TABLE OF CONTENTS So long as they are focused on events, they are doomed to reactiveness. Generative learning cannot be sustained in an organization where event thinking predominates.
Peter Senge
According to an old story, a lord of ancient China once asked his physician, a member of a family of healers, which of them was the most skilled in the art. The physician, whose reputation was such that his name became synonymous with medical science in China, replied, "My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house. My elder brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood. As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords."
A Ming dynasty critic writes of this little tale of the physician: "What is essential for leaders, generals, and ministers in running countries and governing armies is no more than this." [1]
[1]Tzu, Sun. The Art of War, Random House, New York, July, 1989.
It could be added that what is essential for plant managers, vice-presidents of manufacturing, and CEOs is no more than this. Most manufacturing plants are operated in a highly reactive mode routine changes in the production schedule, routine downtime for changeovers and unplanned maintenance, etc., often resulting in a need to "
