Dear Organlearners,
Winfried Dressler <winfried.dressler@voith.de> writes under the old
Subject: What is leadership? LO22328
>Since the discussion on the digestor, it is clear to me, that this
>concern was a misunderstanding. The required sources of free
>energy become available after sufficient digestive learning, which
>is putting all the pieces together in a new, higher quality of order
>(as set by the LAST emergent step) with the growing of the seven
>essentialties as measures for the progress.
Greetings Winfried,
I am astounded by how much you have condensed into one
paragraph.
I am delighted by your understanding, especially with the word
LAST which you have capitalised. When we climb a ladder, it
is the step which we are standing on in the present which matters
for the future steps, not those which we have stepped on in the past.
Yes, they did matter, but that is history for the present.
>Frankly, it's easier to think about it than to jump into that water.
>Confidence only grows with experience and there is still a lot of
>fear holding me back.
Thank you for being so honest.
Learning begins with experience. Experential knowledge emerges
into tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge emerges into formal
knowledge. It is only on the level of formal knowledge that we can
communicate and proceed from learning individuals to learning
organisations. However, our need for communication cannot
undo our need for experience and its emergence into tacit
knowledge.
By "original experiences" I mean experiences which has not yet
emerged into the higher (tacit, formal and sapient) levels of
knowledge. In other words, we do not even have the feigntest clue
what such original experiences will involve.
I have had many such original experiences. My learning benefitted
tremendously from them. But I must admit that I feared every one
WHICH I HAVE CHOSEN TO EXPERIENCE. The others which I
did not choose I also did not fear because they happened before I
had any time to realise that they were completely unknown to me.
Thus I have learnt that there is a great danger in choosing original
experiences. These choices create fear, not the original experiences.
Many people claim that it is human to fear change. I must be more
specific. I fear only changes which I have not experienced before.
When dealing with animals, I allow them time to experience me
without force. This reduces their instinctive fright.
Why fear emerges when choosing an original experience, I do not
know for sure. Perhaps it is instinct. Perhaps it is the legacy of
Adam and Eve who lost paradise because of choosing against
God. Perhaps something went wrong with my own learning in my
days as a child. Perhaps the fear is an entropic force needed to
handle the unknown with an effective emergence.
I have learnt how others try to control me by using fear. I can write
a book on it. But I will not write such a book. I will write only one
comment on such a book. By making me a fearing person these
fear mongers actually tried to impair my learning so that I could
become a slave to them. But the spirit of Adam Tas saved me --
I am a free person.
I have also learnt to care for others who also fear original
experiences. This comforting of fellow learners in their orginal
experiences is very important to learning organisations.
Winfried, you are not alone when fear holds you back from new
experiences. Perhaps I should tell you about a joke in my
student days:
Follow me -- I am standing right behind you.
We used the joke to criticise leaders.
Best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>