My Story

I do a lot of crying about Management.

35 years an employee, I am convinced: 

You either tap into intrinsic motivation or stomp it out. 

The Contrarian Thinker:

The unfolding story, cannot be like the one that got us here:

I discovered Deming in response to poor management:

My employer (in some ways, the largest employer in the U.S.) was teaching us about leadership. The problem:

Their theory agitated nearly everyone in class. Really? How could our fearless “leaders” be so blind to the striking irony?

These same people had me swear an oath to do my best work, while simultaneously making that objective impossible. So,

When they presented an employee appreciate survey, I bravely sought the opportunity to demonstrate (using one their alleged core values – creativity).

Like most employers, they did not appreciate my candor. Needless to say: I Earned the right to say: 

There is massive disconnect between employees and employers. Organizations are NOT unified in their aims and objectives. Employees cannot be open, honest and objective. This leaves employers managing a distorted version of reality; making quality, improvement, innovation, optimization, etc., virtually impossible.

I am not talking about YOU per se, we are all guilty at times/places:

Realizing how pervasive the problem is, my aim going forward is rectify the situation through a simple method I learned at the Fix. See:

Employee experience and enterprise value are not competing objectives:  They are the same system viewed from opposite ends.

Most employers negate and underestimate how deeply employees care about meaningful work. Believe it or not: ALL work can provide meaning.

When management supports such meaning, work life increases immeasurably. Conversely,

When work is devoid of meaning, interest, and joy, it leads us to live of quiet lives of desperation: Lives that feel empty. This stress and unhappiness interferes with our ability to get work done well (if at all). 

This presents an extraordinary opportunity.

Supporting just this single factor: Inner work life of employees:

Supports your own inner work life. It will make you a hero, building long-term productivity and success into your organization, and add meaning to your own life.

Why then, do so many employees feel like abused spouses stuck in a dead-end relationships, manipulated by extrinsic reward? Autocratic. Anti-American. Am I exaggerating? Just remember:

You are the one signing the checks. Don’t mistake compliance for happiness, action for effectiveness, or best intentions as optimal resolve. Silence is a learned behavior.

This is a story about Innovation – Unfolding before you now – Emancipating people from the slavery of poor management:

The vision above: The chain reaction: It works like this:

Note: Improving quality (of a product or service) does not necessarily mean producing higher quality or grade. It means Continually Improving THE PROCESS so that the consumer may depend on the uniformity of a product and purchase it at a low cost.

Also: Good vision is leader initiated, shared and supported, comprehensive and detailed, positive and inspiring.  Vision is a long-term goal.  It ties into constancy of purpose. 

My driving question:

Am I bit shit crazy or are American employees treated like garbage? Are we not commodities? And what’s the good in that?

This is a sore subject. See,

I “complained” to HR during an appreciation survey. 20 minutes later I got escorted out of City Hall, by an armed detective. (In case you don’t know why Robert Greene wrote The 48 Laws of Power: Those with power take it as far as they can…)

I felt like Rosa Parks trying to lift the veil on these Southern Boys and their “If it ain’t broke” ideology. So much for that pursuit of happiness thing.

It was BECAUSE OF, not through these “fine folks” (the anti-American Autocrats) that I discovered Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

If you think we live in a Democracy.

I assure you, we DO NOT WORK in one.

Why not start:

Operating a little more ELF:

“Easy, Lucrative, Fun” as Joe Polish says (I Love Marketing)

35 years experience as an employee: I am convinced: For genuine Quality, Innovation and long-term productivity, you have to consider:

Your mission, if you choose to accept it: Is simple:

Remove the blinders and barriers limiting and restricting our potential.

Or as Lao Tzu said: 

If you want to obtain knowledge, learn something every day. 

If you want to obtain wisdom, forget something every day. 

Hi. Apparently I am the Management Rebel:

I love learning and serving people but I was fed up with management at virtually every job I ever had so I quit and created this website introducing a few ideas employers can use to stop destroying our natural inclination to innovate through genuine dignity, pride and joy in our work.

This may defy common sense, but we (employees) actually want to serve you and your clients (our peers).  This is called intrinsic motivation. We are born with it.  Yet, despite your “best intentions,” you (employers) are driving it out of us. Making it damn near impossible for us to truly serve our community.

So, if you are one of the smarter ones scratching your head wondering why you got the same damn recurring problems, issues and fires to put out; I am trying my best to simplify it for you:

(Bounded) Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

Hi, my name is Parker.

More than ever: I am fed up with the status quo.

I believe in Human Flourishing. Yet, most of us only have access to dead-end jobs. I say this because no matter the industry or sector, the prevailing style of management in the western world is sucking the life out of its hourly workers.

How many companies invest millions in real estate, infrastructure, advertising, technology only to pay its labor force the legal minimum? Are offshoring and outsourcing worth single digit percentile savings? Why do we treat legal entities (companies) with more respect than philosophical entities (people)? Is employer-sponsored health insurance is a perk, or a Trap? Is it any coincidence that we have words for Malicious Compliance? Quiet Quitting? The Great Resignation?

