Managing in the Gray

Who Are We?

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As we saw in the last chapter, Friedman did an excellent job

of answering the third question—What will work in the

world as it is?—and maneuvered astutely and opportunisti-

cally across a political minefield. But she was also successful

because these two stories illuminated larger social realities:

the ethos of the winning team and the frustration of feel-

ing, as Terry Fletcher did, on the outside looking in. This

enabled her to turn her meetings with Fletcher into useful

and sympathetic counseling sessions that eased his way out of

the company and ultimately into a better job.

In short, you can use your own sense of the key experi-

ences and stories of your organization to answer the fourth

question. Put differently, what matte ...