Cindy

Droog

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March 17, 2008

Unleashing Innovation During the Dog Days of Business

Last year, I viewed the changes my company was going through like the pet dogs I’ve owned over the years. The theme was “unleash innovation,” and – just like when you unleash dogs – there are three types of reactions.

Some people are just like my first dog, Cassie. When off leash, she would stay within a foot of me. Much to the dismay of personal injury lawyers across the city of Cleveland, Cassie could even be off leash outdoors on walks. She was extremely well-behaved and loyal to the end.

Such are some people. Wherever the leader says to go, they follow with blind loyalty. They don’t ask questions. They don’t feel the need to sniff the tree across the street.

Then, there’s Breakers, our most recent dog. Unleash him, and off he went! He’d get up to four backyards away, and look back, taunting you. Still, he could always be coaxed back with meat. It didn’t have to be a steak. A slice of deli turkey would normally do the trick. These are the people that unleash innovation with a little exploring. They try to do things in a new way. But in the end, they come back to their mindsets, their favorite committees and the projects they were comfortable in.

I just hope they remember some of their new tricks.

Then there are the Maceys. Letting her off of her leash was simply never done. We knew we’d never see her again. In fact, she so longed for her freedom that – unbeknownst to us – she spent a few minutes every day chewing on one spot of her leash, until one day, while out for a walk, she was able to snap the last thread apart and run away.

I’d rather not describe how she looked the next time I saw her. Let’s just say, she had no fear. Not even of speeding cars. These are the people that take the direction to unleash innovation very seriously. Some of them even spent millions of dollars trying to do it.

They haven’t been sent to doggie heaven. We are, after all, a civil corporation. But I think some of them feel like they’ve been placed in cages and will heretofore be very closely watched.

This year, change in business once again intersects with life for me. Yesterday, we moved my father-in-law into a new apartment, a nice place with a library, exercise room, barber shop and activity calendar with endless opportunities to socialize.

He is, understandably, going through an array of emotions. In the last 50 years, it’s the second biggest life change he’s had, next only to losing his wife.

My toddler, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of Grandpa’s new place. He ran down the long hallways like they were his playground. He said “Hola” – which elicits loads of laughs coming out of such an obviously Caucasian child – to 20 new people. 

In the car, he asked to go back, which he’d never done when we visited Grandpa before. I guess you could say he’s embraced the change, while Grandpa is slowly adapting, still reiterating the positives and negatives in his mind and going from smiling to sad and nostalgic in a matter of seconds.

At work, a broad area of responsibility is moving from one prominent department to another. We have new leaders who came to us from bigger, well-known places with huge advertising budgets. Some of us are running up and down the hall like toddlers. Exploring new boundaries. Excited to go back to our cubicles tomorrow.

Others are Grandpas. More apprehensive. Not sure whether to be happy or sad, and rightfully so.

I guess all us toddlers can do is show them some respect. Rather than ask them to chase us up and down the hallways, we should let them stay a short while longer in their recliners. After all, just like when we moved Grandpa, we were unsure of our decision. Still, for all we know, it could be the wrong one. Only time will tell, and until then, we’ll all just try to survive.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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