Perceptionicity

In Perceptionicity, Erwin Aguayo reminds us that it is how organizations and their myriad stakeholders think that most matters to their success. From the opening example of the trucking company clerk who had to decide whether to help a driver stranded in the proverbial "middle of nowhere", we are buffeted with constant reminders that our perceptions and understandings of organizational vision, mission and purpose are central to organizational success.

Perhaps a few major corporations have already received the memo, but most still attend to significant organizational problems with short term palliatives. The immediate response is often to graft what might even be good policy or process onto an inhospitable organizational culture.

Perceptionicity is a cogent reminder that an organization's soul is the ultimate predictor of its success. How every stakeholder understands and embraces the company's vision is more important than the color of the stationery, or the make of the cars it leases, or the glass and steel structure in which it is housed, or the trendy titles an organization assigns to its executives, or whether every "t" is crossed or every "i" is dotted.

But the author does more than identify the problem. He offers an effective methodology to allow organizations to move beyond palliative care to more comprehensive evidence-based solutions. The methodology is not for the meek hearted or weak kneed. It requires commitment and perseverance. But in the end it represents an alternative to the half-hearted, superficial solutions that too often result in "pretend" change.

In other words, Perceptionicity is for every person who wants to give up pretense for substance.

Antone Aboud, Ph.D. Management Consultant