Reason and Emotion

Posted on December 1, 2005 by Lee White

Ever been accused of making an overly emotional decision, without any logical reason? Ever been accused of being Mr. Spock, all logic and no emotion? What I am wondering is why do we (western civ. thinkers) persist in thinking that decision making is an either-or proposition? I believe that emotion is in fact reason, on steriods. Emotion comes from the culmination of all of life’s experience, but it is pre-processed in such a way that it is ready to respond at a moments notice. Most of the time this is a great advantage. I think we should all learn to be more comfortable trusting our emotions and instincts.

On the other hand, cool, collected logic and reason allows us to deal with new situations we have not confronted before. We process more slowly than emotional response, because we are taking more time gathering data. Of course it is impossible to gather all the data, so ultimately even "logical decisions" rely on some amount of embedded knowledge (emotion) to reach a conclusion.

The moral of the story? There is no such thing as a purely emotional or purely logical decision. So pay attention when you accuse someone of making an "emotional" decision, that may in fact be the best way to make the decision. And don’t make the mistake of believing that the "logical thinker" is devoid of emotional components in their decision-making, all decisions are emotional, because no one has all the data.

Filed under: passion | 1 Comment »

What do you do?

Posted on November 23, 2005 by Lee White

I am reading More Space (which I highly recommend). I just finished Rob May’s chapter. I enjoyed his overall theme "Why Business Matters", but I was particularly drawn to one particular point he made.

I don’t care about a job, I want more than that. Any time I am between
projects or businesses, people always try to find me a job. They don’t
get it. They ask me, “What do you want to do?” But I never give an
answer they expect. I don’t want to manage. I don’t want to program. I
don’t want to design products. I want to work toward a larger goal. If
those things are steps along the way, then fine, I will do them; some of
them I will even enjoy, but I do my best if I understand the greater
goal.

This made me realize how often I answer the question, "What do you do?" , with a job description. A few posts back, I was asking for advice on creating a new opportunity at my company. Some of the feedback I got was making the same point, "Why do we describe who we are in terms of tasks instead of outcomes?" I think that is a great question. The problem is that the western european mindset, under which many of us labor, is built around task orientation and problem solving. Maybe if we spent less time dealing with mechanics and tactics, and more time thinking and behaving with regard to vision, outcomes, and long-range goals, we would be better off. If we really engaged in conversations about the big picture, I think we would be amazed how many of those "tactical problems" would disappear or be easily resolved.

Thanks Rob.

Filed under: shared vision | 1 Comment »

Pegasus Day 2

Posted on November 16, 2005 by Lee White

As the day winds down, I am sitting here listening to the Stones play a concert down the street at SBC park…what a country.

As for the conference, today was an interesting day. The morning Keynote was by Marv Adams, CIO at Ford. Unfortunately I had to cut out early. His main theme was how to use systems and complexity theory in a practical way to help organizations.

Lunch was designed around topic tables. I thought I would see what the interest in blogs was with this group. I figured that blogs are a natural extendion of systems, interconnections, conversation, emergence, etc., and that it would be a topic of great interest. I seem to have been mistaken. Two people joined me and their interest was "tell me about blogs, I have heard about them, but…" Oh well, a long way to go.

The afternoon session was quite interesting. The keynote speaker was Mary Catherine Bateson. Here theme was intergenerational connections. She made a strong point that there is a wide gulf between the generations and that to make real progress in improving our society, we need to listen to everyone, the young and the elders. I attended an afternoon working session led by the World Cafe Foundation along the same topic.

Time to sign off to the sound of mick, keith and the boys playing "Magic Carpet Ride"…

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Questioning how we do conferences

Posted on November 15, 2005 by Lee White

Seth points to how conferences are not as effective as they would like to be. (How did he know I was at a conference this week?)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Pegasus Day 1

Posted on November 15, 2005 by Lee White

The first day of the conference is done. There are about 500 attendees here this week. Yesterday’s highlights:

Opening Keynote by Peter Senge:

  • The main theme of the conference is Interdependency. He asked the "simple" questions "Who do I depend on?" and "who depends on me?" He used this to show how interdependent all citizens of the world really are through some simple metaphors ("where does your food come from?") and startling facts (photos showing the polar ice cap shrinking)
  • Western basis for thought is noun based. Systems are process/flow based. Since our fundamental language is not alignes with the appropriate language of systems, it is difficult for westerners to see systems.
  • Needs:
  • Understand that the world is in a unique circumstance. "We have never been here before".
  • Develop our language to facilitate the conversation of systems
  • Expand our horizon with regard to time and space

Workshops: I attended "Introduction to Systems Thinking"

  • Reviewed some basics, what could be called the language of systems. (e.g.,Behavior-over-time graphs, causal loops)
  • The language is a tool to facilitate the conversation, not the end itself. In other words, the process of trying to draw a causal loop creates the value more so than the finished product itself.
  • Archetypes are commonly recurring causal loops, and exist to serve as a starting point for jumpstarting the conversation.

