Note: This is ME and Perplexity AI brainstorming, making up what the late George Carlin (1937-2008) might have delivered in a Square Wheels Workshop for senior managers. I just used AI to create Carlin’s own perspective, since it knows my tools and it knows Carlin’s work. Just imagine him, with his wit and observational skills, to put a workshop together. The goal — impacting people and performance,
I’ve been playing with Perplexity and asking it how different comedians might use the Square Wheels® image to do some on-stage comedy or, in this case, even lead a senior manager, executive development leadership workshop.
George Carlin was known for his very sharp wit, cutting edge observations and incisive social commentary, and you know he would likely lead a very interesting senior management retreat focused on innovation and leadership — one where he pulled no punches in dealing with what corporate managers could do differently. We would be laughing at the absurdities, but also reflecting on possibilities for improvement, for sure.
The Square Wheels® images would give him great leverage to help generate self-reflection, highly interactive engagement and some deep thinking about reality, accomplished in teams, with a blend of humor and provocative insights.
Here’s an overview of how he might structure his comments and engage the managers. Let’s rock and roll and have some fun.
George’s Opening Remarks
Carlin starts by saying: “Alright, folks, take a look at this nice wooden wagon. Notice anything? Yeah, it’s rolling on Square Wheels. Now, before you start patting yourselves on the back for noticing the obvious, let me ask you this: How many of you are running your departments on Square Wheels right now? And, if I asked your people, what would they say? And I’m thinking that maybe all of you should go out there right now and ask!”
He’d use this opening to immediately challenge the managers’ thinking and set the tone for a session that will be both paradoxical and thought-provoking. He would challenge them to change the reality and lead things differently. He knows that these leaders are isolated from the reality of their people and the journey.
The Square Wheels Metaphor and how we think about how things really work
One paradox is that Square Wheels work.
Carlin would likely dive deeper into this, saying: “You see, we’ve got this great wagon with these Square Wheels, and everyone’s pushing and pulling like crazy. But has anyone stopped to ask why the hell we’re using Square Wheels in the first place? It’s like we’re so busy being busy that we forgot to be smart.”
He might then elaborate on the absurdity of organizational norms: “We’ve got these Square Wheels slowing us down, and we’ve got round wheels right there in the wagon, but we’re too damn busy following protocol and existing production processes to even see them as possibilities.”
“It’s like us having a perfectly good escalator and choosing to walk up it the wrong way because ‘that’s how grandpa did stairs.’ Meanwhile, you’re wondering why your thigh muscles hurt and why it takes you three hours to get to the food court on the fourth floor.”
Challenging the Status Quo
Carlin was always challenging people to do things differently and better. To encourage disruptive innovation and divergent thinking, Carlin might ask: “Now, I want you to think about your own departments. What Square Wheels are you pulling on your wagon? What round wheels do you think don’t exist? And don’t give me that ‘but George, we’re a successful company’ bullshit. Success is just failure that hasn’t happened yet.”
He might challenge the executives with: “You know why most of you aren’t innovating? Because you’re too comfortable. Comfort is the enemy of progress. It’s time to get uncomfortable, to shake things up. If you’re not straining to do things differently and pissing some other comfortable person off, you’re probably not doing anything important.”
Leadership and Communication
Carlin could offer some other ideas to generate some real discussions about leadership: “Look at the guy pulling the wagon. He’s got no clue what’s happening around him. Sound familiar? And he feels bogged down and in a perpetual ditch, with silos and spectator sheep everywhere. That’s what happens when leaders get too far removed from the reality. You end up dragging your team through the mud and wondering why everyone’s complaining.”
He might add: “And those hard-workers at the back of the wagon, pushing their hearts out while trying to make progress – how many have thought about yelling up to the front, ‘Hey, Jack-ass, we’ve got round wheels here!’ Communication is a two-way street, even if the street’s got potholes the size of your ego.”
Help your people get out of the ditch and up on the road and remember,
there are two kilometers of ditch for every kilometer of road.
Get them talking about possibilities for improvement.
Carlin might take the important position and ask the wagon pushers, “Hey, why are you guys actually pushing? Where are you going? And you know this thing is thumping and bumping, right? Anyone ever bothered to look at how this whole thing works? Thumping and bumping is not a sign that you are making progress. I’ll forgive you if you stop pushing and maybe start pulling, just to see if anyone notices.”
“Let’s start talking about reality, can we?”
Dis-Un-Engaging Employees
Carlin would likely emphasize the importance of involving employees in problem-solving: “You want to know where the real solutions are? They’re not in your fancy corner office or with your overpriced consultants. They’re right there at the back of the wagon with many resources already in the wagons. Those hands-on people have the ideas. But here’s the kicker – you actually have to listen to them. I know, shocking concept, right?”
