Replying to LO25169 --
John and co-learners,
On Sat, 19 Aug 2000 14:59:17 -0600 John McIntosh <jwmci@firstworld.net>
writes:
> I am a 60-year-old person with a very non-linear mind. I am only now
> learning that people often don't understand many things I say and
> respond by ignoring what I say. I have been diagnosed as having ADD and
> am
> taking medication for this.
> My questions are:
> Is there any literature about linear vs. non-linear thinking?
> Has anyone found a way for organizations to deal with both types of
> minds?
If I might offer my (opinionated) view of and response to your questions:
There is much literature "out there" about linear/non-linear thinking,
more so in the education fields, it seems to me, but still, it is a topic
that is of import and has been well documented. However, in the world of
managing organizations, this is an area that, in euro-western culture, has
not been reckoned with so well, because of a clear bias for linearity as a
basis for management. This is beginning to change, and in my own work with
Aesthetics and non-verbal communication (I am doing doctoral research in
these areas) I am very much devoted to working on the very questions you
have brought to us on this list serve.
I will say that I believe all people are tremendously creative,
enthusiastic and physically alive --- and that this can get conditioned
out of us. As for myself, I am almost certain that, if I poked around, I
could get myself a good diagnosis of ADD --- instead, I am satisfied to
believe that I am a very complex, active, creative, enthusiastic, high
energy person who may not do so well when stuck in the Procrustean bed of
Euro-western institutions, which strive to prepare us for adulthood by
bolstering the Ego, while robbing us of our child-like essence, or Id.
The problem is that for coping with Euro-western cultures, when the Id is
somewhat unchecked (as in ADD), then, as adults, we may "open mouth insert
foot" a lot, and find ourselves mis-understood and rejected.
In my experience, it has been helpful to develop my interpersonal and
communication skills, though these can be somewhat culture-bound, but they
work for Euro-western thinking situations. On the side of organizations
meeting creative types half-way, I believe the move toward structures that
are a better balance of Individuation and Differentiation is a step in the
right direction.
On the culture side of things (and this is where my research is focused)
there is much that needs to happen in the way of "liberating" people
toward their own creative "beingness". But it is a philosophical issue
that requires an organization to embrace an attitude or stance of
plurality and constructionism, as opposed to a positivist or even
relativist stance. Either of the latter (positivist/relativist) are not
enough to allow people to reach their greatest creative potential (at
least that's my theory). So, the constructivist interventions that need to
be common-place in organizations are not there yet --- but they will be.
And at that point people like you and I will be valued more then ever.
Cool breezes with crickets and birds singing,
Sajeela
Sajeela Moskowitz Ramsey, President - CORE Consulting
Center for Organizational Renewal and Effectiveness
2432 Villanova Drive/Vienna, VA. 22180
703 573 7050/ SajeelaCore @Juno.com
--Sajeela M ramsey <sajeelacore@juno.com>
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