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Hello All

I should be up front here and admit that I AM SOLICITING HELP.

For my own entertainment and to support my mildly firm belief that we
offer hope/hype in the guise of statistics, research and "expertise", I
have been trying to show that as a management and leadership writer, Dr.
Seuss has more to say in 40 well illustrated pages than nearly any
must-read that's come our way in the past 25 years. For example, if
someone described my leadership style as Yertle-ian or Horton-ian, I would
almost instantly understand where they were headed with the description.
Can we say that about other labels? Not too often.

I was wondering if anyone had come across ANY INFORMATION AT ALL regarding
the treatment of leadership, management, or even personal effectiveness
through children's literature? Again, this is a curiosity and pet project
of mine (I'm not staking a career on reading 'The Lorax' to
clients, although it might have more impact than many approaches...mine
included) so any assistance and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time. If you're at all interested in the final
product, please let me know, I'd be glad to share


Marty Kaufman
Recently Self-Appointed "Student-for-Life"

A good Dr. Seuss story that is read as management learning (or life
learning for that matter) is "Oh, the places you'll go and the things
you'll see."

>----------
>From: Martin Donald Kaufman[SMTP:martyk@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU]
>Sent: Thursday, October 09, 1997 10:29 AM
>To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
>Subject: Dr. Seuss as Leadership Pundit
>
>Hello All
>
>I should be up front here and admit that I AM SOLICITING HELP.
>
>For my own entertainment and to support my mildly firm belief that we
>offer hope/hype in the guise of statistics, research and "expertise", I
>have been trying to show that as a management and leadership writer, Dr.
>Seuss has more to say in 40 well illustrated pages than nearly any
>must-read that's come our way in the past 25 years. For example, if
>someone described my leadership style as Yertle-ian or Horton-ian, I would
>almost instantly understand where they were headed with the description.
>Can we say that about other labels? Not too often.
>
>I was wondering if anyone had come across ANY INFORMATION AT ALL regarding
>the treatment of leadership, management, or even personal effectiveness
>through children's literature? Again, this is a curiosity and pet project
>of mine (I'm not staking a career on reading 'The Lorax' to
>clients, although it might have more impact than many approaches...mine
>included) so any assistance and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thank you for your time. If you're at all interested in the final
>product, please let me know, I'd be glad to share
>
>
>Marty Kaufman
>Recently Self-Appointed "Student-for-Life"
>

To Marty Kaufman, who is looking for support in using children's literature
to teach leadership:

Marty, I think it's a great idea, but it seems to be a really hard sell.
Highly technical groups, especially, don't seem to relate well to
children's literature. About a decade ago, I used Winnie the Pooh as an
example of someone with a single-minded vision (get the honey--or hunny, if
you prefer). After a moment of blank stares, an engineering manager in the
back of the room raised his hand and said, "Who is that you're talking
about?"

Last year I wrote a short book on strategic leadership that I did in the
style of Dr. Seuss. I figured I'd have publishing houses competing to get
the rights to publish, because it is sure to be a hit among the boomers in
middle and upper management. Unfortunately, nobody has ever done this
before. Editors don't believe that Dr. Seuss is appropriate for leaders.
(And, of course, the publishing business is in the dumpster this year,
anyway!) I can't even find an agent who's willing to represent me. Yet,
when I do it as a presentation for groups, it goes over well.

I suspect that the audiences who really like this stuff may be the ones
that are most open to learning, because, unfortunately, too many
"grown-ups" assume that they've finished growing. (Of course, who am I to
criticize? I keep trying to use this stuff, despite the up-hill battle I'm
having!)

Emily Schultheiss
Why settle for surviving...when you could be thriving?

What Ms. Schultheiss has to say rings true. It just goes to show that so much of what corporate culture is about is supporting the belief in the efficacy of upper management. Dr. Seuss certainly doesn't present the 'right' image for that.

