a student's perspective LO7294

Sherry L. Gould (s_gould@conknet.com)
Wed, 08 May 1996 07:46:33 -0400

Replying to LO7236 --

Bill Hobler replied to my previous post:

>How sad, if all there is to do is to change myself then the great American
>experiment, our form of representative democracy, is an abysmal failure.
>Now, by myself, I may not be able to move the behavior of governments, but
>I and I and I (read I and you and you...) should be able to. Isn't this
>collective action one of the foundations of a Learning Organization?
>
>Having a common goal, agreeing to action to attain the goal and learning
>what works.

Here in NH political action and social change are as natural as breathing
for many of my associates and me. I am grateful to live in an area where
many others chose to behave in ways that support my own goals of creating
systems that serve people well. I cultivate those associations with
enthusiasm. When I learned that I could only change (read control) my own
behavior, I found an incredible tool for accomplishing great things
individually and as a part of a given group. As I work to act like me and
not react to others behavior, I find my own power.

So getting back to Rol's original statement re _pointing at others_, it is
certainly important, IMHO, to access a situation by observing people's
behavior within the context of a given system. My belief is that
ultimately the only behavior one can change is one's own. In other words,
given some observation/insight, what am I going to do about it? My
behavior may or may not influence others, depending on the choices they
make. I can not control their choices and thus dictate their behavior.

When we point at others it is easy to follow with blame. What good comes
from blaming others?

>Managers count beans and keep time,
>Leaders, take risks and ask others to.
>Each of us must play both roles.

We can, and I believe must, _ask_ others to take risks. How do you make
anyone take risks?

--

Sherry Gould s_gould@conknet.com

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