Tag: Intuition

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S2 E110 — Keys for Reinventing a FUD-Soaked Enterprise

To find out which ideas have made it off the whiteboard, been placed into practice, and are being tested to see what works and what doesn’t.  So teams, what have you been working on, what have you discovered, and how can we help?

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “Your mighty purpose today is to make people smile. Indeed, there may be none mightier, or more challenging, considering the moods of some of the people you’ll come across.”  Aquarius

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 110 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 6th day of September in the fall of 2020.

 

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E109 — Rebuilding Trust Doesn’t Happen Overnight; S2 E108 — Why Our Reinvention Efforts Failed (and Yours Will Too); S2 E107 — Leaving Us Adrift in a Sea of Change

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E110 — Love, Longing, Belonging, Connection and Loss; S1 E109 — Do All Introverts Take the Long Acetylcholine Pathway?; S1 E108 — After So Many Defeats is it Time to Catch a New Trajectory?; S1 E107 — How Do You Rate Your Sense of Curiosity?

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity, Decline and now Reinvention stages.

Reinvention without Decline

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

We described a mini-case of a major decline,  Part One, Part Two and Part Three. And, before that we profiled two mini case studies about what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature company in a financial, in a consumer industry and two more in another century-old university system — Part One and Two. 

Now turn from our 3-part Reinvention mini-case operating from within a technology company,  Part One,  Part Two and Part Three to a different industry with similar needs, but from a consulting assignment. We profiled Part One in the last episode.

Reinvention

27. Knowledge Management — Brand Company — 

A Strategy and Brand Consultancy. 

Part Two

Crazy creative Dave and I had mini-case experience at Unisys — how do you build a common culture around a new direction when all employees experience is fear, uncertainty and doubt.  With this major project, sprinkle in a failed “Agenda for Change”.

We described the challenge as an internal branding, marketing and advertising campaign.  Somehow PRERS top management had to rebuild trust and flip the low morale of the now into a new vision of something employees could see, touch or feel.

We had to translate our marketing-speak into something top management could understand and support.  During our presentations Gasper’s major coup came when he described company paradigms as — the most fundamental and all-encompassing expression all employees feel, but can’t necessarily describe.  It’s a classic “We’ll know it when we see it.”  

Gasper somehow convinced our client that a company’s strategic intent (an integrated PRERS) “Vision or mission statements, and core values constitute its paradigm or world view.”  And to build back trust, internal brand development follows three acts.

The first act begins “… as the back story leading to a catalyst point which catapults the character into act two, which is the migration path to the new state.”  

We first described “our Migration Paths to the Future” by highlighting Innovation Teams (Alliance Management, Relationship Management, Operational Excellence, eBusiness, and People Leadership), and how they have been thinking-out-of-the-box about our core competencies and imagining totally new ways of doing business.  

As Gasper told top management, “Here action (and reaction) builds character, brand is strategy in action, and what you will be doing is building belief.”  He told them that their “Unique Organizing Principle” is what we will describe and help them craft an internal interactive communications “brand” or “identity” 

The idea is to discover the core values of the organization (transformation of customer) and to create 4 C’s: “context, content, connections and conversations around deep principles of shared learning, yet still keep it tied to strategic initiatives.”

My role with crazy creative Dave was to catch early successes, circulate stories about first steps into the future, and make them exciting and fun.

It took weeks to earn the necessary approvals.  Then the hard work began. 

What the hell is their organizing principle — their new core foundational story?  How can our marketing and advertising gurus translate it into something completely different, but on a subliminal level feel true and inviting.  Inviting enough for employees to suspend their critical, widespread FUD-dominated thinking and consider their new story?

We struggled and struggled in late night brainstorming sessions to come up with an answer. Until John Googled some company history and their logo — the Rock of Gibraltar. 

What from a distance looks like a huge, barren rock we discovered, is the home of 530 unique species of fauna and flora.  

That’s it.  We can work with that.  530!  

Images flowed.  Sketches on our white board connected to other sketches.  “530 equals overlooked employees — unique PRERS species of talented people.”  Innovation teams need to be nurtured. 

They need to be given a safe place to grow without reprisal.  People not on the teams could contribute to them if:

1) they knew the teams existed,

2) what their missions were, and

3) how to contact and contribute.

“New ideas = seeds! Maybe there’s a horticulture theme for innovation teams.”  

Timing is everything. 

We required three things to be in place for the launch.  The first was a distribution of white with green package of seeds to every employee.  That was followed by a glossy 530 journal telling more of the new core foundational story.  But, PRERS delayed its distribution.  

During the delay our 530 website, initially banned by their IT department, launched on our servers.  Waiting and waiting for formerly FUD soaked employees to arrive. 

