Lonely at the top?
It all depends on how you reached the top and what kind of top did you reach.
In a zero sum game, you get to the top by fighting and defeating the rest of the world. By the time you get there, nobody loves you. That kind of top is like a mountain peak, a very small, cold and lonely spot.
In a collaborative game, you get to the top by networking, supporting others and sharing. It is a wide and supportive top. More like the high plateaus described by Maslow, than the mountain peaks.
Fungus
Monday, April 13, 2009
Acceptance
Birds of a feather flock together.
I like to be around people who look like me. I don't like to be around people who don't look like me.
Oops... Looks ain't everything... let me rephrase that.
I like to be around people who share my world view. I don't like to be around people who don't share my world view.
That's a preference, not a limitation.
How can I get them to do what I want?
Oops... let me rephrase that.
How can I influence and lead them?
Should I send people who are different to the back of the bus?
Should I wear a sheepskin or imitate the duck call so that they let me approach them?
Should I try to make them into my image so that I can like them better?
I believe that to make friends or business associates it is more sensible to let them know who I am, and understand who they are. Show our different world views. And find some common ground. Then we can develop mutual trust. I believe that cats and dogs can agree to collaborate if they have a shared goal. They don't need to like each other.
I don't want to get people to do what I want. Much less by lying to them. I want us people to open our eyes, understand who we are without embarrassment, accept our differences, and get to work in the design and construction of a healthier community.
Fungus
I like to be around people who look like me. I don't like to be around people who don't look like me.
Oops... Looks ain't everything... let me rephrase that.
I like to be around people who share my world view. I don't like to be around people who don't share my world view.
That's a preference, not a limitation.
How can I get them to do what I want?
Oops... let me rephrase that.
How can I influence and lead them?
Should I send people who are different to the back of the bus?
Should I wear a sheepskin or imitate the duck call so that they let me approach them?
Should I try to make them into my image so that I can like them better?
I believe that to make friends or business associates it is more sensible to let them know who I am, and understand who they are. Show our different world views. And find some common ground. Then we can develop mutual trust. I believe that cats and dogs can agree to collaborate if they have a shared goal. They don't need to like each other.
I don't want to get people to do what I want. Much less by lying to them. I want us people to open our eyes, understand who we are without embarrassment, accept our differences, and get to work in the design and construction of a healthier community.
Fungus
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Fear
I have the feeling that we want to run away from something...
If I have learned something from the movies, it is that when you run away from fog and darkness, you fall in the arms of the Werewolf.
We will be confused as long as we look back and focus on what we don't want. We need to look forward, and focus on what we want.
Elsewhere I have described my vision, and I will not bore you with it now. I will just remind you that in my vision there are conversations where we can speak without fear of being judged, and without the expectation of getting something [material] in return.
Let's go on.
Let's go on describing, enacting and practicing the future we want.
Fungus
If I have learned something from the movies, it is that when you run away from fog and darkness, you fall in the arms of the Werewolf.
We will be confused as long as we look back and focus on what we don't want. We need to look forward, and focus on what we want.
Elsewhere I have described my vision, and I will not bore you with it now. I will just remind you that in my vision there are conversations where we can speak without fear of being judged, and without the expectation of getting something [material] in return.
Let's go on.
Let's go on describing, enacting and practicing the future we want.
Fungus
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Collaboration
We play two kinds of games.
The zero sum game is the kind where you have only one prize and all contestants fight to get it. It is a game where the winner takes it all and all the other players lose. The kind of game we are used to seeing in the sports screen and in the movies. Most people use this metaphor to describe the business world. The hero skilfully steals the treasure, gets the girl, and lives happily ever after. Hail to the victor.
Big thrill. Very popular in some parts.
The other kind is less thrilling.
According to Hollywood, it's not interesting, and according to Wall Street, it's not worth the effort.
Collaborative games, are based on the idea that if the players work together, the prize can be made bigger, and there will be enough for all. Sir Thomas More, in his "Utopia" described an imaginary society based on collaboration.
Not possible, says Hollywood. It's a jungle out there.
Red in claw and tooth.
Ruth Benedict in "Patterns of Culture" describes a living society built on these principles. She coined the word "synergy" for this kind of collaboration.
The word stuck, but the idea did not. Most business management training in the last 20 years use this magic word: "Synergy...", they say, "is the art of making two plus two larger than four", and they smile, forgetting the collaboration part.
We play two kinds of games, but one of them takes brains, respect, patience, and trust. No wonder we'd rather fight and lose than collaborate and win.
Blame Charles Darwin for that.
Fungus
The zero sum game is the kind where you have only one prize and all contestants fight to get it. It is a game where the winner takes it all and all the other players lose. The kind of game we are used to seeing in the sports screen and in the movies. Most people use this metaphor to describe the business world. The hero skilfully steals the treasure, gets the girl, and lives happily ever after. Hail to the victor.
