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Orbiting the Giant Hairball:

A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving With Grace
Front Cover
166 Reviews
Viking, 1996 - Business & Economics - 224 pages
Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a "giant hairball"--a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past--that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity. Gordon McKenzie worked at Hallmark Cards for thirty years, many of which he spent inspiring his colleagues to slip the bonds of Corporate Normalcy and rise to orbit--to a mode of dreaming, daring and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set. In his deeply funny book, exuberantly illustrated in full color, he shares the story of his own professional evolution, together with lessons on awakening and fostering creative genius.

Originally self-published and already a business "cult classic", this personally empowering and entertaining look at the intersection between human creativity and the bottom line is now widely available to bookstores. It will be a must-read for any manager looking for new ways to invigorate employees, and any professional who wants to achieve his or her best, most self-expressive, most creative and fulfilling work.

What people are saying - Write a review

User ratings

5 stars
79
4 stars
47
3 stars
32
2 stars
7
1 star
1

Humorous, unique writing style. - Goodreads
Great book, well writing and beautifully presented. - Goodreads
Lots of great insights. - Goodreads
Very good illustrations as well. - Goodreads
Greatest advice: paint *your* masterpiece. - Goodreads
And the illustrations are just darling. - Goodreads

Review: Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace

User Review  - Blake Kanewischer - Goodreads

This is an elegant book full of insights and ideas from an iconoclastic defender of orbiting... definitely not a defender of the hairball. Read full review

Review: Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace

User Review  - Ron Felder - Goodreads

Wow! I really enjoyed this book. Initially, I resisted reading the book because it's not available as an eBook and I generally expect all of my books in electronic format. Well, anyway... This was a ... Read full review

All 155 reviews »

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References from web pages

Functioning Form - Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Functioning Form: Merging medium and message in interface design, the user experience design process, Web applications, and more
www.lukew.com/ ff/ entry.asp?352

insidework » Gordon mackenzie: Orbiting the Giant Hairball
About Us. insidework® infuses business innovation with biblical insight to stimulate change in our work, organizations and marketplace. ...
insidework.net/ resources/ readinglist/ entry-0000017672

The End of the Long Tail » 20 Steps to Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Oh, I do know the giant hairball… I am all up inside the giant hairball at my job. I spend each day trying to break out of the atmosphere and maintain low ...
longtailend.com/ index.php/ 2007/ 04/ 21/ 20-steps-to-orbiting-the-giant-hairball/

freedomlab Future Studies » Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A ...
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon mackenzie 97 customers reviewed this article averaging 4.5 ...
www.freedomlab.org/ 2007/ 05/ 23/ orbiting-the-giant-hairball-a-corporate-fools-guide-to-surviving-with-grace/

theocentric: Creative Paradox
Creative Paradox. Orbiting the Giant Hairball. Somewhere between childhood and young adulthood we lose our creative edge. In our early years, we engage with ...
www.theocentric.com/ ecclesiology/ leadership/ creative_paradox.html

Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace inspires a lighter approach. From the title of the first chapter, ...
www.leaderstrength.com/ May03V5.htm

How Is Your Company Like a Giant Hairball? | Fast Company
... self-published his book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace, in 1996, and Viking will republish it in April. ...
www.fastcompany.com/ magazine/ 12/ hairball.html

Blogs Are Like A**holes: Orbiting The Giant Hairball...
I recently finished reading "Orbiting the Giant Hairball" for the second time in my life. It's written by the late Gordon Mackenzie and details the ...
blogsarelikeaholes.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 05/ orbiting-giant-hairball.html

Orbiting the giant hairball : a corporate fool's guide to ...
All about Orbiting the giant hairball : a corporate fool's guide to surviving with grace by Gordon mackenzie. librarything is a cataloging and social ...
www.librarything.com/ work/ 25772

“Orbiting the Giant Hairball” Sustaining Success in University ...
“Orbiting the Giant Hairball”. Sustaining Success in University-Community Partnerships. An interpretive, expressive, and interactive experience stimulated ...
www.wkkf.org/ DesktopModules/ WKF.00_DmaSupport/ ViewDoc.aspx?fld=PDFFile& CID=19& ListID=28& ItemID=190489& LanguageID=0

About the author (1996)

MacKenzie worked at Hallmark Cards for 30 years. He worked as a cartoonist and writer.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Orbiting the Giant Hairball
TitleOrbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving With Grace
AuthorGordon MacKenzie
Edition6, reprint, illustrated
PublisherViking, 1996
ISBN0670879835, 9780670879830
Length224 pages
Subjects › 

Business & Economics / General
Business & Economics / Management
Self-Help / Creativity
  
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