Of socks and men

Just read Peters and Waterman’s In search of Excellence (1982). Just starting to read Small is Beautiful (1973) by E F Schumacher. Reading two Very Important Books close together can lead to extra insights or different points of view that can be thought (and behaviour) provoking.
#1 What if Schumacher had lived for 25 years after his book was published and Peters had not? (I don’t mean any ill will to TP who is a very clever guy with some very good messages).
#2 Schumacher’s messages call the game into question while ISOE explains how to play the game to the best effect and the greatest humanity. Small is Beautiful is quoted positively in ISOE and both seek to promote humanity.
We can now look on both with hindsight that tells us how successful US companies have been in promoting their view and how ’successful’ we have all been in using up the Earth’s finite resources.
Perhaps we should regard the faltering US car industry as a sign of hope that people have had enough of this ‘progress’ and that it’s time for a new approach – or a re-kindling or Schumacher’s call to recognise that there may be limits to what we should have.