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“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea
by pjmorris 7y ago
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders.
Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
- Antoine de Saint Exupéry
- immawizard 7y agoShip building is a specialized trade, with tradesman located in a town near the dockyard. I doubt that shipbuilders are motivated by the love of the sea. The quote does not work in high-specialization industrial society where the product is constructed for a customer, with sales department claiming credit for the sale, and the owner pocketing the surplus value. Much better motivation is love for a process, in ship building example, ship engineering with management supporting career development.
- pc86 7y agoCall me crazy but I think it's possible you've missed the point.
- hinkley 7y agoIt's becoming a huge peeve of mine when people seem to have forgotten what thread they're in and take a statement out of all reasonable context or nitpick about things that do not materially degrade the point (quotes are a little fussy that way, who knows how people will interpret them). On reddit they'd just invoke /r/lostredditor My latest strategy is to hit back with humor. I don't know if it's working, but early results are positive.
- Rainymood 7y ago>It's becoming a huge peeve of mine when people seem to have forgotten what thread they're in and take a statement out of all reasonable context or nitpick about things that do not materially degrade the point (quotes are a little fussy that way, who knows how people will interpret them). Welcome to HN
- umvi 7y agoIt's called pedantry and lots of programmers seem afflicted by it.
- rdiddly 7y agoI think it's a valid counterpoint. Those who would be great shipbuilders should hopefully love not only the sea, but also the act of building a ship. They should get as much if not more joy out of executing a weld perfectly, or shaping a piece of wood partly to their own will and partly within the constraints of its grain. Those who only yearn for the sea make great ship passengers i.e. customers, or ship captains or crewpersons. There's a divide there, and it's inherent. But I guess (still using the language of this quote) you could say the the article is presuming the shipbuilders already love shipbuilding, and just need to be reminded that what they're building is for purposes of going to sea. Fine, but should they be impressed? To milk the analogy for all it's worth: A ship goes on the sea but it's not of the sea. It's of metal that comes out of the ground, or trees that grow out of the ground, and it's built on the ground, by people who go home at night to sleep in their houses that are on the ground. That's the divide. Shipbuilders actually have very little to do with the sea; in fact it's sort of their enemy, the thing they're protecting the customers from, the thing always threatening to creep in, seep in, and ruin their work! Maybe the analogy breaks down there... although then again... :) Anyway I disagree with the notion that doing something for its own sake, or even (perish the thought) TO MAKE MONEY, somehow isn't adequately motivating. Half the time I wish all the temporarily-embarrassed millionaires could just fess up for once and say, yeah, I need the money. I wish it were okay to say that.
- akjetma 7y agoI love this, thanks for sharing!
- pjmorris 7y agoIt is one of my favorites as well. It seem apropos.
- markrages 7y agodubious: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/08/25/sea/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/08/25/sea/
- hinkley 7y agoWell we can't blame all clever sayings on Ben Franklin now, can we.
- pjmorris 7y agoLess dubious than I feared. If you prefer: "One will weave the canvas; another will fell a tree by the light of his ax. Yet another will forge nails, and there will be others who observe the stars to learn how to navigate. And yet all will be as one. Building a boat isn’t about weaving canvas, forging nails, or reading the sky. It’s about giving a shared taste for the sea, by the light of which you will see nothing contradictory but rather a community of love." Thanks for the pointer, I love quote provenance research (well, reading it.)
- s_gourichon 7y agoI knew this quote and agree. Yet, how can we argue towards this direction with someone who disagrees. Like "A.S.E. was not a manager but a dreamer. Look, he wrote the Little Prince." Any concrete, recent example ? In a company, big, small, startup ?
- marcus_holmes 7y agoAsk them why they disagree, and listen. They may be right.
- marcus_holmes 7y agoI should clarify: this is also the way to get them to agree. If you genuinely listen to their concerns, and consider all their points, and are genuinely willing to change direction if they're right, then that is psychologically powerful. Being listened to, and having a point of view heard and considered, is powerful stuff. If at the end, they feel heard, and their point of view considered, then they're usually willing to go along with the majority opinion at least, and sometimes become your biggest supporter.
