THE WIN/WIN APPROACH TO THE PICKENS PLAN

I just hope that I’m not dragging you off to the deep end of the pool with where I’m about to go.

For me to think that I can exist, much less survive, without maintaining a continued cooperation with everything around me would be a display of idiocy in the extreme. It is obvious that continued life is a vastly complex system composed of an enormous amount of both micro and macro interdependent systems. And the balance between these systems is often quite delicate. This being the case it behooves us to take into consideration the condition of the relationship we have with each of these practically infinite sources of multiple interaction and exchange.

Observation and personal experience would have us believe that the universe we reside in is set up to be a win/lose system. In other words, that whenever and wherever there is a win there is also a loss. Reinforcing this belief, we frequently witness and experience this win/lose scenario being played out in all quarters around us constantly. But since the fundamental design of life and living is all about interdependencies between the various component systems, any person, family, group, company or nation that applies a win/lose philosophy to their operating basis will eventually experience a problem. Now, the word, eventually, used here is key because it is a word that refers to the passage of time. Effects that are, of course, the consequence of a Cause are not always immediately available for view. But, eventually, with the passage of time the effects whether considered to be good or bad do become apparent. At this point, I don’t feel I need to go into listing out examples of this as I assume you can bring to mind countless past and current examples of your own demonstrating what I’m talking about here.

That being stated, it is my personal conviction that it is imperative for the administration of the Pickens Plan to conduct any and all aspects of the plan/business with an intention that the outcome is a win/win outcome. Only by having all elements and players involved in any facet of operation win do we guarantee a continued quality of survival for today and all of the tomorrows to come. And that win is for the individual, the family, all groups, the whole of humankind, all living things and even including all of that which is inanimate in origin.

I have read and heard that there were many Native American Indian tribes that when making a decision would take into consideration the rippling effects that a decision would have throughout the next seven generations. I view this as a highly evolved and intelligent applied philosophy. This is certainly a philosophy that we could stand to see being broadly adopted and applied in all sectors of our current societies. Personally, I believe that the bulk of the problems we experience as a civilization today are the result of a win/lose philosophy coupled with the pragmatic attitude of, the end justifies the means, being far too generously applied by individuals, families, groups, and humankind in general.

Following is an anecdote that relates to what I have written above. It's sort of long and you might find it rather boring. Consider this as your only warning.

Nine years ago when I was still living in Florida, I had reluctantly agree to frame a house for a builder friend of mine. I say reluctant because I had pretty much given up framing about twelve years prior. Anyway, one day this man who I did not know came up to the jobsite and began to chat about construction and it was immediately apparent that this guy knew quite a bit about putting a house together, however, his reason for stopping to talk was not so obvious. After a bit he said he had to go and off he went. Then a few days later he dropped by again and this time is actual intentions became evident. He told me about a house he was going to be building in the near future and he liked what he saw in my work and wanted to have me work on his project – especially the framing. I had plenty of remodel work out ahead of me with the builder of the house I was working on so wasn’t really interested but I didn’t say no either.

I soon completed the job I was on and went on to begin a fairly substantial remodel project not too far from the location where I just finished working. A couple of weeks into the remodel I get another visit from this fellow and this time he’s much more intent on convincing me to frame this house he has coming up.

I am now going to fast-forward a couple of months to where I’m framing this custom house for the above builder. I’ve gotten to know the man pretty good (I think) by now and I’m continually impressed by the extent of his working knowledge of construction. In fact, I don’t recall ever meeting anyone quite so intelligent in so many aspects of this field of work. As it turns out he’s also an artist and I can definitely relate to that. WEll, we’ve just started putting this particular house together and he’s already talking to me about his next project that is about three times the scope of work of this current house but, again, I remain noncommittal.

Pushing the fast forward button again, we go to five months later and I’m working out on a jobsite located just a few feet from the Gulf of Mexico. I’m preparing to begin erecting a million plus dollar spec house (a house with no buyer in site). As the project rolls out there’s lots of excitement and discussion of future projects (the kind of projects that just don’t normally come along). Throughout the job there are numerous lunches and occasionally a beer after work with the boss. We have extensive conversations regarding the philosophy of construction including many facets of work attitude and work ethic. It was a very creative and fun time and I felt like I had finally arrived at a gate that opened up onto a playing field that I could really get passionate about. The future looked exceptionally exciting. But..there was something not quite right beginning to reveal itself. At first I ignored or made excuses for what I was observing but eventually it became too obvious to in anyway dispel.

A dark side had gradually begun to emerge in my builder friend and little by little a philosophy quite contrary to what we had discussed in our many earlier conversations began to take form in front of me. Eventually, the actual philosophy of my friend was out on the table and it was a philosophy I could not agree with. You see, this builder was all too willing for another to lose so that he could win and his attitude and actions all too well exemplified the philosophy of, the end justifies the means. Anyway, it soon became clear to this guy that I wasn’t going to convert to his way of thinking and our working relationship and friendship rapidly degenerated. It wasn’t much longer after that when I had a rather explosive disconnection from this person. I went on to other projects as did this builder but I ended up moving to Arkansas while this builder remained in Florida. I had friends in the trades who had also worked on his jobs as subcontractors and had experienced, as I, his brand of philosophy. This being the case, I have continually been updated as to negative effects that, to this day, follow this person. His path contains a steady occurrence of lose, lose, lose that his insistent application of his philosophy has created. The insanity or irony (however you want to put it), though, is...that this individual believes he is winning when he’s actually in a constant state of losing.