Some of you may have read my post yesterday on Hugh De Pree’s Business As Unusual, the book charting the principles by which Herman Miller became the venerated company it is.
Hugh records four principles enshrined by the founders of the firm: Trust. Stewardship. Equity. Innovation. [I guess he could have held the record for the shortest management book in history by publishing it as a four-word book. Could have been reminiscent of Ogden Nash‘s poem On The Antiquity Of Microbes: “Adam. Had ’em.” And yes, despite Wikipedia, I’m sticking to Nash as the author.]
Much has been written about trust, about equity and about innovation. Stewardship rarely gets a look in, and for that topic alone the book is worth reading. In fact you don’t need an excuse to read it, it’s that good.
While on the subject of stewardship, Gerry Acher, the incoming Chairman of the RSA, has issued a challenge that’s worth taking a look at:
Reduce personal carbon emissions to five tonnes a year
It’s intriguing, placing the onus of dealing with at least some aspects of the global warming crisis on people like you and me. It could just work. I’ve signed up anyway and will try the challenge out. Read the blurb. Read the blog. Decide for yourself.
Who knows, we may be approaching a time when personal carbon emission limits aren’t science fiction, and where we will start trading limits and capacity on a P2P basis. In which case we have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Bit like Pascal’s Wager.