The afternoon keynote was fascinating. Delivered by Rose von Thater-Braan, Leroy Little Bear, and Amethyst First Rider. They opened up the world of thought of Native Americans.

  • No dicotomy
  • Listen
  • Renewal of spirit
  • How would we change what we do if we knew that all things were animate?

These notes do not do justice to the richness of the content, it is intended to provide a quick overview to provide me with a marker and a place to renew the conversation.

On to dat 2…

Filed under: Whole Systems | Leave a comment »

Pegasus Conference

Posted on November 11, 2005 by Lee White

I am heading to San Francisco on Sunday to attend Embracing Interdependence:Effective and Responsible Action in Our Organizations and the World, sponsored by Pegasus Communications. It is being held at the Hyatt Regency. I haven’t seen much social net activity around this, which I find ironic, since I see the social web as the most visible instance of social systems theory currently in existence. Maybe I can start a new conversation there… I will let you know how it goes.

Filed under: Whole Systems | Leave a comment »

Lexicon, Oops, My Bad

Posted on November 10, 2005 by Lee White

I like the word "lexicon". When I have the opportunity, I like to use it. It makes me feel smart, or something I can’t quite label. It may be because it is a word that many people don’t use, and when I use it I am often asked to clarify its meaning in context. It makes me feel indispensable, or something.

What I am seeing here is that it is all about how I feel, not about communicating in the most effective way possible. Oops, that is not how it is supposed to be!

Stephen Baker has a post today called Why Jargon Leads to Dead-ends. I agree with him completely, even though I tend to dismiss that advise personally. It is easy for me to see how we got into this predicament.

We all tend to operate in such a way as to put ourselves in the best light possible. If I can show that I have value by virtue of my specialized area of expertise, I will tend to do so. Jargon helps to perpetuate the myth. Unfortunately the unintended consequence is that I make myself unintelligible.

If we can ever come to a collective understanding that what is better for the group is better for the individual, then as a society, we may start to turn the corner on the myriad problems that plague us.

This is a topic that I believe to be extremely important and should not be dismissed. Unfortunately as we move more and more into niches, both on the production and consumption sides of the equation, I believe that more jargon will be created, widening the gap between silos.

I have posted and commented on this previously.
 

Filed under: Communication, transparency | Leave a comment »

Blog Evangelist

Posted on November 9, 2005 by Lee White

I want your help. I want to develop a position within my organization that is focused on the functional usage of blogs and other web 2.0 applications. I see this position as part Marketing (along the lines of Seth and Hugh), part technical (as an interface to IT, not as a developer), and part Internal Communications.

Oh yeah, I want the job for myself (no hidden agenda’s here).

I am using the following approach.

  • Listen throughout the organization for areas where I perceive the soil is fertile for consideration of engaging in conversations in the public domain, or "interactive social media".
  • In the course of my current day-job, put  new concepts on the table, ask  leading questions where the logical thought progression may lead to consideration of solutions not in the traditional communications tool set (i.e., press releases, mass media advertising, internal town hall meetings, etc.)
  • When interest is peaked, engage in a discussion around the opportunities inherent in interactive social media. And, of course, pointing out that the organization currently has little capacity to operate in this area.
  • Be ready with a proposal for building this organizational capacity if and when the opportunity arises.

To that last point I am working on a job description. I would also like to develop a start up plan along the lines of Slack Manager: The first 100 days. The first draft of my ideal job description is below. I have not yet started developing a "100 day plan".

My request is for your comments on the tactical approach listed above, the job description listed below or any suggestions on putting together a 100 day plan. A link would be great, and if anyone is really inspired to collaborate, I am setting up a JotSpot wiki to keep everything organized. Send me an email and I will send you the link.

Thanks.

Job Description
"Blog Evangelist"

  • Maintain current knowledge Interactive Social Media with respect to:
    • the state of the technology
    • trends
    • issues
  • Liasion with IT to develop appropriate infrastructure
  • Consult with areas where Blogging might be used:
    • marketing brand teams
    • reputation
    • public relations
    • internal communications
  • Lead activity to define relevant policies and guidelines
  • Advise Sr. Management regarding strategy and tactics related to Interactive Social Media

Filed under: Organizations | 7 Comments »

“Real” Leadership

Posted on November 8, 2005 by Lee White

Some of us communicate more clearly than others. Scott Adams does it extremely well. Only Dilbert can point to real issues of leadership so effeciently.

Filed under: big organizations | Leave a comment »

Fax analogy?

Posted on November 7, 2005 by Lee White

Seth’s post, Mine ours,everyone, brings to mind that old analogy about the Fax machine. The first Fax machine  was technically  fascinating and totally useless. Adding the second machine made it a novelty  and mostly useless. Add the millionth machine and you have an invaluable  business tool. Blogs seems to be following the same paradigm. It makes sense to apply this thinking to other processes as Seth suggests.

In the same vein as The Big Moo is More Space. Check it out, Seth wrote the Foreword.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »