I was annoyed when I found out that "chaordic" is a made-up
word. But I read the book anyway, mainly because Dee Hock is a great storyteller,
and the story, how the VISA card was created, was pretty intriguing. A
quote from the book best sums up the reason why:
'Today, before any audience in the world, I can hold a VISA card overhead
and ask, "How many of you recognize this?" Every hand in the
room will go up. When I ask "How many of you can tell me who owns
it, where it's headquartered, how it operates, or where to buy shares?"
a dead silence comes over the room. The audience realizes something extraordinary
has occurred, and they haven't a clue how it happened.'
This is not just the story of the birth of a unique kind of transaction
token, though. It's the story of the business life of an iconoclastic
thinker of great integrity. His reflections on management, and on what's
possible in organizations (and in what length of time, mistakes and all)
are worth reading.
His view of organizations and institutions of today is a little on the
"doom and gloomy negative" side, perhaps more than is really
justified. Still, I recommend that you git that VISA card on over to www.amazon.com
and harmoniously
blend order with chaos. (in other words, buy the book)