Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hardened Hearts

Edit: This did not get posted Friday and I just realized, sorry.

Funny thing how you get into a discussion about technology and suddenly someone's spine goes straighter and they become indignant and refuse to believe there is another perspective or technology that could be used instead of The One. Religious fanatics on all sides of the spectrum.

In this week's Parhsa, Bo, God hardens Pharoah's heart numerous times. 10:1, 10:20 in addition to many times in the prior week it's always the same, harden his heart.

Did he really need God to do this? Don't you think a ruler, about to lose his 2.5 million slaves, might be a bit upset and stubborn to believe in the total chaos about to occur?

Where do Executives get this fear from that causes them to act similarly to Pharoah? Do they believe their power will be usurped because they "allow" some other technology to be used? Are they in fear of their ultimate authority which may be in question because a previous Executive had decided on technology A or B? Perhaps the Executive has a fear of the unknown or less known technology and this is how they choose to represent themselves?

In many cases the situation, not as drastic as Pharoah's, occurs where the choices made bring long or short term adversity to the company. Know that it is not your efforts that may have made any difference. The Executive made a choice and does not like to be questioned. After all Pharoah revisited the same discussion at least 10 times and till the end still did not want to give in and see reality.

Have the conversations, make the sales calls and respect the differences you will face from Executives and try to work with them. After all they can't be worse than Pharoah...could they?

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Parsha Bo in the book of Shemot (Exodus 10:1-3:16)
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

2 comments:

  1. Why would an Executive get involved in technology? Isn't his/her job to run the business and to steer the ship?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vaughan, Correct, but I used the term loosely. Then again, I have met with CIO's that are very stubborn to whatever they demand.
    CEOs don't care as much, usually.

    ReplyDelete