Conversational Pardigms LO5976

Dr. Scott J. Simmerman (74170.1061@compuserve.com)
04 Mar 96 17:14:42 EST

Replying to LO5955 --

Responding to 5955 (Julie Beedon) -- and the thread on
conversational paradigms:

>.... anyone else got terms which they like to use to describe
their learning or expereinces (emlightenments/revelations)??
perhaps that will uncover some of the neologisms Francis was
expecting....

For me, Square Wheels is a different yet simple theme / language
on an old concept.

Personally, it took me years of *actively* using the metaphor to
recognize that people project their beliefs onto the general
drawing and to the idea that I was too busy pushing and pulling my
own wagon to recognize that others had good ideas, too. There
have been other such revelations, a few of whiuch I have shared
herein.

It seems like:

* Most things tend to go thump thump along when there are better
ways of doing the activity already in the wagon.

@
@@*@@
@@@@@@@
00 ############_____ 0
||< ############ |<
/ /\. [_] [_] /\.

Thus, the ideas for improvement already exist (and are generally
already tested by exemplary performers) but we're too busy meeting
the old objectives, attainable by dedicated effort to the activity
at hand.

* Today's round wheels have a tendency to become tomorrow's
square ones.

* The "leadership rope" at the front can be very looooong in
reality. Many don't seem to understand that a wagon is really
back there and that pushers can be trusted and entrusted.

* People that have hands-on can have good ideas for improvement.

* "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There" seems a requirement for
creativity and innovation

* Square wheels do work, albeit not as efficiently as round ones.

and so forth, ad infinitum.

A big one for me is that I was standing there holding a round
wheel and seeing the reflection of myself in a mirror holding a
square one; the result of countless years and occurrances of my
Mom's "constructive criticism." There actually wasn't too much
constructive about it!

(And Surfing the Himilayas by Frederick Lenz is an interesting
read on enlightenment and Zen, about our inability to understand
things because of a lack of descriptive language. Yet the need to
enjoy daily activities and tasks ala "Zen and The Art of Motocycle
Maintenance" themes. Interesting stuff!)

For the Fun of It!

-- 

Scott Simmerman Performance Management Company, Taylors SC 29687-6624 74170.1061@compuserve.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>