Linear Thinking LO23163

Winfried Dressler (winfried.dressler@voith.de)
Mon, 8 Nov 1999 19:30:50 +0100

Replying to LO23127 --

>[Host's Note: I fear we are repeating ourselves in the last
>exchange... The "entropy" idea doesn't work for Steve; it does
>for some others. Perhaps it's time for this thread to die. ..Rick]

You are right, Rick, when there is nothing left to learn. But I am still
puzzled... And as long as Steve is willing to continue the argument, I am
willing to listen. And if I am able to find an effective way to
communicate with Steve, I am sure that I improve my communication skills
for corporate life in general.

This is the pattern as I see it:

Some people explore a concept E (take the idea entropy if you wish as an
example). The relation of those people to E is widely variable. It varies
from deepest core of knowledge to just have a little smell. They all share
that E is interesting enough to invest some (more or less) time. If a
newcomer joins the round, one is willing to relate E to the newly arising
questions. Some of these quesitons are of course critical, which usually
adds to the colorness of E. In short: A dialogue on E evolves with plenty
of Aha's and Hmmm's. While some stick to E to explore it deeper and
deeper, others don't see any value worth the time spent on E, apply
Occam's razor and devote their time to more interesting issues for them -
with or without an explaining statement.

The relation of the people is imbedded in full self-responsibility:
Everybody decides, what he is interested in or not. Those who enjoy E
don't force it on others and those who leave don't force their decision on
others either.

What puzzles me, and where I want to learn constructive patterns of
behaviour is the case, where pressure occurs to follow one participants
opinion. (Whether this opinion is pro and contra E is irrelevant.) On this
list, it is not a problem, we have Rick as our host, who simply doesn't
distribute such pressure. Unfortunately the solution is not so easy in
daily life with collegues, superiors and politics. As long as I sense
destructive of selfish interests, it is not too difficult to protect
myself. But a case where the subjective intentions are clearly only the
very, very best and the motives to apply pressure of heroic selflessness
leaves me really helpless.

Any help out there? Steve?

Liebe Gruesse,

Winfried

-- 

"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>