The Hero and the Outlaw by Margaret Mark & Carol S.Pearsons

Author:Margaret Mark & Carol S.Pearsons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw Hill LLC
Published: 2001-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Lover Organization

The Lover archetype in organizations results in camaraderie, beautiful surroundings, and attention to the feeling dimension of work life. People are expected to dress well (not for status reasons, but to adorn themselves) and to share their feelings and thoughts freely. A sense of cohesion comes out of a sense of being special—of being beautiful people, appreciating the finer things in life, proficient in communication skills and social graces, and, in many cases, exemplars of good taste or pioneers for new and emerging values. Typically, employees really like one another and have a passion for the organization’s values, vision, and products.

Lover organizations like to operate in a power-sharing, consensual manner. Time is freely spent on the process of making decisions, especially being certain that all have had their say, but is often recouped in the implementation phase. When consensus is achieved, everyone uniformly acts to implement the new plan.

At Hewlett-Packard, all decisions of the executive team have to be made by consensus. In many divisions and offices of a variety of companies, decision making involves everyone, and all share their feelings as well as their views. When things are working well, the atmosphere tingles with positive energy, enthusiasm, and enjoyment. When it does not work so well, unstated power struggles and cliques can keep the organization from getting much done. Over time, the unstated business of the organization is just talking through all the emotional issues that surface periodically.

Barilla is a wonderful example of a Lover company. While most pastas are marketed as comfort foods, invoking the nurturance of the Caregiver, upscale Barilla pasta is more consistently Lover in its invocation of gourmet indulgence and real intimate connection. Barilla consumers are portrayed as real gourmands, enjoying pasta as a sensory experience. Years ago, for example, Barilla ran a commercial, developed by Young & Rubicam, that depicted an elegant and successful-looking man coming home from a long trip to find a party going on at his home. He spots his beautiful wife across the room, smiles, makes eye contact with her, and then signals with his hands that what he really wants is spaghetti. It’s clearly implied that the pasta and time alone with her are his main desires, instead of attending the glamorous gathering that’s going on. At Barilla, as in many family-owned businesses, work has an intimate quality to it, at least at the top. Beautiful art is on the walls, famous artists and designers have been involved in the design of the firm’s packages, and company headquarters is in the Italian countryside. It is no accident that this Lover archetype company is based in Italy—which may be (next to France) the Lover capital of the world.

The Barilla family lives what its ads portray. The family embodies a zest for life and a capacity to live beautifully. The brand that can capture this almost transcendent quality in everyday sensory life can be irresistible to consumers who may ordinarily feel as if their bodies were taxis carrying their minds around.

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