> The Song <
> The Overture <
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Diminuendo: Gradually growing softer
Ostinato: A repeated melodic or rhythmic fragment
Ritardando: Gradually growing slower
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Oratorio: An extended cantata on a sacred subject.
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Sforzando: Explosively!
> The Encore! <
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> The Postlude <
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> The Notations <
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> The Repertory <
(A Sampling)
The Minstrel’s repertoire is as timeless as civilization itself. The following selections have been randomly chosen from her ageless, never-ending musical repertory without prejudice aforethought. They are either part of this author’s “frame of reference” and/or simply have surfaced, publicly, at intervals during the writing of this libretto. It is for the reader to decide the length, pitch and placement, sequentially, in each individual repertory cycle. Perhaps there are others, evolving out of your own frame of reference that should be added. Please be my guest.
By miracle of the internet and Google, the latest “wonder of the world,” we now have access to her repertory like never before. In order to avoid copyright infringement, the internet link is provided, where possible, along with a few provocative quotations that will, hopefully, spur the reader on to a full perusal of the linked attachment and further research if so motivated. Now listen closely as the Minstrel woos you with a sampling of her renditions.
1. Google: “Chaos by Design: The inside story of disorder, disarray, and uncertainty by Google. And why it’s all part of the plan (They hope).” Adam Lashinskyh, Fortune senior writer.
“This is a company thriving on the edge of chaos…Google, age 8… worth about $125 billion…an anything-goes spirit. It's a place where failure coexists with triumph, and ideas bubble up from lightly supervised engineers…An edgy management style…chief chaos officer…A ‘Googley’ approach to business…thrashing the competition…
2. Microsoft: “New Brain Trust Plans Microsoft's Future - Emphasis Is Shifting From Desktop to Web.” Alan Sipress, Washington Post Staff Writer – Saturday, November 18 2006; D01 (Link no longer available)
32 years after Microsoft’s inception (1975): "’We had this realization,’ Flake, a senior engineer, said after the meeting adjourned. ‘We came to Microsoft to change the world. But the only way we're going to change the world is we're going to change Microsoft’… Never before in its 30-year history has Microsoft faced a more pressing need to turn its innovative prowess inward and remake itself. Microsoft faces a dilemma common to many major corporations, including telephone companies, newspapers and automakers, as they wrestle with how to break loose from their traditional businesses before it's too late… the burden of maintaining the old businesses that made them titans can starve companies of the investment and initiative they need to innovate.”
3. General Motors: “The End of an Era for GM Workers” (U.S. News.com 4/3/06 by Richard J. Newman).
“GM's core problem is that, unlike manufacturing dynamos such as Toyota or Nissan, it builds more vehicles than it can sell at a profit. And that dilemma encapsulates the conflicts bedeviling corporate America--and U.S. workers--as old-line companies struggle to adapt to new realities.”
www.profbainbridge.com (This specific post no longer available)
“GM is … having a hard time persuading Americans to buy its cars. One reason: GM's cumbersome and unresponsive bureaucracy… The problem is that GM’s hierarchy is too extensive and entrenched… At various times there have been as many as six layers of management between top executives in Detroit and those in the field… In a study of a large defense contractor, for example, Peter Drucker found that 6 out of 14 management layers had no useful purpose… As hierarchy grows, information transmission and processing tends to break down… Even worse, each manager has an incentive to filter out negative information that reflects poorly on his performance or that of his subordinates.”
4. U.S. Army: “Challenging the Generals.” Fred Kaplan, New York Times.
“…junior officers are quitting at alarming rates…institutional culture…disconnect between this culture…It is unreasonable to expect that an officer who spends 25 years conforming to institutional expectations will emerge as an innovator in his late 40s…Everyone studies the brigadier-general promotion list like tarot cards — who makes it, who doesn’t. It communicates what qualities are valued and not valued…a sign that the traditional culture still rules.’”
5. American Red Cross (Clara Barton, 1869):
“With the emergence of the Civil War, (Clara) Barton refused to take a salary from the government's treasury and dedicated herself aiding soldiers on the front. Never before had women been allowed in hospitals, camps or on battlefields; initially, military and civil officials declined her help. Eventually, she gained the trust of these officials and began receiving supplies from all over the country. As a result of her untiring work, she became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield…She practiced nursing exclusively on battlefields, experiencing first-hand the horrors of war on sixteen different battlefields.”
