Roxanne: Simple question? Point #2 says: I have "become" a strong
believer in the value of cooperation in the workplace. This implies a
change. What did you believe in before? What caused you to change your
mind?
I used to believe that competition was a useful driver of human
performance. I also believed that cooperation and competition were
compatible and that only the wimps disliked competition. I was a hard
driving competitor who loved to win and shed no tears for the losers. You
ask what caused me to change my mind. In my case, it was really more of a
change of heart. About ten years ago, an injury caused me to be confined
to "bed rest" for six weeks. During this time I went through a spiritual
transformation which greatly changed who I am and how I view life. I
still work very hard to learn and grow and perform well. I also still
encourage others to do the same. One of the outcomes of my transformation
is that instead of finding pleasure in being better than others, I simply
find pleasure in learning and in being. I think that the comparison of my
performance to that of others detracts from my pleasure in performing. I
think that the tendency to compare myself to others reduces my humanity.
My thinking has been heavily influenced my study of the lives of the
world's great spiritual leaders, but my primary teachers in this
philosophy are Alfie Kohn and Peter Scholtes.
Roxanne Abbas
mailto:rabbas@comp-web.com
http://www.comp-web.com
--Roxanne Abbas <rabbas@comp-web.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>