- Loughla 7y agoIt is also the best possible way to find toxic employees. When someone just simply will not listen to logic, will not listen to your viewpoint, or uses your time listening to them as their time to dish about everyone around them, you have a choice to make. Most times, being heard is all people want. Some times, being heard only validates a false sense of superiority and correctness.
- pjmorris 7y agoHow about “A computer on every desk, and in every home, running Microsoft software.”
- SuoDuanDao 7y agoJobs and Musk are recent examples of successful people who manage by vision. Of course, plenty of people object to their style also.
- marcus_holmes 7y agoI wrote this on the top of my whiteboard in the last place I was CEO at. Still my mantra for management.
- mrmonkeyman 7y ago@dang, please inform mr. Holmes that this is an uninformative and boastful comment which is unsuitable for HN.
- atoav 7y agoA very good strategy if the stuff you do is actually any good. For many ethically questionable fields obscuring or misreptesenting the context or the actual bussinesmodel is the only thing that allows you to keep a workforce. The best way to do this is to give them the tools to lie to themselves (this usually contains a flag to wave against the “other team”).
- AmericanChopper 7y agoIt’s rather conceited to assume the entire workforce shares your opinions of which fields are ethically questionable.
- atoav 7y agoIf you are open about what your money-making-model is, they can decide for themselves — however — if you are brainwashing them into believing you are the good ones while hiding the colateral damage, then you are wrong. This isn’t about opinion, it is about honesty and transparency and knowing what you’re working for.
- munchbunny 7y agoThis is great if you have something worth yearning for. "Teach them to crave fast data insight from the their analytics software for marketing campaigns" lacks the same sense of romance or moral imperative. I'll acknowledge that's a bit tongue in cheek and not being charitable to the underlying point as it applies to day to day work, but I also think that this snark often applies to the "missions" that some/many Silicon Valley startups proclaim for enterprisey, salesey products, because I think those missions are a form of self-delusion about how much good you're really doing for society, as opposed to just making money because there's value to be captured.
- 8ytecoder 7y agoA good leader can put a twist on that - "Let's improve the accuracy of ad targeting so small businesses can reduce their spend but attract customers and grow" or "Let's connect the world. Let's help unite lost friends."
- moralestapia 7y ago"Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful." "[REDACTED]'s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together." "Our mission is to be Earth's most customer-centric company." "[REDACTED]'s mission is to bring transportation—for everyone, everywhere." Yeah, I do not know why but I do not feel very inspired by those ...
- jmiserez 7y ago>organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful Not inspired by that? Is it too abstract? Asked another way, what kind of mission would inspire you? FYI I do agree with the general sentiment by munchbunny.
- daseiner1 7y agomoralestapia's point, as I understand it, is cynicism towards broad, idealistic mission statements because large tech companies with them still have a history of using their employees in what he/she perceives to be immoral ways. The mission statements mentioned, in order, correspond to: * Google * Facebook * Amazon * Uber
- dominotw 7y agoshort of hypnotism i can't see how i can motive my employees about enterprise CRUD app.
- ska 7y agoPaychecks & benefits is the usual way. Only gets you so far, of course.
- Jtsummers 7y agoWho are they making the apps for? Are they making the enterprises work better? Are they meeting the actual users and identifying their pain-points while developing solutions? Or are they just getting a list of requirements from a middle-manager (rather than the user) who doesn't actually know what needs to be done? The former can help motivate them and also help them develop better systems (that fit the real user needs, not management's perceived needs).
- dragonsky 7y agoSome of the most technically mundane projects I’ve worked on have been the most exciting simply because the impact it would have on the people who would use it. Oh and I was talking to those users to get a good handle on what they needed and how it would help.
- ken 7y agoJoel Spolsky talked years ago about how software companies are doing it by letting them use the latest cool toys -- Erlang or whatever is hot these days. I'd ask why you need an "enterprise CRUD app". Programmers tend to like doing new things, and if your app doesn't offer anything new, why are you even building it?
- Data_Junkie 7y agoShare what motivates you to be doing your work. If you are trying to motivate them to make more money, what do you think makes them some sort of different creature with some sort of differing motivation ?
- balabaster 7y agoI'm having this etched on the wall at my office and on my kids bedroom walls :D
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]