascade. He says that some behaviors automatically exclude others. He says that if I learn the right thing to do, the wrong things will just disappear. You cannot do right and wrong things at the same time and in the same place. I think that this is the way kids ought to learn. It is efficient, effective and fun. I am coming to believe that this is what Organizational Engineering is all about.
I have long way to go to become a good LP. However, I am eying Esther. You can see she tries to figure out stuff before she does anything. She says she is "analyzing" things. I am not sure what that means but it looks hard. I will keep my eye on her. Maybe it will be useful when I finish with this LP stuff.
A CONFESSION
Since I am only 18 months old, I sometimes have a hard time getting my thoughts on paper. I have enlisted Umpah and Esther as scribes. They help me get my thoughts in order and get them on the Blog. However, these are really my thoughts and I plan to share more of them later. Right now, I have to go play with Elmo and watch Barney on TV.
