# The Infusion of Thinking into Organizations By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-04-10 Working within an organization tends to limit one's ability to think and experience things outside the organization. Suppose one spends 40 hours per week working within an organization. In that case, one has very little time to think about anything other than the organization, as the remaining time is split between sleeping, attempting to recover from work, and keeping one's personal life together. As a result, it's straightforward to lose perspective and see things differently. For example, one may get caught up in getting the numbers right for a monthly performance review meeting. Many hours are spent doing the math, checking the work, pre-briefing leaders, creating slides, building a narrative, and rehearsing for a 60-minute meeting that has minimal impact on reality, if any impact at all. It does not affect the state of humanity and progress, but even inside the organization, its effect is likely minimal at best. Yet, we become obsessed with organizational performances, dynamics, sense-making efforts, and political maneuvering. None of it matters beyond what real or imaginary meaning we give it. Typically, this becomes clear to people when they leave an organization or reflect on the point of it all. However, those who see the pointlessness of it all are the consultants who flick in and out of organizational existence. They know the relativity of each organization's issues; if they are good, they tell the organization the truth from a broader perspective. What is interesting about the consultants is their intentional paradoxical existence. They exist inside and outside the organization to provide thinking and experience. How is this different from overworking or working multiple part-time jobs? It's not, but most organizations reject this idea while employing many consultants. Eventually, new organizations will emerge that see this as an opportunity to change the definition of employment and work management. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Thinking]] [[Organization]] [[Consulting]] [[Experience]] [[Meetings]] [[Progress]] [[Systems Thinking]]