The document summarizes Heather Monigan's presentation "The Little Brown Playbook: Leading a Business Community" where she discusses applying principles from the Rule of St. Benedict to business management. She discusses the vows of obedience, stability, and conversion of life. For each vow, she provides practical tips for both management and individual contributors, such as listening to others, tethering work to an end goal, and focusing on community over self. Her team successfully applied these principles to complete tasks on schedule and work seamlessly across boundaries.

1. The Little Brown Playbook:
Leading a Business
Community
Heather Monigan
Sr. Analog Engineer/Strategic Planner
Intel Corporation
Friday October 25, 2013 | 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Facility & Room : BCC, 309
Track : Management and Strategy
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2. Ground Rules
• Although this lecture is based off of principles from an order
of Ancient Benedictine Monks, great care will be taken to be
inclusive, gender neutral, and secular (when possible). No
specific religion is recommended; rather a call to listen to
something bigger than yourself.
• This lecture assumes all agree to the principal of the Golden
Rule and commit to its practice.
• The author recognizes multiple, legitimate, alternatives paths
to God; and the recognition that some people will also reject
this.
• This lecture in no way is meant to Proselytize; but rather
suggest rules of how you can conduct yourself. It is not to
force your will on others; or my will onto you.
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3. Golden Rule . . . In Business?
• One should treat others as one would like others to treat
oneself
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4. . . . A Little Story
• Global Validation Program Manager (Matrix Manager) of Hard
IP (HIP) Circuit Design of Intel® Atom™ C2000 Product Family
• US: California, Oregon, Arizona
• India
• Mexico
• Malaysia
• Israel
• Created a Community, not a Team
• Personally was studying St. Benedict . . . and something
started to shift . . .
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5. St. Benedict of Nursia
• 480-543
• Hermit; didn’t like people – but they still came
• Built an Organization, very reluctantly
• Created 73 Chapters – known as The Rule of Benedict
If All Work is Prayer . . .
What do My Prayers Say?
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6. The Little Brown Playbook
• Vow of Obedience
• Vow of Stability
• Vision
• Flexibility
• Hospitality
• Humility
• Vow of Conversion of Life
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7. VOW OF OBEDIENCE 7

8. Obedience
• Dictionary.com definition: compliance with
an order, request, or law or submission to
another's authority
• What comes to your mind?
• Negative thoughts?
• What rules do we Obey in this world?
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9. Obedience: Etymology
Defining "obedience“
Etymology - Latin oboedire - ob = towards; oedire = "to
hear“
• Meaning: "to hear or listen towards“
• Popular English usage: "to follow, heed, comply with
commands or injunctions within a sphere of jurisdiction.“
• Hebrew word shama - "to hear, listen; obey“
• Greek word hupakouo - "to listen under; obey“
• Old English word herknen ("hearken"); both hear and
obey
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10. Obedience or Listen
• Vow of Obedience = Listen
• Listen, O my child . . . and incline the ear of thy
heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully
execute the admonitions of thy loving God,
that by the toil of obedience thou mayest
return to God . . . (Prologue of St. Benedict's
Rules)
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11. Marketing
Management
Engineering
Manufacturing
Customers
Sales/
Marketplace
360 Degrees of Listening
Project Management
Finance
Regulations(Domestic&Global)
HR
Validation
Technical Support
Legal

12. Listen - Practical Tips
•General:
• Close your Mouth; Open your Ears
• Repeat what you Heard
• Take time to Quietly Meditate (or
Actively Process – like Journaling or
Contemplative Walking)
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13. Listen - Practical Tips
• Management view:
• Have Regular 1:1’s with Each of your
Reports
• See your People as Human
• Encourage your Reports to see their
Peers as Human
• Individual Contributor View:
• See your Co-Workers and Manager as
Human 13

14. VOW OF STABILITY 14

15. Stability
• Anchor or Ground Yourself in Something
• Golden Rule
• Something Bigger than You
• Personal Transition from “Telephone Pole”
to “Bamboo”
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16. Stability Opens the Door
• Benedict’s Rules
• Vision: co-existence
• Flexibility: exceptions to rules
• Hospitality: welcome the stranger & the
familiar
• Humility: community first
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17. Vision – Practical Tips
•Management view:
• Tether yourself to the End Goal
• “Green” – Stephen Covey
•Individual Contributor View:
• All tasks and effort should align with
End Goal
• Pushback/question if you don’t
understand the alignment 17

18. Flexibility – Practical Tips
•Management view:
• Stuff Happens; Have Buffer & Patience
• Keep both your Humans & End Goal in
mind
•Individual Contributor View:
• Communicate up & around when Stuff
Happens (where appropriate)
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19. Hospitality – Practical Tips
•Management view:
• How can you offer comfort?
• Honor Wholeness of your Reports:
Dietary Restrictions, Worship
Requirements, Culture
•Individual Contributor View:
• How can you offer comfort to your
co-workers and manager? 19

20. Humility – Practical Tips
• Management view:
• Know What You Don’t Know
• Honest Retrospectives
• Individual Contributor View:
• My Way may not be the Best Way
• I am Willing to Learn More
Comment: as a female engineer,
humility doesn’t mean you lack
confidence or knowledge
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21. VOW OF CONVERSION OF LIFE 21

22. Conversion of Life – Practical
Tips
•Management view:
• It’s Not About You
• It’s About Nurturing the Community
that You Built
•Individual Contributor View:
• It’s Really Not About You
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23. . . . A Story’s End
• Benefits of the Little Brown Playbook
• Our Team was the first to successfully
finish our A0 power-on tasks. Then we
helped others.
• Our Team worked seamlessly with other
internal teams.
• Our Team shared Resources and Material
when needed across Geographies.
• Our Team was a Community 23

24. The Little Brown Playbook
• Vow of Obedience
• 360 degrees of Listen
• Vow of Stability
• Vision: Tether yourself to your end goal
• Flexibility: Stability doesn’t mean rigidness; it means grounded
so that you can answer the call when life happens
• Hospitality: What are the needs of your people? Are you
answering this call?
• Humility: Serve your team. (Comment: as a female engineer,
humility doesn’t mean you lack confidence or knowledge.)
• Vow of Conversion of Life
• It’s not about you; everything changes 24

25. Additional Resources
• http://www.littlebrownplaybook.com/
• Our blog: http://littlebrownplaybook.wordpress.com/
• Abby Circles – coming soon!
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26. Bibliography
• The Rule of Saint Benedict (Paperback ) by St. Benedict
(Author) , Timothy Fry (Editor) , Thomas Moore (Foreword)
• The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful
Life (Paperback) by Joan Chittister
• The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century
(Spiritual Legacy Series) [Paperback] by Joan Chittister
• St. Benedict's Rule for Business Success Paperback by
Quentin R Skrabec Jr
• https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php
• http://www.holyrule.com/index.htm
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