Recently I've been led to a reassessment of my approach to this whole blogging thing. Originally I had the idea that people would be attracted to a common sense, git'r done view of data governance. This quaint notion was driven by the fact that, although a lot of money was changing hands under the label "data governance" not much was really getting done to realize the vision.
There have been several incidents of late that have honed this approach by grinding away some remaining misconceptions on my part. What is left is the sharp edge--no assumptions, no vain hopes, no vanity, no illusions or delusions--just a cutting edge that can be applied to any knotty issue in the data governance/data quality landscape. Actually this edge can be applied to any knot whatsoever.
First I had to let go of the idea that anyone would listen to and heed an idea just because it's good. We've come to expect marketing glitz. A wise person once said, "All that glitters is not gold." The best ideas are seeds that must be tended over time but which will, in their own time, produce fruit.
Then I had to abandon the notion that people would rally to an idea. As it turns out, people rally to people--to leaders. Here I would ask the reader to consider leaders in general and some specific leaders. What was the basis of their "leadership?" In most cases it was charisma. Too often their followers realized too late the direction in which they were being led. I'm not charismatic.
Finally, I have understood that people will follow reward (most often money) rather than ideas. The great idea of data governance has been crushed, chopped, sliced and diced in search of marketing leverage and greater monetary reward.
All of this honing has left me with a better appreciation of Jesus of Nazareth, known as the Christ. I'm not comparing his mission with data governance--that would just be ridiculous. I do want to look at his methods, however, since many of the problems are strikingly similar.
There have been several incidents of late that have honed this approach by grinding away some remaining misconceptions on my part. What is left is the sharp edge--no assumptions, no vain hopes, no vanity, no illusions or delusions--just a cutting edge that can be applied to any knotty issue in the data governance/data quality landscape. Actually this edge can be applied to any knot whatsoever.
First I had to let go of the idea that anyone would listen to and heed an idea just because it's good. We've come to expect marketing glitz. A wise person once said, "All that glitters is not gold." The best ideas are seeds that must be tended over time but which will, in their own time, produce fruit.
Then I had to abandon the notion that people would rally to an idea. As it turns out, people rally to people--to leaders. Here I would ask the reader to consider leaders in general and some specific leaders. What was the basis of their "leadership?" In most cases it was charisma. Too often their followers realized too late the direction in which they were being led. I'm not charismatic.
Finally, I have understood that people will follow reward (most often money) rather than ideas. The great idea of data governance has been crushed, chopped, sliced and diced in search of marketing leverage and greater monetary reward.
All of this honing has left me with a better appreciation of Jesus of Nazareth, known as the Christ. I'm not comparing his mission with data governance--that would just be ridiculous. I do want to look at his methods, however, since many of the problems are strikingly similar.
Stay tuned here for an exploration of "What Would Jesus Do?" applied to data governance.
No comments:
Post a Comment