Sometime in 2000 I was sitting in a room with my Arthur Andersen colleagues being told that we were all to exhibit the characteristics of mavericks. It was one of the new values designed to motivate us. Unsurprisingly it never took hold and as I read Maverick by Ricardo Semler at the insistence of my business partner I can understand why. I don’t think the instigators of the new vision even bothered to read the book. The way the ideas were presented were completely contrary to the ideas themselves.
What saddens me is having recognised this wasn’t the first time. Fifth Discipline was rolled out in much the same way. A hierarchical directive requiring compliance without any regard for the systems and cultures in operation.