When it comes to business, which philosophy do you subscribe to?
1. I believe my business could ultimately be destroyed by factors beyond my control, such as inflexible unions, shifting demographics, competitive monopolies, governmental regulation or acts of god.
2. I believe my business is in complete and utter control of its destiny, regardless of outside factors.
If you picked answer one, then you probably hold stock in determinism, which basically posits that every event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of outside influences independent of human will.
If you picked answer two, you picked the more difficult choice but ulitmately, I believe, the right choice: free will.
Quick aside: Philosophy is obviously the term of the day although having studied a fair bit of social science, I think i would be inclined to call it social theory.
Back on track: I agree that the answer two is how I perceive the world, although what I think perhaps is missing is the understanding that it is not as simple as that. The world is a complex place with so many interdependent variables that it is almost impossible to say that you are 'in complete and utter control'. Control being the word I object to. You are responsible for your own actions, despite being heavily influenced by lots of macro and micro environmental factors (not to mention those nasty little voices inside your head [why can't they be nasty little newspapers?]). Control though is a fallacy.
The quote from Fortune makes this point. And noting from the Start the week email from Ecsw.com
Ask any Southwest employee what the price of aviation fuel is at the moment and they'll tell you. They'll also know the implications for the company's profits if that fuel price goes up or downby a given amount
Southwest makes everyone in the company responsible - they know the score - they cannot control the price of fuel, they can take appropriate action.
I would really like to work with a company that gives you that type of responsiblity (but remember NOT control, never control, control is impossible, must read more complexity theory books)