Whose agenda?

I was surprised by the behaviour of our first Labrador pup. We had decided it would be allowed into the house, but only the kitchen. When we first brought her home, she set off on a journey, sniffing the house as if to see whether it would do. We had a hard time teaching her that everywhere other than the kitchen was out of bounds.

Human beings have an even greater propensity for autonomy. From the day of its birth a child has a craving for its needs to be met. The most wonderful thing is how children can talk with supposed authority on a topic they have no clue about. This I have seen on a TV program in which kids were interviewed.

Not each of the billions of people on earth can act out his/her own preference. Some agendas have to be scrapped in favour of others. We learn early in life that there are many conventions which are best accepted without "kicking against the pricks". It is for instance hardly worth while to rebel against the qwerty keyboard or the twelve month calendar.

Preferences become critical in the way which we spend our time. The book "The Epidemic" gives examples of how a child can manipulate its parents if they are willing to be co-opted onto the child's agenda.

One of my pet peeves concerns the way in which people fit me into their schedule. They have an hour or so to kill and decide to kill my ability to do what I had planned for that hour. Sometimes people who are bored and have nothing to do want to come and do it with me.

Some leaders say they have an "open door policy". That cannot possibly mean that their time can be absorbed by whomsoever wants to. Leaders cannot afford to be driven, influenced or informed by the wishes of all who clamour for their attention.

People have a tendency to draw those with power and authority into their little world. Leaders who don't put up boundaries against such interactions become ineffective. Followers need to be cared for but not indulged.

True followers want their leaders to make their agenda public and not to chop and change it too often. In that way they can organise their own lives to fit in with the leader's time table. This helps them to be effective with their time and minimise disruption of their own program.

Two questions to ponder arise out of the above:
1. How do companies with a "flat hierarchy" operate?
2. Am I on God's agenda or my own?