Which electrician would you want to hire?
"We asked John (that electrician again) to fix a security light on our garage wall, one of those lights with a sensor on it so that it lights up when you walk by it.
“Sure,” he said, “I can do that whenever you want.”
Later that week, we were speaking to another electrician, Maurice.
“Those security lights don’t deserve their name these days,” he said. “Every burglar knows about them, they just give him more light to do his work, they don’t scare him off. I’ll tell you what, though, I could attach the sensor to a light inside the house, by a bedroom window; that way it will look to any intruder as if they had woken up someone inside. Now that really might scare them off.”"
2) What can you learn about yourself from this example? As a student, are you more like John or more like Maurice?
“Sure,” he said, “I can do that whenever you want.”
Later that week, we were speaking to another electrician, Maurice.
“Those security lights don’t deserve their name these days,” he said. “Every burglar knows about them, they just give him more light to do his work, they don’t scare him off. I’ll tell you what, though, I could attach the sensor to a light inside the house, by a bedroom window; that way it will look to any intruder as if they had woken up someone inside. Now that really might scare them off.”"
--As quoted from Charles Handy's 21 Ideas for Managers.
1) Which electrician would you hire? Why? What makes one electrician better than the other?2) What can you learn about yourself from this example? As a student, are you more like John or more like Maurice?
posted by P. Hsu at 2:15 PM
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