In my column last week, we asked, "Count carefully--how many separate "confederacies of the dunces" do you belong to?"
36.4 percent answered "3," 27.3 percent answered "2," 18.2 percent answered "4," and 18.2 percent answered "5 or more."
Then we asked, "Are your confederacies of the dunces aware of the outside world?"
A vast majority, 81.8 percent, said "Some are, some aren't," 18.2 percent responded, "I think they are fairly aware of outside opinions," and zero percent answered, "All are clueless."
Finally, we asked, "If they need it, what will you be doing to fix your "confederacies of the dunces"?"
Here are the responses:
>Seeking external resources.
>Learn by asking why and why not. Ask everyone how is it going and what do you do.
>Ask all to be open to new thoughts and new ideas.
>Try to get opinions from sources we don't normally use.
>Continue to bring them new information that will cause them to rethink their current beliefs.
>Discussing more clearly the actual goals of each confederacy.
>Go outside it to gather extra, new and fresh information. In my work I believe (yes, paper :-) ) it is possible to use information from non-paper industry, and also there are a lot of our customers.
>Start talking to others.
>Use new more impactful issues as fodder for discussions
You can take this week's quiz here.