Martin W. Broin

-----Original Message-----
From: Emily Schultheiss [SMTP:ees@NAUTICOM.NET]
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 1997 12:30 PM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: Dr. Seuss as Leadership Pundit

To Marty Kaufman, who is looking for support in using children's literature
to teach leadership:

Marty, I think it's a great idea, but it seems to be a really hard sell.
Highly technical groups, especially, don't seem to relate well to
children's literature. About a decade ago, I used Winnie the Pooh as an
example of someone with a single-minded vision (get the honey--or hunny, if
you prefer). After a moment of blank stares, an engineering manager in the
back of the room raised his hand and said, "Who is that you're talking
about?"

Last year I wrote a short book on strategic leadership that I did in the
style of Dr. Seuss. I figured I'd have publishing houses competing to get
the rights to publish, because it is sure to be a hit among the boomers in
middle and upper management. Unfortunately, nobody has ever done this
before. Editors don't believe that Dr. Seuss is appropriate for leaders.
(And, of course, the publishing business is in the dumpster this year,
anyway!) I can't even find an agent who's willing to represent me. Yet,
when I do it as a presentation for groups, it goes over well.

I suspect that the audiences who really like this stuff may be the ones
that are most open to learning, because, unfortunately, too many
"grown-ups" assume that they've finished growing. (Of course, who am I to
criticize? I keep trying to use this stuff, despite the up-hill battle I'm
having!)

Emily Schultheiss
Why settle for surviving...when you could be thriving?

Emily,

(by the way, when responded to on the list, I reply to the list.
Individual discussion are replied to individually)

It sounds like you've experienced a serious case of Hortonitis. The
medical wizards are still doing clinical trials on a remedy, but the
symptoms are obvious:

1: An incessant willingness to believe in goodness
2: Listening to small voices that no one else believes exist
3: Not belittling others when they finally see your point of view.

While the team at the CDC is searching for a cure, I'm actually hoping
that your illness becomes the next worldwide epidemic!

For the record, I'm not really looking to market the idea beyond the tiny
walls of one tiny classroom, so the roadblocks you mention are not all
that relevant to me (fortunately).

As for academic publishing...while no expert in the field, I've found that
mass market publishers can be quite accomodating. All you have to do is
tell a good story and make your readers feel SOMETHING. It's amazing how
liberating it can be to write without the need for citations and
references.

Also, I would love to see your Seussian take on strategic leadership. If
you took the time and effort to make it interesting to an audience, I can
certainly take the time to benefit from the distilled wisdom!

Appreciatively,

Marty Kaufman
The George Washington University

On Thu, 9 Oct 1997, Emily Schultheiss wrote:

> To Marty Kaufman, who is looking for support in using children's literature
> to teach leadership:
>
> Marty, I think it's a great idea, but it seems to be a really hard sell.
> Highly technical groups, especially, don't seem to relate well to
> children's literature. About a decade ago, I used Winnie the Pooh as an
> example of someone with a single-minded vision (get the honey--or hunny, if
> you prefer). After a moment of blank stares, an engineering manager in the
> back of the room raised his hand and said, "Who is that you're talking
> about?"
>
> Last year I wrote a short book on strategic leadership that I did in the
> style of Dr. Seuss. I figured I'd have publishing houses competing to get
> the rights to publish, because it is sure to be a hit among the boomers in
> middle and upper management. Unfortunately, nobody has ever done this
> before. Editors don't believe that Dr. Seuss is appropriate for leaders.
> (And, of course, the publishing business is in the dumpster this year,
> anyway!) I can't even find an agent who's willing to represent me. Yet,
> when I do it as a presentation for groups, it goes over well.
>
> I suspect that the audiences who really like this stuff may be the ones
> that are most open to learning, because, unfortunately, too many
> "grown-ups" assume that they've finished growing. (Of course, who am I to
> criticize? I keep trying to use this stuff, despite the up-hill battle I'm
> having!)
>
> Emily Schultheiss
> Why settle for surviving...when you could be thriving?
>