“Red Cross Announces Management Overhaul,” David Crary, The Associated Press, Tuesday, October 31, 2006; 5:06 AM
“NEW YORK -- The American Red Cross, stung by criticism of how it handled Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks, announced plans Monday for a major overhaul… The reforms are intended to ease recurring friction between board members and Red Cross management, and to address complaints that the organization was at times too bureaucratic and unaccountable...”
For more insight go to the following link and scroll down to the “Compassion” post, July 7, 2007:
6. United Methodist Church: “Methodist Ranks Drop for 36th Straight Year” (Christian Century).
“United Methodist Church membership and attendance are slightly down again in 2004, according to a new report…Officials of the largest mainline denomination said that membership dropped .81 percent, to a little more than 8 million, and attendance fell .96 percent. It marked the 36th consecutive decline since the denomination merged in 1968 with the smaller Evangelical United Brethren Church.
"What I'm hoping that it's causing us to do is look at ourselves denominationally and see if there are things we need to do differently and how to do those things differently, in order to be attractive to more folks," said Terry Bradfield, deputy general secretary for the church's General Council on Finance and Administration...”
7. Episcopal Church: “EPISCOPAL CHURCH ATTENDANCE CONTINUES STEEP DECLINE,” Virtue Online: The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism.”
“WEST CHESTER, PA (12-10-2004)--Attendance statistics for The Episcopal Church USA in 2003 reveal a church in continued steep decline with nearly 36,000 active baptized members leaving for greener theological pastures, a significant drop from 8,000 in 2002. Another 24,000 Sunday worshippers left the ECUSA last year, more than twice the previous year.”
8. Church Attendance in America: “7 Startling Facts: An Up Close Look at Church
Attendance in America” (Rebecca Barnes and Lindy Lowry)
“A breakdown of overall attendance percentages by church type shows decreases across the evangelical, mainline and Catholic churches. The most significant drop in attendance came at the expense of the Catholic Church, which experienced an 11% decrease in its attendance percentage from 2000 to 2004. Next, and behind were mainline churches, which saw a 10% percentage decline. Evangelicals experience smallest drop at 1%.”
9. The Roman Empire: “Fall of Rome – Decline of the Roman Empire” (N.S. Gill, About.com).
“But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight...” (Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire).
“Has The Salvation Army evolved into a giant hair ball (see post)? If so, what do you think the differences are now in comparison to its beginning years? Are there any organizations or institutions immune to the “hair ball” syndrome? If not immune, what can be done about it? Just a few more “I wonder” questions to ponder.”
By way of a disclaimer, this little allegory wasn’t written to represent The Salvation Army, although admittedly, its culture and organization are major influencing factors in all that this author is or will ever hope to be. I will forever be indebted to those dear Army saints, past, present and future, who taught me and a multitude of others on every continent the meaning of “unconditional love.” Thus, I cannot be objective in my evaluation, except to raise a few “I wonder” questions. Hopefully, those who have now assumed the mantle of leadership will also do a little wondering with me and make the necessary adjustments, as needed.
Yes, the inspiration for writing goes far deeper than one, solitary ecclesiastical institution or one of the representative corporations that has, historically, been part of traditional investment portfolios. I live in a country boasting a national debt surpassing $9 trillion with a Social Security program that, in its present state, will be bankrupt by the year 2041. I live in a nation with “under God” in its Pledge of Allegiance, yet mainline church attendance is on the decline, accentuated by unprecedented polarization between religious and political extremes, left and right (sometimes the two are undecipherable). I live in a society suffocating under the weight of a burgeoning bureaucracy. I thank God for the vision and wisdom of its founding fathers and pray that this spirit will revolutionize itself time and again.
Yes, this book was written because I care deeply about the future, one that will be continuously shaped by an evolving multitude of disparate organizational and institutional voices… long after mine has been silenced. I care because it is a future my (our) progeny stand destined to inherit.
Listen! There it is, faintly echoing in the distance… LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...eternal, never changing, yet ever adapting in lyric, rhythm and interpretation to the heartbeat of every new emerging generation and culture. Attuned hearts will hear the beat clearly and step lively to its cadence.
AMEN!