Learning Beyond the Paradigm LO4199

Andrew Moreno (amoreno@broken.ranch.org)
Mon, 11 Dec 1995 19:34:42 -0800 (PST)

Replying to LO4176 --

On 10 Dec 1995, Rol Fessenden wrote:

> "There's a lot of good that can come out of using the existing set of
> tools."
>
> Andrew Moreno
>
> Sure, but what are the tools? Are we all talking about the same ones? Do you
> use financial tools, for example?

People need proficiency at using a metalanguage for control between
people. A metalanguage is a language that describes things at another
level. Einstein said something like "a problem cannot be solved by
thinking at the same level." Companies are composed of people and
companies are built around control of people, things, information or
places.

First they have to find the metalanguage and then practice, practice and
practice. A small part, and only a small part, of this metalanguage is in
Marion Brady's 5 step model. An external tool is a poor replacement for
personal mastery.

Second, they need a new set of tools that record the results of applying
the metalanguage. Systems thinking tools barely approach the level of
precision required to find high leverage points in the system. Part of the
AI research I want to do is to design tools that have a high level of
precision in defining the results of applying the metalanguage - high
leverage points in the system and can record the results of applying the
metalanguage. [Spreadsheets, accounting packages and other financial tools
can only describe an organization at one level, the problem level. They
describe the symptom's of a disease within an organization. See the
Introduction of the ithink manual for more information.]

Third, they need to properly time the integration of these recording tools
into an organization. Spreadsheet's and other financial tools are still
used within many organizations that use systems thinking tools, probably
even within Harley-Davidson, Hanover Insurance and even the Sloan School
of Management at MIT. Part of the reason is that there are no other tools
available.

Proficiency and personal mastery at using a metalanguage and it's
recording tools can help accelerate wisdom in entrepreneurs, managers and
organizational leaders. Wisdom can help organizational leaders avoid
"going through the fire" and "going through the school of hard knocks."
Wisdom can also help an organization do well through downturns in the
market, like depressions, recessions or other changes in the market.
Wisdom is the basis of any sort of scenario planning or systems thinking.

[A side note]

Part of the reason I had to leave Vancouver and sleep outside in -16
temperatures was that I went through part of the "school of hard knocks,"
and it left a really, really, really bad taste in my mouth, so bad that I
had to leave before things got worse. Fortunately I could leave because
things hadn't gone bad to the point where I couldn't. Fortunately it
drove me to exactly what I needed, even though I wasn't looking for it
directly at the time.

I naively went into business with a sugar-coated attitude thinking that
all would be fine when I started my business, that all I needed to succeed
was a business plan, partners, an idea, spreadsheets, a computer, a car,
etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anybody can start a business
with an idea. It takes wisdom, usually gained through the school of hard
knocks, to make an organizational sustainable, particularly through hard
times.

I straighten out my proposed business partners on a daily basis to avoid
"going through the school of hard knocks" later. There's no way that
systems thinking tools could tell me HOW to straighten business partners
out or to weed them out or to even define the boundaries of our proposed
agreements at a necessary level of precision to make sure everything is
clear.

One of them said to me yesterday, "I need you to keep me honest." Not
exactly the epitome of wisdom, more like "get rich quick." Well, if they
need me to keep them honest, they'll never be a partner of mine. The
problem isn't so much that "they are evil," or "they aren't honest," it's
just that they don't know how to be anything but. Part of my job, as long
as I can tolerate it, is to teach them how, indirectly, so that they think
that they gained those insights themselves and so that we can create
something sustainable.

Andrew Moreno

--
Andrew Moreno <amoreno@broken.ranch.org>