Hairball

When I find myself at home, eating a meal by myself, I need something to read. I can't sit and just eat. There has to be some words in front of me...a book, a magazine, a cereal box; I don't really care just as long as it is written in English.

Lately,I have been picking through a book that I read last year called "Orbiting the Giant Hairball". I have to admit, I am a sucker for a unique book title.

The book, in a very short summary, is about surviving the corporate tangle of policies and politics while maintaining creativity. The author, Gordon MacKenzie, worked for about three decades at Hallmark, taking on various roles in that time. The "hairball" of which he speaks is "...making business decision after business decision, creating procedures and generating policies. And in so doing, they have been adding countless hairs to the Hairball. Intricate patterns of effective behavior have grown around the lessons of success and failure, creating a Gordian knot of Corporate Normalcy (i.e., conformity with the 'accepted model, pattern or standard' of the corporate mind set)". The Hairball has a gravitational pull all its own and strives to pull all into its labyrinth and bids us to take up residence within it. MacKenzie encourages people to be aware of the hairball but to remain in orbit around it so that life and creativity are not squelched by those who dwell within.

As I said, I read the book last year and now it sits on the bookshelf closest to the kitchen. I have been picking chapters to reread for the last several weeks as I have my Corn Flakes for breakfast. Today, I came across one of my favorite chapters, Chapter Nineteen. I would like to reproduce the entire chapter for you here.

Chapter Nineteen

"Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license."

For a couple of reasons, I love this chapter. One, I love that it is only one sentence. Few words, clear point. Two, I love what he is saying. Orville Wright didn't have, and didn't need, the proper certification or permission.

This is not a shot at education or training or licensing at all. We need that. I want my doctor to have been trained at a good medical school and for him to have paid attention in class and to have completed all of his training before he starts checking out my systems. It's very necessary.

What I do like though, is the thought of not waiting until everything is just right before we start making the effort to move forward. Orville Wright had an idea and he pursued it. He tried it. He literally took a flyer.

I think we (and by "we", I mean "me") tend to wait until we are old enough or smart enough or financially secure enough. Maybe we wait until we're "established" before we start to get the word out about what we are doing. Maybe we wait until someone else tells us that it's ok to pursue the dream.

What if you start pursuing it now? Find out what needs to be done and how you can do it and then go do it. Don't wait for everything to line up, because it's not going to. Do all that you know to do to get ready, then launch it.

Orville Wright took his little unlicensed self, climbed onto a crazy contraption and let it go.

What are you waiting for?

Peace.