Intelligence and LO LO9631

Michael Erickson (sysengr@atc.boeing.com)
Fri, 30 Aug 1996 13:37:56 -0700 (PDT)

Replying to LO9586 --

Hello all.
I've been reading the posts on the need (or not) for an LO participant to
have an IQ of 120 or more....

Learning is a matter of focus, not the size or speed of the CPU (or
mind). I learned the essence of systems thinking from a ditch digger
named Ed Knight.

This fellow was not quick, or brilliant. He had emotional problems that
resulted from a nervous breakdown and subsequent shock treatments that
followed his being accused of being a communist in the 1950's-Senator
McCarthy witchhunts. He lost his job as an aiplane tire
changer/maintainer (I don't know the proper job decription) at McChord
Airforce Base in Washington state-so his employability was hit and
miss. But he was fascinated by technology, and had a special love for
airplanes.

He had piles of Mechanics and Science illustrated magazines in his house,
and he would sketch ideas and concepts about design of autos, aircraft
and bicycles. He would show me the latest issue of the magazine, read a
description of some mechanical device-that claimed to be a break through,
and he would tell me that he thought of that in 1964, and would pull out
the old drawing proving he was telling the truth.

He would slowly and steadily research a subject, and imagineer the
possibilities, and he explained it all to me in the form of principles
that he would call "total concept" design. Making the thing (whatever it
was) forgiving of rough treatment, easy to build, easier to fix, and
functional in the extreme, by architecting it's design rather than
hooking up a bunch of hunks and pieces.

ED never applied those ideas to human or organizational interaction, but
in the few conversations I've had with him in the past year or so, he
understands the applicability.

My point. This slow - somewhat strange person was ahead of most of the
engineers and designers in the auto industry for 30 years. His IQ had
nothing to do with it. His willingness to look at all the possibilities,
to connect ideas across disciplines (or industry barriers) is the kind of
thing most of us are just discovering. This may illustrate the
difference between being smart, and being wise.

If we throw up some kind of limit or barrier of IQ or College Degree,
status, position, etc... to permitting people from being involved in the
LO then we are literally shooting our own selves in the foot. It takes
all of us to build a Learning Organization. (God didn't make only one
bird - as Ed often used to say.)

So lets put the IQ and the EQ question on the back burner, rather, Lets
explore how to enhance learning, and how to get the smart fast learners
and the slow steady learners working together willingly.

later...
Michael Erickson
sysengr@atc.boeing.com

-- 

Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>

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