Michael Gort raises some interesting points in his post.
I see some of the problems with my 7 year old that Michael is seeing with
his 10 year old. My son Daniel loves learning, exploring and asking
questions, yet his nature doesn't fit easily into the mold of the class in
school. The teachers know he is bright and working on grade 3 concepts
while only in grade 2... yet they need him to conform, just so they can
have an easier time teaching.
On work, Michael wrote:
> How often do we encounter colleagues who hoard knowledge
>rather than sharing it, since their mental model (and too frequently,
> management's mental model), values knowing, not the ability to learn and
> grow.
I'll put this in a different light... the ability to learn and grow is
valued, but the ability to share and help others learn and grow is not
valued. As in the Star Trek movie where Spock dies...
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."
This is a philosophy we could all live by... however too often, in the
corporate world, the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many....
Can you imagine if everyone wanted to help others, over helping
themselves?
> It is clear that no company that has managed to exist for 700 years
> has done so because it has had smarter managers, or succeeded
> in only hiring the 20%. Instead, it seems they have found a way to
> embed learning in the fabric of corporate life.
I'd counter another possible explanation.... last night I watched the
movie "TOYS" with Robin Williams... I found in the movie an age old combat
between good and evil, but with a twist... the good was concerned about
people, about making sure they have happy employees, giving them the
freedom to explore and be! Whereas the bad side was unconcerned with
anyone... was willing to kill everyone (including family) who got in the
way...
Maybe this is the path to success in a corporation... to care for people..
to allow them the freedom to learn... IMO we all want to learn! If we
just give people the freedom, the security, and the comfortable
environment to be, they will reward us with continuous learning!
Of course, the challenge today is the ability to create and maintain such
an organization without being taken over by some other corporation.
Gary Scherling
Helping people help themselves
P.S. Forgive any spelling mistakes....
--"Gary M. Scherling" <GScherling_GMS_TPN@compuserve.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>