Dear Bob ...Referring to this week's Keep the Joint Running, ("Office biogeography," 2/26/2007), just yesterday I was put on "Administrative Leave" because I am a "Frontier Person" (aka, Pioneer) living in the corporate equivalent of New York City.I think it would be interesting and very beneficial if companies both recognized what kind of "Environment" they were; clearly state that in the hiring process; the ty Dear Bob …Referring to this week’s Keep the Joint Running, (“Office biogeography,” 2/26/2007), just yesterday I was put on “Administrative Leave” because I am a “Frontier Person” (aka, Pioneer) living in the corporate equivalent of New York City.I think it would be interesting and very beneficial if companies both recognized what kind of “Environment” they were; clearly state that in the hiring process; the type of citizens they wanted; and probable consequences of miss-match. Not to be unduly harsh, but the “City” usually breeds a “Gestapo” mentality, where everyone not in lock-step with the “Zero Tolerance” mentality faces the full weight and oppression of the organization for even seemingly trivial deviations. I’ve know for years that “Pioneers” are easy to identify. They are the ones with arrows in both the front and the back.Back around ’85, H. Ross P. compared EDS and GM. If an EDS Manager spotted a rattlesnake, he’d shoot it. If a GM Manager spotted a rattlesnake, he’d form a committee to study snakes.After over 40 years in business, I know what I am. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how rigid my company was. Maybe this way of looking at businesses will help warn others away from a potentially bad choice. – PioneerDear Pioneer …At the risk of losing a friend, I’ll point out that you’d find some value trying to understand the other side. People are as they are for good reasons. Frontier and Metropolis are different, not because one is better and one is worse but because each is adaptive to particular situations. So to you, Urban living breeds a Gestapo mentality. To city-dwellers, Frontier living breeds a to-hell-with-you mentality – the mentality that leads to using one’s backyard as a garbage dump because “it’s my property and I can do what I like on it.”Which might be just fine in rural Nebraska (I don’t know, not having lived in rural Nebraska), but is unacceptable in the Bronx.I completely agree that during the interviewing process, both parties should spend time discovering whether their styles are compatible. BTW: Having worked for Perot Systems I’m hesitant to comment directly. I will say that taken literally this attitude leads to at least as many problems as having committees studying situations to death.It’s the ready/fire/aim mentality, and it results in draining the swamp without first assessing the environmental impact.Which is how we’ve ended up having such bad flooding every time we have heavy snowfalls and spring rains nowadays. – Bob Technology Industry