Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace - Review

HR Magazine, August, 1999 by Stacy VanDerWall

Written by the "Creative Paradox" (yes, that's his job title) of Hallmark Cards, this book chronicles one man's journey into and out of the "giant hairball," a tangled mass of administrative procedures, meetings, regulations and other creativity-killers that abound in Corporate America.

The book is divided into 24 chapters, all of which contain illustrations and sketches. Chapter titles include The Giant Hairball, Containers Contain, Introducing Your Brain and Milk Cans Are Not Allowed.

The first chapter dares to ask how society has managed to stifle genius and hamper creativity even among schoolchildren. When MacKenzie visited elementary schools to talk about his job, he asked the students how many of them were artists. Although almost all of the first-graders said yes, only one or two sixth-graders claimed to be artists. Adults too can unleash their creative genius if they are strong enough to risk ridicule and challenge the status quo.

Hallmark's "giant hairball" is profiled in Chapter 2. The term was coined by a division head and expanded upon by the author, who reasoned that hairballs were created after numerous strands of "hair" (rules and policies) were added to the original two business decisions that formed the company.

To survive the hairball, one must "orbit" it or go beyond the corporate mindset of accepted models, patterns or standards. Orbiting entails balancing personal fulfillment with corporate objectives without getting bogged down by bureaucracy.

Chapter 16 illuminates the "power of paradox" or, more accurately, how the author's job title came to be. After being offered a new job without a title, MacKenzie came up with "paradox" and added "creative" at his boss's insistence. Although Hallmark managers frequently call on their employees for creative concepts, said concepts usually were dismissed before they had the opportunity to develop--until they were presented to the Creative Paradox.

At its core, this book helps managers unleash the creativity among their employees and teaches readers how to keep creativity alive in the corporate world.