Inside the sausage factory

I first heard this phrase from a client after sitting in on a less than organized and productive meeting he was having with his merchandising team.  We had been invited to participate in the meeting so we could get a clear understanding of their process and the challenges they faced.  The meeting was a train wreck and afterwards my client, the C.O.O., came over  and said, “Sorry that you actually had to see how the sausage was  made but you asked to come inside the factory.”  The imagery connected to this metaphor is priceless and instantaneously clarifies for others exactly what you mean when you say it.

I decided to use it for the “about me” page as this is where I will provide you with the insights from inside the factory where all of the thoughts are ground up and packaged neatly into the casings that are my blog postings (good luck getting that image out of your head).  I approach my blog sort of like Chris Stevens from Northern Exposure and enjoy connecting disparate dots to create a cohesive picture.  The dots I like to use are usually ones far apart and may actually reside in totally different schools of thoughts.  My interests lead me down many different paths and I believe we make things more complicated than they truly need to be. I do think there are absolutes in life although they chafe me at times. I believe we have to pray like it all depends on God and work like it all depends on us.  I believe life is like jazz and the key is to find others who are masters of their instruments and jam!  The world is orderly but not predictable.  There are patterns but most struggle to see them because we focus too intently.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I enjoy writing them.  I will leave you with a cool quote from the aforementioned Mr. Stevens that kind of sums up the philosophyof using a “wider lens”…

“There’s a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and for the most part we are, but there’s a little Darth Vader in all of us. Thing is, this ain’t no either-or proposition. We’re talking about dialectics, the good and the bad merging into us. You can run but you can’t hide. My experience? Face the darkness. Stare it down. Own it. As brother Nietzsche said, being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol’ dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!”