Reinspiring the Corporation

Job Spec: Construction of Cathedral in Chartres, North West France Dimensions: 34m high, 130m long Materials: 500,000 tonnes of limestone, 176 stained glass windows Style: Gothic Time Frame: 30 years Confronted with this project would you screw it up and bin it? Probably. Why? Because the task is too enormous? Because the goal is too hard to achieve? Because you could not get the people in your organization to buy into the idea? But, wouldn't it be fabulous if you could achieve this, or its equivalent, in your place of business. How then could the construction of Chartres cathedral be achieved? Individuals working on a largely voluntary basis hauled and hammered stone, strained on pulleys, and mixed mortar to craft this monumental building. What drove them? A vision - the fulfilment of something in which they all consummately believed; something that validated the unrewarded toil; something they believed in fully. They call it Faith. What this achievement confirms is what is possible if people believe strongly enough in what they are doing. If the human soul buys into an idea with a passion, with total commitment, the bounds of what we are collectively capable are quite simply astounding. What would it be like for a company if fifty thousand souls were as single-mindedly driven to do what they did at Chartres? What would AT&T look like? IBM? ABB? Your company? This book argues that it is possible for the corporation to inspire and harness comparable committed, co-ordinated energy. The process is called Reinspiration. Apply it within your corporation and reap the benefits.Mittlerweile haben moderne Unternehmen die ewigen strategischen Wendemanover satt, die viel versprechen aber letztlich nur die Mitarbeitertreue beeintrachtigen und gesundes Wachstum und Innovation mehr behindern denn fordern. "Reinspiring the Corporation" fuhrt den Leser durch die verschiedenen Strategien der letzten Jahrzehnte (z.B. Restrukturierung, Personalabbau, Outsourcing), indem er gleichzeitig ihre jeweiligen Schwachpunkte erlautert. Autor Mark Scott zeigt auf, warum Unternehmen und ihre Mitarbeiter heute "neu inspiriert" werden mussen, damit sie wieder wachsen und sich entwickeln konnen. Die Neuinspirierung ist ein ethischer, ein positiver Schritt nach vorn, mit dem Ziel, durch die Erneuerung der vertraglichen Verpflichtung zwischen Angestellten und Unternehmen eine kollektive Kreativitat und Uberzeugung zu fordern. Anhand der erfolgreichsten und bestandigsten Organisationen in der Geschichte - den gro?en Weltreligionen - erlautert Mark Scott, was Menschen dazu bringt, um des Erfolgs willen zusammenzuarbeiten. Er kombiniert diese Erkenntnisse mit praktischen Werkzeugen, die dem Unternehmen den Weg ins 21. Jahrhundert weisen. "Reinspiring the Corporation" - eine unverzichtbare Lekture fur alle Unternehmensstrategen und Manager und garantiert ein echter Motivationsschub fur jedes Unternehmen. Jetzt neu als Broschurausgabe! Preface.

Introduction: The Need for a New Paradigm.

The Reinspiration Model.

The Way Corporations Think About Competitiveness: Is There Really a Problem?

The Origins of the Seven Well-Trodden Paths to Reinspiration.

Corporate Reinspiration: What's in it for the Individual?

Path 1: Reinstating a Framework of Moral Authority.

Path 2: Refocusing the Corporation on Collective Outcomes.

Path 3: Cultivating a Common Language, Idiom and Identity.

Path 4: Embedding a Shared Corporate Heritage.

Path 5: Releasing the Flow of Ideas: Inspiring the Asking of the Big Questions.

Path 6: Invoking an Aspirational View of the Collective Future.

Path 7: Cultivating Corporate Mystique.

The Shape of the Reinspired Corporation: Towards a New Dawn.

Select Bibliography.

Index.

MARK COLERIDGE SCOTT is a director of Lake Capital Management, a principal investment group specialising in investing in professional service firms. He was formerly Executive Vice President and a founder at Lighthouse Global Network, a global marketing group that was acquired by Cordiant Communication Group plc in August 2000. Before Lighthouse he served as Operations Director at WPP Group plc and prior to this worked for a numbe of years as a management consultant in Europe and the USA. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He is author of Value Drivers, The Professional Service Firm and Heartland: How to build companies as strong as countries, all published by John Wiley and Sons. The last ten years of change, downsizing, rightsizing and restructuring have left us feeling weary and demoralized. We are ready for a new idea to get out of this rut. The way forwards to truly inspire the people in your corporation.
Mark Scott has discovered that, if all their particular qualities are stripped back, the great religious movements share seven common qualities through which they inspire faith in people. These qualities form the basis of the Reinspiration process and can be attuned to any corporation. The essence of the process is mapped out as follows:
* Create an evolving and powerful framework of moral authority
* Create a mutual supportive context focused on collective outcomes
* Create a highly developed common language, idiom and identity
* Create a clear and powerful sense of heritage and purpose
* Create a continual flow of self-questioning
* Create a positive, even aggressive, view of the future
* Create an enduring mystique
Reinspiration is a cohesive philosophy, an ethos that runs through an entire organization. It is continuous. Once begun it will initiate a continual wave of self-renewal.
The reinspired corporation is one that understands these seven forces and actively masters them as part of its medium and long-term strategy. It has mastered how to command the full emotional and spiritual drive of its people and is positioned to reap the incomparable benefits. It recognizes the opportunity to plug the gap of meaning in our lives.
In an age where the only significant capital is intellectual, the reinspired corporation will win. This book provides the tools (and a framework in which to set them) that will help the beleaguered, strategy-weary firm get there, to resinpire itself. Job Spec: Construction of cathedral in Chartres, North West France
Dimensions: 34m high, 130m long
Materials: 500,000 tonnes of limestone, 176 stained glass windows
Style: Gothic
Time Frame: 30

Confronted with this project would you screw it up and bin it? Probably. Why? Because the task is too enormous? Because the goal is too hard to achieve? Because you could not get the people in your organisation to buy into the idea?
But, wouldn't it be fabulous if you could achieve this, or its equivalent, in your place of business?
How then could the construction of Chartres cathedral be achieved? Individuals working on a largely voluntary basis hauled and hammered stone, strained on pulleys, and mixed mortar to craft this monumental building. What drove them? A vision - the fulfilment of something in which they all consummately believed; something that validated the unrewarded toil; something they believed in fully. They call it faith.
What this achievement confirms is what is possible if people believe strongly enough in what they are doing. If the human soul buys into an idea with a passion, with total commitment, the bounds of what we are collectively capable are quite simply astounding.
What would it be like for a company is fifty thousand souls were as single-mindedly driven to do what they did at Chartres? What would ATlook like? IBM? ABB? Your company? This book argues that it is possible for the corporation to inspire and harness comparable committed, co-ordinated energy. The process is called Reinspiration. Apply it within your corporation and reap the benefits.