Our strategic intention was about to be activated:

    • IdeaVirus approach: in fits and starts they cross-fertilize and nurture radical new ideas in “small learning experiments”. 
    • To propagate micro-communities around their discoveries, spawn new opportunities, and to infect us with a renewed sense of passion.  
    • And it is “for the rest of us.” To question. To volunteer.  To add to the understanding.    
    • “To find out which ideas have made it off the whiteboard, been placed into practice, and are being tested to see what works and what doesn’t.”  
    • “So teams, what have you been working on, what have you discovered, and how can we help?”

Evidence

“3”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Sometimes you treat everyone the same, and other times it feels right to be more flexible, taking your lead from the needs of those around you. You’ll be somewhere in the middle today, consistent but ready to adjust.” Scorpio

I hear you.  I used to take people at face value, except for all of the degree of decisiveness that has permeated almost everything.  Why must everything be so politicalized?

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“4”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Here you are, unready and in a position to choose. You don’t even have enough data to make an educated guess, although, in a strange way, you’re at an advantage with this, forced to rely only on your gut.”  Taurus

Intuition and instincts.  For some people choices made on them alone only bring more poor choices.  For others educated guesses work.  For everyone, we’re hardly ever ready for a lot of what life throws at us, like this pandemic for instance.

“3”  Steve Smith, 30: “The early days of every relationship and endeavor lay the groundwork for what happens later, which is why it’s so important to reveal some basic truths and establish key expectations on day one.” Gemini

Maybe if I combine yours with coach Kerr’s it will add up to more relevancy. But, aren’t these conflicting TauBits of Wisdom?

“4”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “All it takes is a few inquiries, and suddenly, you’re off in a fascinating direction. Go on and get involved, as new influences will spark favorable changes in your day to day.” Leo

So this one seems less suited for me today, and more suited when I was working on the Conclusions chapter in the Tau of Steves Report chronicling my Natural Experiment.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “When you give attention, you are giving your life force, which will be spent no matter what, though some ways are more of an investment, and others are just waste.” Virgo

Life force. I like it.  Now the key seems to me as an introvert how to differentiate between energy and directing towards an investment.  Hmm …

“3”  Steve Kerr, 54: “In the beginning of a relationship, you’re mainly trying things. You might not see it that way, because the process of getting to know someone is so intuitive. Just know that if it’s not working, you can pivot and try something else.” Libra

I’m not in the beginning of a relationship, pandemic or no, so feel free to steal this one if your intuition says to.

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “There’s an art to self-discipline. Knowing how far to push yourself is key. If you drive yourself too hard or place too many restrictions on yourself, you’ll rebel. To rebel against yourself is far worse than rebelling against others.” Sagittarius

I agree.  The art of self-discipline organizes moments in which I let the “flow” of writing happen.  But, I also mindful of when the flow begins to trickle and that’s when I force myself to stop and take up another task. 

“4”  Steve Harvey, 62: “Just as a story without conflict is barely a story, a day without an obstacle would hardly be worth remembering. At least today’s problem will have you laughing a little.”  Capricorn

This ongoing pandemic obstacle doesn’t leave much room for laughter.  But laughing does ease the feeling of dread.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “Your mighty purpose today is to make people smile. Indeed, there may be none mightier, or more challenging, considering the moods of some of the people you’ll come across.”  Aquarius

This 530 branding effort hinges on offering a quirky mood-shifting trial for knowledge sharing to work.  Humor couldn’t hurt.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4990 to 5060.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S3 E49 — Stealing Your Sign Without Doing the Time

Consider this 30-day summary a pawn ticket to sketchy things I’ve learned from stealing your sign without doing the time. I feel so guilty about it that I’m willing to sell it back to you.

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “As for mental arguments that only you can hear, they do serve a purpose. You’ll work out the pros and cons of a decision before you ever take the risk. Contain your deliberations inside a time frame though, or they’ll steal your day.” Pisces

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 49 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 21st day of May in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E46 — Twisting Meaning to Fit Is Still a Misdemeanor in My Book; S3 E45 — Tacit Heuristics Blinding Fast-Track Teams; S3 E44 — Make It Rhyme To Work Each Time

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E47 — 27 Adventure Regions for Your Remote-Working Bucket List; S2 E46 — Whimsy Passion Project or Epic Novel of Adventure?; S2 E45 — Wildcard What Ifs and Doobie Bros Bias; S2 E44 — Celebrating Emma the Baroness Tribal Quarantine Style

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E47 — Day 47 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E46 — Day 46 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E45 — Day 45 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E44 — Google Me Some Chopped Liver

Context

And, true to my word I checked on behalf of my physical therapist the Holiday Tau for Zahnny, the Fonz, Emma the Baroness and me, but they under shined all the rest of the Steves.  Especially, Steve Aoki’s again.

