Page 133 - Make Work Great

Organic Growth

In the moment, some particles attach and others don’t because
some are ready and others are not. Particles that are receptive to the
change—adjacent surface molecules at the freezing temperature—
join quickly. Unreceptive particles—those underwater and at slightly
higher temperatures—are left unchanged. That’s all. They’re not
blacklisted, rejected, thrown out, excluded, or ostracized. They’re
simply left unchanged.
Ice formation is selective but not exclusive. Our anthropomor-
phized ice crystal would not be heard saying, “Well, I’m not so sure
about you. You meet the criteria, but I really don’t want you around.”
Nor would we hear, “Nope. I invited you an hour ago, and you said
you weren’t ready, so you missed your chance.” Only those parti-
cles able to make the change are allowed to do so, but all of them
are allowed to do so. Whenever an adjacent particle is “ready,” it’s
admitted.
This is an important lesson in growing a cultural crystal. So far,
this book has suggested that you be selective about whom you con-
sider for inclusion. You must choose people you judge to be capable,
ethical, and receptive; people with whom you are already connected;
people with whom you have a high potential for mutually benefi cial
relationships. This selectivity is important, as you assess who is pre-
pared to enroll.
On the other hand, you must take care not to let selectivity turn
into exclusivity. You’re building a culture, not a clique or a cult; this is
“Make Work Great,” not “Make Work Homogeneous”! If you begin
to include additional, more personal criteria in your selection process,
it will change the nature of what you’re doing. Attempts to create an
“inner circle” of those who dress, act, or think alike may provide the
opportunity to assuage your insecurities or correct the social injus-
tices of your youth, but they don’t produce benefi cial changes in the
broader culture around you. If anything, they encourage a division
between those who are “in” and those who are “out.” This creates
a dysfunctional social dynamic, as people must then make decisions
relative to that division: “Do I try to get in?” “Am I proudly out?”
and so forth. Engaging people in this way improves neither output

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