Dear LO Reader
My name is Alfred Rheeder and a new subscriber to the LO dialog. I would
like to avail myself of the opportunity to provide information regarding
myself.
Before doing so I would like to express my sincere appreciation and
gratitude towards Rick (our host) and all of the contributors to the LO
dialog. The wonderful, growing repository is worth more than its "weight"
in gold!
First of all English is not my natural tongue. I am aware that I do
struggle particularly with the articulation of my thoughts in English -
naturally more than I do when I communicate in my natural language
(Afrikaans). Hopefully my inadequate articulation will not cause too
"much" chaos.
I've have recently become aware of the LO dialog and I started to read
some of the contributions on the archive. Although I am sometimes
"bewildered" by the complexity of some of the contributions and feel out
of my depth, I decided to do the brave thing - participate where I can!
Off course time permitting which is unfortunately a major constraint.
Well I am 28 and currently CEO of a medium sized company - involved in the
health and nutritional industry. The company is family controlled (22
years) and owned - enter complexity! I have a financial background and
lived in the USA for 2 years upon the completion of my post graduate
studies in South Africa.
My interest in learning and especially organisational learning and life
long personal mastery probably started before school but school heralded a
"new" beginning. I was extremely frustrated during my school and
university years. I can now articulate this frustration as rogue learning,
regurgitation and memorisation. I was often very passionate that lead me
to ask the "wrong" questions - and I learned my first lessons regarding
mental models and paradigm shifts. I often became disillusioned and
developed a deep pessimism regarding the world. This pessimism coupled
with what I regarded as a senseless fragmentation between the physical and
spiritual becoming-being lead me to start searching for answers somewhere
else. Consequently I developed a very deep interest in science (amongst
various other disciplines) - which I thought will provide me with all the
answers - how wrong could I have been. Well I did however realise the
complementary nature of science in my endeavour to make sense of the whole
of "reality".
Soon after my hunting started I inevitably came face to face with a
profoundly important question regarding complexity. Should I learn more
and more about less and less until one day I now everything about nothing
or should I learn less and less about more and more until one day I know
nothing about everything? Well I chose the latter. This question is in
fact I believe nothing else but a question of complexity regarding
complexity.
It just seemed so compelling to rather spend more time making connections
rather than focusing on breaking them. Now I suspect that the seemingly
conflicting opposites as expressed in the above - mentioned question might
be a complementary pair rather than opposing opposites. Simplicity
complementing complexity and complexity complementing simplicity? E=mc˛:
How could such a simple equation exhibit such complexity? Do I just
confuse simplicity or complexity?
Today I am to a large extent a Jack of all trades but a master of none.
Recently a friend asked me what type of job I will apply for should I
decide to leave the family business? I could only reply: "Well I think I
will really struggle to find a job. Not a lot of job descriptions imply
employing a Jack of all trades but a master of none!
Thank you again for the opportunity to participate freely in the LO
dialog.
Regards
Alfred Rheeder
Carpe Diem!
[Host's Note: Welcome Alfred! ... Personal introductions are always
welcome here, but not required. ..Rick]
--Alfred Rheeder <pvm@pixie.co.za>
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