So what did I uncover in Why I Stole Your Sign and the Mysteries of Your Life?

A major coincidence at a time when I’d been noodling story ideas for my next manuscript.  I have the Holiday Tau for Steve Howey to thank for it.

“5”  Steve Howey, 42: “If you could go back in time and warn your younger self, what warning would you issue? What diversion would you suggest?” Cancer

Have you thought about how you’d advise your younger self? 

I did.

My leap of faith into this 1-year project forced me to figure out some things on the fly.  

On some days I felt foolish.  I never stated my “hypothesis” that I was testing in this year long natural experiment.  Don’t you have to collect data and measure something?

“Yesterday I wrote about how ‘disappointed’ I felt when we missed out again on the Holiday Tau.”  

“But, I’m thinking about stealing 6 or 7 or more TauBits that could apply to me and ranking them in a range of value from ‘1’ (hardly worth the mention) to ‘5’ illustrating off-the-charts relevance.” 

“Is that diluting the value of this experiment?“ 

“Is it too early to draw conclusions about the ideal number I track?  If it isn’t, maybe I could pay attention to just four or five Holiday Tau.”

On day 22 I felt I couldn’t catch a break and felt depressed.  But, on the following day my passion, inspiration and motivation returned.  Am I bi-polar?

“Yes, I don’t really need to steal anyone else’s Holiday Tau when I’ve received one of the highest TauBits already today.  And yes, I was complaining that too many TauBits might be too much to absorb.  But check these out.  This might be the single best day in the “Tau of Steves” history as we know it — well, so far during this one-year experiment.” 

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Can I stipulate for the 100th time that it’s not my birthday?  Sure I’ve seen life from both sides now and prefer the above ground side, but I can’t steal this one in good faith.  Wait it will help me move up financially? 

Today’s Holiday Birthday:

All you’ve overcome has made you strong — and also funny! Humor comes from the flexibility of perspective you earned seeing different sides and extremes of life. A project will put your talents to good use, and you’ll be enthusiastically endorsed, too, helping you to move up professionally and financially.

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “As for mental arguments that only you can hear, they do serve a purpose. You’ll work out the pros and cons of a decision before you ever take the risk. Contain your deliberations inside a time frame though, or they’ll steal your day.” Pisces

Hey Jobs, where was your Holiday Tau when I needed it? Whose side are you on anyway? Above or below?  I don’t know why, but my dad used to tell a construction story.  During the early stage walk through of the custom house the contractor would pause at where the new windows would allow sunlight in from the early mornings and yell, “Green side up.”  Then while pointing to blue prints in what would be the living room, he’d look outside and yell, “Green side up.”  This went on room by room until my dad and mom wanted to know what that was all about.  “Oh that?  Sorry, but I have to stay on top of everything and I just hired some sub-contractors who are laying sod for the first time.”

“4”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’ll strengthen your mind/body/spirit connection, and it all happens with physical exertion. Every time you work on your body, it will become increasingly receptive to the command of your mind and the intuition of your spirit.” Leo

When I received the results from my MRI my orthopedic physician told me my injury hadn’t torn any ligaments, but I suffered a sprained left knee and a bone bruise.  I told him I felt my physical therapy progress had regressed, and just had to get out and walk.  Down at the Little League field I hobbled down memory lane taking in the “Under 3 feet” T-Ball game — if you can call it that — and my neighbor’s first inning.  

“4” Steve Kerr, 54: “Why would anyone willingly offer up their work for scrutiny? To improve, of course. Only the courageous and the serious will proactively take this option, and you are definitely in that group. You want to be the best.” Libra

I can feel your pain Coach Kerr, having lost your Play-In game to the Lakers.  And just as quickly you were In-N-Out.  Which suggested I follow your Holiday Tau and drive through to pick up two hamburgers with grilled onions and two fries for Emma the Baroness and me.

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “The line between sharing and oversharing is liable to be ignored, blurred or completely crossed. Most people won’t mind knowing a little more than they need to.” Sagittarius

Obviously your Holiday Tau shared with my physical therapist is on a need to know basis.  Haha just kidding.  

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines jumps from 8203 to 8218 organically grown followers.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • “Why?: What Makes Us Curious,” by Mario Livio. “… socially shared myths, rituals, and symbolism were most likely the first sophisticated responses to nagging why and how questions and were therefore the fruits of curiosity. The chain reaction that resulted from the positive feedback between curiosity and language turned Homo sapiens into a powerful intellect, with self-awareness and an inner life.”

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S3 E47 — Why’s and How’s of the Genius Art of Procrastination

Something is missing.  I can’t put my finger on it.  I just don’t know what it is, but I can feel it.  I thought it was something Marshall McLuhan said and was fully prepared to follow the search for it.  But, that impulse dried up.

