The Importance of a Basic Philosophy to Every Organization

“The basic philosophy of an organization has far more to do with its achievements than do technological or economic resources, organizational structure, innovation and timing.” — Thomas Watson, Jr.

Who was Thomas Watson, Jr.? From Wikipedia: “Thomas John Watson, Jr. (January 14, 1914 – December 31, 1993) was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and the eldest son of Thomas J. Watson, IBM’s first president. He was listed as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the 20th century.”

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February 22, 2010 | Filed Under Management | 2 Comments 

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2 Responses to “The Importance of a Basic Philosophy to Every Organization”

  1. Mike Anderson on February 22nd, 2010 11:42 am

    What is DG’s “Basic Philosophy”?

    Is it the mission statement, or are there also more specific elements involved?

  2. Matt on February 22nd, 2010 2:54 pm

    Excellent question. There are 3 elements to our basic philosophy:

    1. Mission statement (one sentence)
    2. Values
    3. Core doctrines

    Mission: “To spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.”

    Values: Prayerful dependence, preaching and teaching, Christian hedonism, humble authenticity, radical generosity, passionate spreading, global and multi-ethnic vision, and wartime approach to life and ministry. (They are described here: http://www.desiringgod.org/AboutUs/OurDistinctives/OurValues/).

    Then the theological distinctives include the sovereignty of God, the harmony between God’s supremacy and our joy, combination of head and heart, justification by faith alone, and some more (outlined in the Desiring God Affirmation of Faith: http://www.desiringgod.org/AboutUs/OurDistinctives/AffirmationOfFaith/).

    There is one other set of guiding concepts that are sort of emerging when it comes to how we lead the organization. These could be called “leadership values.” They would include things like: respect for the individual, empowerment _plus_ accountability, equal focus on the importance of tasks and the importance of people, managing is developing people through tasks and not just getting things done through others, and maybe a few more.

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