"Maybe what I'm advocating is that people should think about their role in the way that a consultant might."
This is such excellent advice that I wish it was present in the post. I've been advocating this kind of thought (with much more awkward phrasing) to my friends and family for a while now.
But as I think about it, wouldn't it make sense to boil it down a little? "What I advocate is that people think."
From the article: investing a little to upgrade a computer or a piece of equipment saves time for a lot of people. It was obvious, right?
The trick is that he was thinking about ways to improve it. I don't really want to argue the pros and cons of Adam Smith and the "invsibile hand" here. I'm just a believer in people's capability to innovate, to think.
And if you have people who are obviously not doing this, before getting rid of them (which is important, if you end up with no alternative) -- try to think about what they bring to the company. It might surprise you where they've made improvements.
This is such excellent advice that I wish it was present in the post. I've been advocating this kind of thought (with much more awkward phrasing) to my friends and family for a while now.