What they say and what they mean

On the recommendation of a friend, I recently read Management of the Absurd by Richard Farson. The book is a wealth of ideas and views on management that you don’t often come across. An example of a management challenge that Farson discusses is the management of creativity:

Real creativity, the kind that is responsible for breakthrough changes in our society, always violates the rules. That is why it is so unmanageable and that is why, in most organizations, when we say we desire creativity we really mean manageable creativity. We don’t mean raw, dramatic, radical creativity that requires us to change.

As much as organizations say they want to be innovative and groundbreaking, they usually don’t mean they want each of their individual employees to be innovative and groundbreaking. An important thought to keep in mind when thinking about work literacy, especially when trying figure who the target audience is for implementing any work literacy initiatives.