The brake and the accelerator

When I was learning how to drive a car in the dark ages of 1963 I was taught to take my foot off the accelerator when I applied the brakes. Frequently this was accompanied by pressing down on the clutch while the vehicle’s transmission was shifted. If I wanted to turn up the air conditioning I needed to roll down the windows a little more and push the wind-wing out a little.

So much of organizational leadership revolves around the use of the brake and the accelerator. When senior leaders are "feeling" flush (with money, trusted leaders or managers) they might become more permission-granting, allowing the vehicle to speed up. Of course, speeding sometimes leads to accidents, and especially after an accident it is hard for an organization to "drive" without pressing the brake at the same time as the accelerator. Lots of controls are put in place. Purchase orders, requisitions, and multiple committee meetings are the rule of the day.

The best organizational practices are those that allow the organization to "make good time" with the judicious use of brakes and downshifting when necessary. In my opinion, our American economy suffers from the brake and accelerator syndrome as applied by the Federal Reserve. What Americans don’t realize, I suppose, is that the Federal Reserve intended to burst the real estate bubble. The only way for this to be accomplished was for thousands of Americans to lose their homes, because the brakes had to be applied.