The Source of the "Prime Directive"
Dr. Foster Mobley // Quotables, Wisdom Leading
Q: Is the intellect of your work grounded in your spirit?
Remember the movie Robocop? While more a pop-culture than meaningful film, there's an interesting conflict with the main character. After his transformation into Robocop, the character of Murphy finds himself in a moral conflict. More machine than man, he's been programmed to follow a prime directive that serves his creators rather than the greater good.
However, the spirit of Murphy is still deep inside him. His values and purposes were different once before. Eventually, his spirit breaks through and he is able to combine his new programming (head) with his original values (spirit). This is necessary for the heroic defeat of the villains.
While this example is lighthearted, the problem is real. Increasing our own intellect and the competencies of our teams is great. But, the purposes and values behind our work, the spirit, gives us our reason for being here in the first place.