And he would add: “Your employees are the ones feeling every bump and jolt of all those Square Wheels. They know where the problems are. But if you’re too busy playing ‘big important boss’ to listen, you’re missing out on a gold mine of ideas. And even ONE round wheel would make a difference to them.”
BOSS spelled backwards is self-explanatory.
Bosses are seldom listening or hands-on with their people.
Bosses aren’t coaches and mentors.
But it is not all him talking. Much of what Carlin would actually DO in his workshop is ask for ideas, ask about best past implementation practices, and generally ask these leaders how they could lead differently to impact innovation and productivity, because he knows their active involvement is the only thing that will develop ownership.
Ask, and Ye shall Receive!
Asking for round wheel ideas is a key step in implementing round wheel ideas for improvement
Implementing Change
To wrap up and motivate action, Carlin might say: “Here’s the deal: You’ve got two choices. You can keep pushing and pulling with your Square Wheels, patting yourselves on the back for how hard you’re working. Or you can stop, look at those round wheels you’ve been ignoring, and figure out how to get your people to use them. It’s time to decide: Are you here to work hard, or are you here to work smart? Let’s prepare to go out and ask for some hands-on reality about what we can improve“
General Thoughts on Using Square Wheels Images for Better Engagement and Innovation
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Visual Storytelling: The Square Wheels images provide a powerful, engaging visual metaphor that you and your managers can use to illustrate complex organizational issues in a simple, relatable way. By using these images, your managers can create a shared language of performance improvement and understanding with their teams, making it easier to discuss challenges and opportunities.
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Interaction Activities: Managers can use the Square Wheels images as an innovation discussion-generator at the beginning of team meetings or brainstorming sessions. Ask team members to identify “Square Wheels” in their own work processes, encouraging open and honest communication about inefficiencies. They WILL talk about issues and opportunities, and note that there is no blame associated with who started all this Square Wheel stuff.
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Problem-Solving Workshops: Organize brainstorming and improvement-focused workshops where teams use the Square Wheels concept to identify issues and potential solutions (round wheels) in their departments. This approach can make problem-solving more engaging and less threatening and is especially useful for inter-departmental kinds of discussions because using the images and metaphors help dissolve defensiveness.
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Continuous Continuous Improvement Culture: Use the Square Wheels metaphor to foster a culture of continuous continuous improvement. Encourage team members to regularly identify “square wheels” in their work and propose “round wheel” solutions. The Round Wheels of today become The Square Wheels of Tomorrow.
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Change Management Tools: When introducing new processes or systems, use the Square Wheels metaphors and images to help employees understand why change is necessary and how it can benefit them and the organization. See the article, “Teaching the Caterpillar to Fly” for real ideas around managing and leading change
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Feedback Tools: Create a “Square Wheels to Round Wheels” suggestion system or use an AI digital platform where employees can anonymously submit ideas for improving processes and even analyzing potential impacts. One department’s Square Wheel generally affects other departments’ operations. But, generally, they need to feel motivated to even try to suggest what can be done differently; they need the active engagement driven by their manager.
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Performance Reviews: Consider incorporating the Square Wheels metaphor into performance reviews, asking employees to identify their own issues and discuss how they plan to “round” them. Using the metaphor generally avoids anything that might be perceived as a personal attack, especially when the participant is suggesting their ideas.
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Leadership Development: A high impact, culture-wide approach is to use the images, metaphors and language in leadership training to help managers understand the importance of listening to their teams and being open to new ideas. It makes for some very easy and effective facilitation training, which is what will better involve and engage people in workplace improvement and personal growth / coaching. Embed these ideas into your AI-driven project management tools.
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Cross-Departmental Collaboration: “Interdepartmental collaboration” remains an oxymoron for so many organizations and silos and mud seem to be commonplace. Use the Square Wheels concept to facilitate discussions between different departments, helping them identify how they might be creating “Square Wheels” for each other and how to collaborate more effectively to help implement more round ones. There are lots of cross-functional round wheels that can be implemented to get departments more aligned and to make solutions more effective, overall.
By using the Square Wheels images and metaphors, your managers can create a more engaging, inclusive, and innovative work environment. The visual nature of the concept makes it an accessible, useful visual model about improvement to all employees, regardless of their position or background, and provides a non-threatening way to discuss organizational challenges and improvements.
The key is to use the language of the metaphor consistently across the organization and to follow through on the ideas generated, turning those “Square Wheels” into round ones and demonstrating the value of employee input and engagement. Help your people get out of the ditch and up on the road!
If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me! Let’s work to make people more successful.
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For the FUN of It!
Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools.
Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant who is trying to retire!! He now lives in Cuenca, Ecuador.
You can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com
Learn more about Scott at his LinkedIn site.
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