Lenny Bruce, known for his sharp wit and incisive social commentary, would likely have found the Square Wheels® metaphor to be a powerful tool for exposing the absurdities and inefficiencies in business and organizational behavior. Imagine him as a workshop leader doing change management!

So let’s roll around with some ideas around people and performance, innovation and change.

Here’s how Lenny Bruce’s thinking style might align with our Square Wheels^® concept:

Exposing Hypocrisy and Inefficiency

Lenny Bruce was renowned for his ability to call out hypocrisy and societal contradictions. The Square Wheels® metaphor, which represents things that work but not smoothly, would have resonated with his style of pointing out flaws in systems.

He certainly might have quipped, “You’ve got these guys pushing your wagon with square wheels, and the round ones are right there in the cart. It’s like watching a bunch of executives trying to innovate while ignoring the ideas of their own employees!”

Challenging the Status Quo

Bruce was all about challenging established norms and pushing boundaries. The Square Wheels concept, which encourages people to question current practices and seek better solutions, aligns perfectly with this mindset.

Bruce might have said, “The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can’t fake it. And you know what else you can’t fake? Progress. You either roll smooth or you don’t. These Square Wheels are just a fancy, funny way of saying, ‘Hey, wake up and smell the inefficiency!'”

Embracing Uncomfortable Truths

The comedian was known for his raw honesty and willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. The Square Wheels metaphor similarly encourages people to face the realities of their organizational issues.

Bruce might have observed, “The ‘what should be’ never did exist, but people keep trying to live up to it. There is no ‘what should be,’ there is only what is. And what is, in this case, is a bunch of square wheels making life harder than it needs to be. Step back from the wagon and look for alternatives.”

Promoting Open Communication

Bruce absolutely valued free speech and open dialogue, which aligns with the Square Wheels approach of encouraging open discussions about organizational issues. Predictably, he might have said, “If you can’t say ‘Fuck,’ you can’t say, ‘Fuck the bad leadership.’ (pure Lenny Bruce, for sure.)

“And if you can’t talk about your Square Wheels, how the hell
are you gonna roll out any round wheel improvements?”

Summary thoughts:

In essence, Lenny Bruce would likely have appreciated the Square Wheels metaphor as a tool for cutting through corporate BS and encouraging honest, open dialogue about organizational challenges.

I would have LOVED him to be a co-facilitator at a workshop of 100 CEOs supposedly there to learn about improving their work cultures. They would have left the session with some permanently altered belief systems about people and performance, for sure!

I think he would have been a good friend, and that he might have concluded our session with,

“Life is a four-letter word, and so is ‘work.’ But it doesn’t have to be a dirty one if you’re willing to swap out those Square Wheels for some round ones. Just don’t expect the boss to like it when you point out he’s been pulling a square-wheeled wagon all along. Bosses are uncomfortable with hearing ideas that don’t match what they think, and BOSS spelled backwards is self-explanatory.”

Funny real stuff, huh? AI knows my Square Wheels stuff really well because of all of my past writing, it would seem.

If you are interested, go ask your own questions about the Square Wheels tools.