I was later to discover that there is total openness in this
company—The Yellow Submarine—to ideas and especially to
feelings. Not much goes undisclosed. The board members were
some of the most willing to open themselves to personal
feedback that I have ever met. There is no difference between
the desks of the managers, the board members, and anyone
else in the business, and there is a real sense of equality.
Everyone is part of the “crew.”
We approach the office premises of our new client. It is a
standard, new, purpose-built block on an industrial estate. We
enter the reception area and immediately notice that this
company has chosen to use space differently to many others with
similar buildings. There is an open waiting area with richly
textured and deep colored sofas. The receptionist is seated
behind a highly polished wood reception desk with a high front.
She greets us courteously and asks us to take a seat while she
calls our contact. We sink into the soft sofas and notice that there
is a PC with which we can access introductory information about
the company. On the walls surrounding us are annual photos of
the complete team of company employees.
This company—Intuitive Systems—has been chosen as a
model of excellence for others in its field of software
development. It is outperforming most of its competitors and
achieving steady growth. It has the style of a family company
and tremendous loyalty from all its employees. I felt welcomed
and at home with this company and I was flattered to have
been asked to work with it.
An interesting contrast to these experiences was the
following one, a visit to a site of a company with which we were
already working.
I had not been to this site before, even though I had worked with
the company for a couple of years. I had difficulty finding it
because the sign depicting the company name was obscured.
When I eventually did find the entrance, I turned in and was
stopped at the police security box and asked for identification.
Once I was cleared, the security officer directed me to a building
that I could barely distinguish at the back of the site. Seeing my
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