Donna FitzgeraldI was reading the note on Foxes and Hedgehogs at Jim Collins website (which now appears to have been removed). His assertion is that a hedgehog is focused and tends to adhere to a single unifying principle and a fox tends to flit from interest to interest. He then contends that the world is split between foxes and hedgehogs with the hedgehog being the superior managerial animal. Like everything else my view is maybe, maybe not (which of course implies that I might secretly be more of a fox than a hedgehog myself). The problem is that I’ve run into PMs who have a completely closed view of the world. There’s right and there is wong and the multitude of shades of gray, that I believe actually define the complexities of what they are trying to accomplish, simply don’t exist for them. I’m absolutely sure there are situations where this attitude can be both positive and effective but I’m also sure that it’s impossible to manage an enterprise-wide program (that entails high change) in black and white.
I love models, and I have to admit I was curious to see if I could fit the fox and the hedgehog dichotomy into my own core organizing principles. The problem is that I just couldn’t make it work. A good PM needs to have a set of organizing principles that can guide them through the complexity of managing in chaotic environment. At the same time they need to be open minded and always on the lookout for the thing that is different (what Nadler calls the uniqueness principle) to ensure that they are actually delivering the right thing rather than the thing they think is right.
it was an interesting flight of fancy for a moment but I think I’ll leave the world of hedgehogs and foxes to the estimable Mr. Collins. There are other models that more closely fit PPM Leaders that I hope to explore another time.
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Category: PMO Tags: Personality
