(If you want to hear Lori read this story click)here

 

I subscribe to a number of blogs to keep me brimming with ideas about marriage. Today I was delighted to read this on Sasha Dichter's Generosity blog about the director of an enormously successful venture called the Eden Project. Appropriate for marriage, I would say. Adam and Eve were after all the first couple. 

 

Tim's Nine Principles of Management for the 700 staff at the Eden Project:

1. You cannot start your workday before saying "hello" to 20 other people
2. Intentionally read books that will spark new ideas that you normally would not read
3. Intentionally go to plays that will spark new ideas that you normally would not go to
4. ...and movies
5. ...and concerts (for rules 2-5, I lost track of how many...the point was intentionally seeking out new ideas and inspiration)
6. Once a year, stand up and "explain why you love to work for Eden" (said tongue-in-cheek, and explained as "if you have to do this, I believe that you'll deal with all the reasons you don't love Eden before giving your talk")
7. Eden's top 80 team members must all do something unspeakably nice (a "guerrilla act of generosity") for other people at Eden at least once a year
8. At least once a year, each employee must prepare a meal for the 40 people who make it better for him/her to come to work (apparently modified slightly in recent years given a distribution of cooking capabilities)
9. All 700 employees of Eden must learn to play Samba drums together.  Seriously.  And they perform.   (70 drum captains, teams of 10)