Growing Edge
April 1, 2000
Creativity and the Hairball
And why this metaphor sticks with you.
Why should a pastor read a book written by a "corporate holy man"? Well, the great metaphor in the book's title, the quirky doodles, and beautiful graphic treatment are reason enough. Plus, this just might be the best book you'll ever read on leading creative people and developing creative ministry: Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace (Viking, 1998).
Author Gordon MacKenzie spent 30 years as a writer and artist at Hallmark Cards. To an outsider, a greeting card company would seem to be an environment where creativity was encouraged. Not so, says MacKenzie. It was at Hallmark that he encountered his first "Hairball," that tangled, sticky, impenetrable mass of rules, systems, and prescribed processes that sooner or later stifles creativity in corporate life, including churches.
The Hairball phenomenon is especially problematic when you consider that those who create are every organization's best hope for a bright future.
The book's title offers the secret to giving creative endeavors a chance, whether in an established business or an established church. "Orbiting is responsible creativity: vigorously exploring and operating beyond the Hairball of the corporate mindset, beyond 'accepted models, patterns, or standards'—all the while remaining connected to the spirit of the corporate mission.
"To find Orbit around a corporate Hairball is to find a place of balance where you benefit from the physical, intellectual and philosophical resources of the organization without becoming entombed in the bureaucracy of the institution" (p. 32).
In other words, orbiting the ecclesiastical Hairball means allowing a new ministry or initiative ...
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