”The source of genius is imagination alone, . . . the refinement of the senses that sees what others do not see, or sees them differently.” … Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) French painter A key idea of the ontological work is that of ‘different observers’. I am not just saying others observe the world differently to […]
“Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.” … Warren Bennis (b.1925) US educator, futurologist, advisor and writer As we step into the future together, the constant interchange of giving authority to others and vice versa is the basis of all relationships. Every time we accept the decisions and declarations others
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“Most managers were trained to be the thing they most despise — bureaucrats.” … Alvin Toffler (b. 1928) US author It is easy to be unsure about what it means to manage and to lead. This uncertainty often stems from the words being used interchangeably and can be exacerbated by the use of the words
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“Leadership is the ability to lift and inspire.” … Paul Dietzel (1924 – 2013) US football coach We are meaning making beings constantly making sense of and create meaning in life. Meaning stems from what is important to us – the people, things and aspects of life we value. Over time, we have developed preferences,
Spatial Leadership Read More »
This is a question that has been asked through the ages and many great minds have come up with ideas about how to be a good person and live a good life. Aristotle (384bc-322bc) developed the idea of ‘Virtue Ethics’ with a focus on developing our virtues. He developed the idea of the ‘mean’, also
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Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francesco Varela identified that living organisms, including we humans, have both conservative and expansive tendencies. Our conservative tendency is to continue what is already so for us. We put a great deal of energy into doing this. We feed ourselves and exercise, clean our house, take care of our garden,
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When asked about life’s meaning it is easy to start to think about the BIG questions – the meaning of existence, the nature of a good life and our individual and communal purpose. It is also easy to fall into the trap of believing there must be a big answer to those big questions. One
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The arrow of time is defined by our calendars and clocks. We use this measured aspect of time in many ways, but primarily for the social coordination of action. Clock time tells us when things happened and when we can expect them to happen. This is so transparent to our way of life that we
Our Experience of Time Read More »
We each generate our ‘self-story’, which is our self-identity or how we see ourselves. Our self-story emanates from our communities’ meta-narratives. When we are born, we come into an existing network of relationships and conversations – usually this is a family who initiate our self-story by giving us a name. Family members have stories about
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Without thinking about it, we create interpretations of what someone we encounter means to us. Are they a colleague, manager, subordinate? Are they an enemy, acquaintance or a friend? How we define a relationship will determine our sense of the role or roles we take on within that relationship. The nature of our relationships is
Roles in relationships Read More »