The Type A Personality Ruins Organizations

A retiring General Motors worker made a good point about all the organizations wanting the Type A personality - dominant, goal-oriented, hostile, aggressive. Jack Welch at GE encouraged that with his use of the Six Sigma system. This worker, one of the best read people I have known, added, "Those Type A people are the ones who have ruined so many businesses. They plunge ahead, never listen to anyone, and pursue their goals."

That prophet pointed this out before the mortgage companies, banks, and rating agencies tanked.

The parallels with church organizations are obvious. For example, The Love Shack filled up with people who were sworn to uphold certain goals. No one was allowed to continue if he doubted the wisdom of Fuller, Willow Creek, and Management By Objective. The synod got itself talked into ridiculous goals, because they were "fresh and exciting," according to H. Hagedorn. Nothing sensible could be done because that would have violated the Mission Vision goals which the Type A Church Shrinkers forced on the synod.

Anyone who objected to wild spending or delusional goals was denounced as "negative" and "not a team player." Instead of mission creep, WELS suffered from delusion creep. One delusion fed another. One Schwaermer church after another was pursued as having all the answers, because they also chanted the mantras of Management By Objective. Money was seen as The Means of Grace - sow abundantly (spend lavishly) that ye may reap lavishly (get promoted).

Web designers have a joke:

How do you know when a website is finished?

Answer - The funds are all spent!

Living on a real budget has a sobering effect on spending. When churches have no money, they rely on the Word. When they have abundant grants, they whine for even more money, because "we need it to do God's work." The students at Martin Luther College could not worship properly because they suffered from having a chapel-auditorium. Ditto Our Lady of Sorrows in St. Louis. Did the lovely Copper-top Chapel at The Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie aid them in denouncing Church Growth?

The apostates in WELS are takers, not givers. They want the faithful to fund their playpens so they can concentrate on God's work - grantsmanship. Church and Change conferences teach grant writing. Chicaneries hire grant writers.