OffensiveFootball

Football can serve as a nice metaphor for organizational endeavor.

The VISION of the football team is to win games and championships.

The MISSION of the offense is to make first downs and score points.

The ACTION PLAN of the offense is to effectively executive plays in a coordinated way.

In football, there are many offensive schemes that can be used (all good), each with its own nuances:

• Wishbone Offense
• Split-back Veer Offense
• Winged T Offense
• Run-and-Shoot Offense
• Slot-I Offense
• and many more

Imagine the result if a team breaks huddle, sprints to the line of scrimmage, and each of the 11 players then attempts to execute a completely different play, from a different offensive scheme.

We see that very thing happen with remarkable frequency in organizations. It's as if the VISION, the MISSION, and/or the ACTION PLAN somehow get lost in the day-to-day work.

When that happens, we should not expect to make first downs.....or score points.....or win.

GodHumanAnimalMachine

I recently read God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning by Meghan O’Gieblyn (2021).

My top takeaways:

·       Science presumes a third person perspective, yet consciousness is a first-person experience. 

·       We have yet to understand the phenomenological experience—the entirely subjective world (color, sensations, thoughts, ideas, beliefs)

·       The “hard problem,” as described by Chalmers, Chopra, and others, is understanding consciousness.

·       Kurzwell predicts that Singularity – the merging humans with technologies – will happen by the year 2045.

·       Nature can be thought of metaphorically as a huge river, constantly flowing, changing, evolving.

·       Are “atheists” and “believers” simply choosing different metaphors for understanding the transcendent?

·       Self-organizing emergent systems occur at ALL levels of life – from tiniest organisms to humans –  and perhaps beyond.

·       Emergence is the ontological opposite of reductive materialism.

·       Our mind is not simply a physical object to be examined, but rather, a structural pattern that emerges from the complexity of an entire internal-external network.

·       Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, defined information as “the resolution of uncertainty.”

·       A current theory of consciousness is called Integrated Information Theory (IIT).

·       Panpsychism envisions all of nature—plants, animals, humans, angels, and God himself—existing within a continuum of consciousness. It’s sort of an all-centric vs human-centric (anthropomorphic) view of the universe.

·       Metonymy is the belief that the mind serves as a microcosm of the world’s macroscopic consciousness.

·       There is an irrefutable connection between “influencer” and “influenza.”

My favorite quotes:

“All perception is metaphor—as Wittgenstein put it, we never merely see, we always ‘see as.’” (p. 11)

“In the lecture rooms and the laboratory, the only value that should hold is intellectual integrity.” (p. 47)

“Bohr believed that whenever we encountered a paradox, it was a sign that we were hitting on something true and real.” (p. 130)

“In the year 2001 alone, the amount of information generated doubled that of all information produced in human history. In 2002 it doubled again, and this trend has continued every year since.” (p. 194)

Many researchers in the AI field suggests that the WHY really no longer matters. They argue that if the data show us the WHAT and the HOW, then we know all we need to know. I still have a burning question: Can justice, and morality, and quality of life be reduced to an algorithm? 

I picked this book per my current interest in AI. Learning is sense-making. If you’re interested in trying to make a little better sense of things, this book will aid your journey.

BlessingBoomerang

Blessings come our way in a multitude of forms: kindness extended, forgiveness offered, assistance, deference, prayers, time given, a listening and nonjudgmental ear, a simple smile, an encouraging word, .......... the list goes on and on. Most (and some of the most meaningful) cost not one penny.

Blessings have a boomerang effect. The more we choose to serve and bless others, the more blessings come our way.

It's not hard to find those who need a word, a hand, a little help.

Go ahead. Give it a try. 

But only if you like to be blessed in return.

BrakeTrouble

Little children, pets, and visionaries often share a similar trait. They see a person, object, or objective of great desire. They accelerate quickly in the direction of that person, object, or objective, gaining unbridled enthusiasm and speed in the pursuit. 

Then.....they crash -- either into the apple of their eye (the teacher? the wall? the organizational resistance?) or some other unnoticed barrier along the way. 

The effect, late realized: Their brakes did not work as well as their accelerator.

Wisdom and good judgment are key in our ability to make optimal decisions about how much accelerator pressure and how much brake application helps us achieve our goals (whether personal or organizational). 

Surrounding ourselves with strong teams of diverse, wise, and outcome-focused folks helps us make sound(er) accelerator-brake application decisions. 

For leaders, two questions burn:

1) How well have we shaped a culture that attracts such a talented team?

2) Why in the world would such talent choose (because they can) to work with us?

If we're not paying very close attention, there is ZERO chance we can approach answers to those two questions.

Proceed? Yes. 

How? Judiciously.

Gotta have good help to make it happen.

CultureHealth

Organizations are actually living, breathing organisms. They have health markers, just like us humans.

Leaders are in particular need of being able to assess and address organizational un-health.

Consider the following graphic conception for viewing, thinking about, and discussing the health of your organization. 

   Healthy <<------------------- Blah ------------------->> Toxic   -

Transparency <<------------------------------------------------------>> Secrecy

Trust <<---------------------------------------------------------------->> Distrust

Collaboration <<----------------------------------------------------->> Isolation

Service <<--------------------------------------------------------->> Self-Interest

Equality <<---------------------------------------------------------->> Hierarchy

Support <<-------------------------------------------------------->> Destruction

Macro-focused <<-------------------------------------------->> Micro-focused

Freeing <<---------------------------------------------------------->> Oppressive

LEARNING <<----------------------------------------->> Imposed Ignorance

How can we better affect healthy and robust organizational culture? Just as with our personal health, knowing how to do better means very little………unless we actually choose to do better.

The burning question: Whatcha gonna do about it?

Talent-ized

My thoughts were drawn this morning to the need and importance of adding talented folks to our teams.

It seems I've touched on this topic with you multiple times over the last decade. 

If talented others are who you want to add to your network and/or your team, consider reading TalentScouts or TalentBoosters or Perturburances.

FasterLearners

As a school principal, and as a school superintendent, and as a teacher of those who aspire to the same, I have often said the following:

"School" is a sanctuary of learning. It exists for the sole and sacred purpose of LEARNING. If the leaders of the school -- teachers, administrators, school board members -- are not learning at a faster clip than the students, I think we have a problem.

I continue to believe that assertion to my very core.

As I consider other kinds of organizations, perhaps the truth of that assertion transfers...