i got a book from the library on monday. I was trying to find out more about Visa International. I imagined it must have amazing power to be a part of such a large percentage of the transactions of americans an people all over the world. I found the name of Dee Hock, a founder, and learned he wrote a book called "Birth of the Chaordic Age". Instead of a history lesson, it describes Hock's management philosophy. My impressions so far are that the philosophy is broad, suprizingly powerful and joyus, and its closely aligned with my beliefs, and has applicability to Personal Telco and my own search for a job and meaning. I evaluate it by word choice, outlook on life, how problems are represented, and goals.

chaordic - 1 the behavior of any self-governing system. 2 patterned in a way dominated by neither order or chaos.

"Small shifts in deeply held beliefs and values can massively alter societal behavior and results - in fact, may be the only things that ever have."

"To me, purpose is a clear, simple statement of intent that identifies and binds the community together as worthy of pursuit. It is more than what we want ot accomplish. It is an unambiguous expression of that which people jointly wish to become. It should speak to them so powerfully that all can say with conviction, 'if we could achieve that, my life would have meaning.' making a profit is not a purpose... It is only necessary to obtain agreement that the present expression of purpose is good enough to permit exploration of principles, and that each expression of a principle is good enough to go on to the next. Every principle will call into question and refine the purpose. Every principle will call into question and refine every other principle."