Big thrill. Very popular in some parts.
The other kind is less thrilling.
According to Hollywood, it's not interesting, and according to Wall Street, it's not worth the effort.
Collaborative games, are based on the idea that if the players work together, the prize can be made bigger, and there will be enough for all. Sir Thomas More, in his "Utopia" described an imaginary society based on collaboration.
Not possible, says Hollywood. It's a jungle out there.
Red in claw and tooth.
Ruth Benedict in "Patterns of Culture" describes a living society built on these principles. She coined the word "synergy" for this kind of collaboration.
The word stuck, but the idea did not. Most business management training in the last 20 years use this magic word: "Synergy...", they say, "is the art of making two plus two larger than four", and they smile, forgetting the collaboration part.
We play two kinds of games, but one of them takes brains, respect, patience, and trust. No wonder we'd rather fight and lose than collaborate and win.
Blame Charles Darwin for that.
Fungus
Friday, March 20, 2009
Hiring
I have the feeling that organizations don't pay enough attention to staffing and training their own HR departments, and sometimes the HR clerks that process job applications don't understand the organization's vision, mission or needs, and they cannot know if a candidate may be a good fit.
All the jobs I've held were contacted through previous job colleagues.
Except the first one, of course.
As a decision maker, I have contacted and hired many good employees through HR clerks and job advertising, but I have found that HR does not add much value to the process.
I still answer job postings in linkedin, careers.com, and others, but I don't expect much.
Fungus
All the jobs I've held were contacted through previous job colleagues.
Except the first one, of course.
As a decision maker, I have contacted and hired many good employees through HR clerks and job advertising, but I have found that HR does not add much value to the process.
I still answer job postings in linkedin, careers.com, and others, but I don't expect much.
Fungus
Better
I have faith that things will get better.
Not blind faith, but faith based on experience and method. Things will not get better if we leave them alone. We must turn the tables.
We must listen carefully to the bad news and understand what they mean to us. Where exactly are the doors of opportunity, and what kind of key (skills) do we need to open them.
In this context, “better” means a healthier society, where everybody has choices, information and resources.
Fungus
Not blind faith, but faith based on experience and method. Things will not get better if we leave them alone. We must turn the tables.
We must listen carefully to the bad news and understand what they mean to us. Where exactly are the doors of opportunity, and what kind of key (skills) do we need to open them.
In this context, “better” means a healthier society, where everybody has choices, information and resources.
Fungus
Friday, March 6, 2009
Humor
We all agree that the right kind of humor is right, while the wrong kind of humor is wrong. In short, good humor is good, while bad humor is bad.
The ancients believed that several humors flowed inside our bodies, and had to be kept balanced. Some of these were: blood humor, phlegm humor, black bile humor and yellow bile humor. Imbalance of the body humors would make you sick.
I believe that good, healthy humor is sparked by discovery. The detailed description of the neuro-chemistry involved if out of the scope of this discussion, and I couldn't describe it if I tried, so I'll keep it simple.
In my theory, when you learn (or discover) something new, there is an exhilarating feeling. You feel fine. You laugh, or even better, you smile. You want more of the same drug, and that's what we call humor.
When you discover something that is not new, at least to you, you feel frustrated. The best way to keep people in a good mood (or humor) is to keep them creatively discovering new and interesting things. You can call it the Eureka effect, but you don't have to.
There are also substitutes that can spark good humored responses, like a respectful and interesting joke (when you discover the punch line, you learn something and you laugh).
A disrespectful joke may also make you laugh, but it awakes dark humors (fluids) that are destructive and unhealthy, and are better avoided at the workplace and elsewhere.
And remember Homer Simpson's wise words.
"It's funnier when the joke's not on me."
Fungus
The ancients believed that several humors flowed inside our bodies, and had to be kept balanced. Some of these were: blood humor, phlegm humor, black bile humor and yellow bile humor. Imbalance of the body humors would make you sick.
I believe that good, healthy humor is sparked by discovery. The detailed description of the neuro-chemistry involved if out of the scope of this discussion, and I couldn't describe it if I tried, so I'll keep it simple.
In my theory, when you learn (or discover) something new, there is an exhilarating feeling. You feel fine. You laugh, or even better, you smile. You want more of the same drug, and that's what we call humor.
When you discover something that is not new, at least to you, you feel frustrated. The best way to keep people in a good mood (or humor) is to keep them creatively discovering new and interesting things. You can call it the Eureka effect, but you don't have to.
There are also substitutes that can spark good humored responses, like a respectful and interesting joke (when you discover the punch line, you learn something and you laugh).
A disrespectful joke may also make you laugh, but it awakes dark humors (fluids) that are destructive and unhealthy, and are better avoided at the workplace and elsewhere.
And remember Homer Simpson's wise words.
"It's funnier when the joke's not on me."
Fungus
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