OK, Readers. This month let us take a little quiz together. 1. Would you rather choose which restaurant to visit on an outing or have your date/friend surprise you? 2. If you are on a trip and see a sign at a highway exit advertising something that sounds wonderful, do you get off the highway and explore or keep to your schedule? 3. Would you choose a potentially high paying job where half the pay is bonus money that might or might not happen or a much lower but guaranteed salaried job? 4. Are all your friends so predictable that you know pretty much what their opinions are about any given topic before you have a discussion, or are you constantly surprised by what comes out of their mouths? BOOK REVIEW Orbiting the Giant Hairball 5. Do you order the same meal every time you visit your favorite restaurant, or have you tried pretty much everything on their menu that seems promising? By Gordon MacKenzie Review by Jacqueline Thompson Graves It is pretty easy to tell what my quiz is after, isn’t it? Are you a person who seeks safety and security, or are you always looking for a challenge, for wide, open spaces? In MacKenzie’s book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, he describes an old Garfield cartoon where the naughty cat goes into a pet store, opens all the cages and yells, “Freedom! Freedom!” Much to his surprise, none of the animals run out, but instead hover in the backs of their tiny cages. Garfield runs back down the aisles, slamming cage doors and yelling, “Security! Security!” Then he gives us all that look. It is important to know yourself. How many writers have written that advice—know thyself—in a million words when two will do? MacKenzie believes, and so do I, knowing whether you value security or freedom is an essential part of succeeding, of being happy. If you are one of those who answered “choose”, “keep driving”, “lower salaried”, “yes” and “yes” to the quiz above, you probably will not appreciate Orbiting the Giant Hairball, except maybe to laugh at the pictures. But if you are a person who is part of the second group – those who chafe against rules, who butt up against boundaries, who look for loopholes to get out of doing stupid things required by management—you are MacKenzie’s person. You will not just laugh at the pics; you’ll get them. “ MacKenzie believes, and so do I, knowing whether you value security or freedom is an essential part of succeeding, of being happy. Gordon MacKenzie worked for 30 years at Hallmark Cards. He uses Hallmark, unabashedly, to bash as the quintessential corporate behemoth with rules for making rules. He shares with readers Hallmark’s beginnings when an 18-year-old Hall began a “card company” in 1910 when there was no such thing as a card company. You feel MacKenzie’s frustration as he shares how this company began as an innovator, then became a structured place where answers like “we’ve always done things this way” became the norm. Because Hallmark’s product requires creative people, the company ends up with frustrated souls who churn out crazy good ideas that are not how “we’ve always done things”. MacKenzie, hired as an illustrator, somehow managed to carve out a place for himself, constantly reinventing his role at Hallmark. He eventually became a bridge between the creatives and the linear thinkers in management, accounting, and administration. He tells how he brainstormed with a team of creatives who were designing a new workspace and discovered they all wanted – wait for it – rolltop desks. A couple weeks of combing antique stores led to an individualized space for each person at a cost below budget, a solution thrilling both the creative team and the accountants. Very few of us can just jump ship and go live in wide, open spaces with no boundaries. MacKenzie describes how he learned to coexist, even thrive, and understand, balancing the worlds of safety vs freedom. Hallmark is his metaphor for the world and how we all relate to it. His book is filled with stories and anecdotes. His doodles litter the pages like someone’s notes during a conference call – elephants, lines of ducks, stairs climbing up the page. If nothing else, his art is worthwhile. MacKenzie’s line drawings look like something a very clever kindergartener might doodle. You think, “Hmm. If this kid got some lessons, he could really draw and paint someday,” except his lifetime goal is to keep drawing like a fairly talented kindergartener. By the end of the book, he gets pretty serious. He has been at Hallmark 30 years. He shares his vision of a company pyramid vs a company tree, and it is pretty convincing. Then he tries to get us to see what God saw way back when we were just a zygote floating in fluid. “Would you take this artist’s canvas with you and paint a masterpiece for me?” God asks the baby just before it is born. “I’d really appreciate that.” Whether you are a security lover or a freedom lover, no one else can paint your masterpiece. MacKenzie does a good job reminding us of that. What you have to decide is whether or not you color inside the lines Orbiting the Giant Hairball. A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace By Gordon MacKenzie, c. 1996 Published by Viking/Penguin Putnam Group, Available at Amazon For more book reviews and even stuff that isn’t, visit Jacqueline’s blog: www.thebookbuffet.wordpress.com “ 20 MYFORSYTHMAG.COM VOLUME XI | ISSUE 1
VOLUME XI | ISSUE 1 | MYFORSYTHMAG.COM 21