For me personally, the grossest display of employee mistreatment comes from the City of Charlottesville: My hometown of 40 years.

The “very fine people” at City Hall may talk a good game. Bragging about a thriving culture “where every individual is valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique talents and perspectives.” Yet, I assure you. That gibberish is pure nonsense. Bold faced lies. Baloney. Fiction.

When I worked there, I had one duty. To do whatever boss man said (even though at the time he knew nothing about the nature of our work). My sole purpose: To be physically present, ready at the drop of a hat to do whatever he wanted; appearing productive in the presence of others.

Had I persevered I would have been well paid for the rest of my life (pension). The duties were monotonous; wasteful, mind-numbingly dull. The atmosphere was very 17th century-esque. Office Space (the movie) was an uncanny mirror of the culture. And still, for the most part, I was able to cope,

Until they offered a course in “Leadership.”

Just imagine:

Confusing positions of power with leadership.

OMG, it broke me. Nearly everyone in the class was noticeably agitated and distraught. Our hard-ass leaders either did not care, did not notice, or worse!

(The disdain and apathy of uncontested, self-aggrandizing politicians can be cold as ice. Can you imagine them expressing scientific thought; where the highest obligation is proving oneself wrong?)

Leadership is not aimless. Do you think all of us in City Hall shared a common aim? Do you you think our fearless “leaders” were pushing “Distinction in Service?”

If you are mired in the status quo, how can you expect to earn the respect and appreciation of the public? Do you really think the City delivers services required by law in the most economically responsible manner? The truth is,

Unless you are top management, you have essentially zero decision making authority, even in trivial matters. Call me crazy but this is command and control, which is more like dictatorship than leadership.

Do you really think they welcomed BPI, 6σ, Deming inspired suggestions for improvements? Quite the contrary. In fact,

The day before their leadership course, I was telling myself I was too introverted to study or involve myself with management/ leadership. Besides, I was focused on the philosophy of Peter Drucker:

“Business, because its function is to create a customer and sustain it, has only two purposes: Marketing and Innovation.  Marketing and Innovation are the only two functions that build business that sustain paying revenue.  Everything else is an expense.”

Thanks to those lackadaisical bureaucrats,

By 5:30 that evening, I was studying Deming like my life depended on it. The more I explore his work, the clearer it gets:

You know how our school systems, health care, public and private sectors, etc., leave A LOT of room for improvement?

Let’s just say much of the Western World does the OPPOSITE of what Deming advises.

Am I crazy or are Distinction and Differentiation keys to a thriving business?

Why then, do we all operate 94% the same way?

Are most our systems fine the way they are? How then, do we break our fear and resistance to change, knowledge and progress?

If I have any super power or unique capability for you to ethically exploit:

It is Bimodal Thinking:

Two diametrically opposed thought processes. A rare combination of:

What I bring:

Unique Perspective, Purposeful Direction, Insightful Knowledge:

Most people lean towards a single mode of thinking. Me: I have a dual thought process: Two opposite ways of processing information: Top-down and bottom up. Big-picture and detail-orientated. With my help, you can balance both ends of the spectrum. This enables us to:

• Create innovative solutions grounded in practical application.
• Communicate effectively between visionaries and implementers, acting as a bridge.
• See both the “forest” and the “trees” without getting lost in either.

Why Would you Want to Work with me?

I am passionate about this stuff. Years ago I tattooed Kaizen on my forearm to fully engrain the idea:

A. Systems Thinking with a Creative Edge

B. Long-Term Value Creation

C. Innovative Problem Solving

D. Ability to Build Autonomy in a Business

E. Strong Philosophical Foundation

I have always been fascinated by how businesses work – the way people, processes and creativity come together, sparking the American Dream.

The more I learn, the more I get distraught by our cultural modus operandi. There is a better way to operate. Study Deming. Once transformed, you will see it clear as day. Everything we do is exactly backwards. Cobra effect with compound interest.

My background is wildly diverse. Having been exposed to various industries and methods of operations, one thing they all seem to have in common:

An antiquated management philosophy.

This is Unsustainable.

The process of destroying our internal drive begins in grade school. By the time we enter the workforce, it seems like companies are bending over backwards to squander and crush their Human Capital. In my experience, I estimate the average company garners maybe 20% of an employee’s capacity? I don’t get it. It breaks my heart. Knowing we are Simpsons. Knowing we are not the Jetsons.

Call it whatever you want: Ethical dilemma. Moral crusade. People-first management approach. 21st century thinking. Overlooked opportunities. Untapped resources. A god-forsaken system of sheer nonsense. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

When you are ready to collaborate,

P.S. I wrote the words in the box months ago. It 10X simpler than that: M4

I discovered this gem floating around Charlottesville years ago:

The Customer Who Never Comes Back parable.