Today is the 60th anniversary of the date the Gateway Arch was completed. I have always had a special fondness for the structure, a true engineering marvel that has stood the test of time.
On this occasion, I’ll repeat dot #1512:
I recently was in St. Louis, and after hundreds of times seeing it, I am still awe-struck by the Gateway Arch. Not only is it a magnificent piece of architecture and civil engineering, but I also think it is a powerful metaphor of how to function as a supervisor.
In my office, I have a picture of the unfinished Arch, just as they are installing the last piece. It is a visual reminder that the two sides were built simultaneously, all the way to the top, before they could be joined.
On an individual level, I think of building my employees like the Arch, taking care to address their performance on one side and their professional development on the other. I do not believe that you can ignore either and still get the result that you desire. It’s also a balance of providing simultaneous challenge and support.
Organizationally, I am reminded of work from the Santa Fe Center for Emergent Strategies that encourages simultaneous cultivation of entrepreneurial processes and instrumental processes. It is the yin and yang of long-term and short-term, infrastructure and innovation, or operations and strategy. You must have both, or neither is strong.
Think about how you can use the Arch as a metaphor for the work ahead of you. Putting in that last piece was a marvel in itself, and it serves as a reminder that you need to pay equal attention to both sides for the fit to be right.