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “In a moment of complete relaxation, an answer will come to you accompanied by all the relief and satisfaction of finding a set of lost keys. Indeed, this will unlock future doors.” Leo

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 47 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 16th day of May in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E45 — Tacit Heuristics Blinding Fast-Track Teams; S3 E44 — Make It Rhyme To Work Each Time; S3 E43 — Add a Little Foresight to My Misdemeanor Tab

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E46 — Whimsy Passion Project or Epic Novel of Adventure?; S2 E45 — Wildcard What Ifs and Doobie Bros Bias; S2 E44 — Celebrating Emma the Baroness Tribal Quarantine Style; S2 E43 — See What You’ve Been Missing …

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E46 — Day 46 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E45 — Day 45 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E44 — Google Me Some Chopped Liver; S1 E43 — Desperation on Such a Summer’s Day

Context

Sitting quietly for a moment after I asked “What would Leo da V do?” the answer arrived.  

Curiosity.  

That’s what’s been missing from the 1-Year Natural Experiment Report.  Living life as an art form in a natural experiment.

Why?  

I’d been skipping over “Why: What Makes Us Curious?” by Mario Livio.  

Guess who figures prominently in Mario’s tale, besides Richard Feynman, my Leo!

“Leonardo’s boundless interests spanned such broad swaths of art, science, and technology that he remains to this day the quintessential Renaissance man. Art historian Kenneth Clark appropriately called him ‘the most relentlessly curious man in history.’” 

“Feynman’s genius and achievements in numerous branches of physics are legendary, but he also pursued fascinations with biology, painting, safecracking, bongo playing, attractive women, and studying Mayan hieroglyphs.”

Leonardo’s apparent inability to complete assignments, or his lack of interest in finalizing some of his projects pose further questions laid out by Livio, but really relevant to my behavior too: 

    • What was it that made Leonardo curious, and why? 
    • What did he do to satisfy his curiosity? 
    • At what point, if any, did he actually lose interest in a particular topic? 

Leonardo was curious about almost everything in the complex world surrounding him, and compulsive about note taking.  He sketched drawings and notes as part of his “artistic”output, estimated by some researchers to be 15,000 pages.

Why include curiosity now?  

Livio says the emergence of the unique human curiosity and emergence of the distinct human language were strongly correlated.  Which is a polite way of elevating gossip! 

Livio believes curiosity is at the core of human symbolic culture.

“… socially shared myths, rituals, and symbolism were most likely the first sophisticated responses to nagging why and how questions and were therefore the fruits of curiosity.”

How?

“The chain reaction that resulted from the positive feedback between curiosity and language turned Homo sapiens into a powerful intellect, with self-awareness and an inner life.”

The basic characteristic of curiosity is the desire to pose a question, thereby risking generating even more uncertainty, which in the context of an information-gap model is perceived as distressing.  Einstein once said: 

“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.”

Why?

Curiosity is really an engine of discovery. The seed of creativity is curiosity, and that potential for imagination comes from wondering, filled with self-awareness and a rich inner life.

Evidence

So, let’s turn to wondering which of the Steves offers relevant TauBits of Wisdom for the day.  If complaining identifies a problem and that problem is really an information-gap itching to be closed, then I like what you can offer Zahnny.

“3”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Complaining comes easily to most. Just about anyone can describe a problem. The next steps — brainstorming solutions, settling on a few to try, gaining the cooperation of others, etc. — are for the advanced corps. That’s you.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

However comma, as Emma the Baroness is fond of saying, I believe it takes an inventor and two comedians to describe my early in the morning “What would Leo da V do?” moment when I switched from McLuhan to curiosity, more precisely.

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “In a moment of complete relaxation, an answer will come to you accompanied by all the relief and satisfaction of finding a set of lost keys. Indeed, this will unlock future doors.” Leo

So, Steve your Holiday Tau is saying book learning is one thing, but application is what matters, right?  Couldn’t agree more.  I’m on the back end of teasing out lessons learned from experience and building the theory it supports.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “The theories that work out on the page but don’t work out in real life can be considered exercises or games, not serious contenders. Actual results trump theory every time.”Pisces

I was surprised late yesterday afternoon when just like your Holiday Tau describes, wave after wave washed through me while I watched Vanessa’s tribute to Kobe Bryant at his induction into the NBA’s hall of fame.  

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Feelings are waves. They rise into an identifiable shape and then hit the shore and go back to being part of the big ocean of emotion. Don’t fear the feeling. It’s just another form for energy to be for a while.”  Aries

I saw Michael Jordan, duh, since he introduced Kobe for his induction, but not you.  Okay I have to admit I taped the whole show so I could fast forward through Tim Duncan’s and Kevin Garnett’s to get to Kobe , so you may have been there. Now I’m wondering if the socially distanced audience were already inducted members and family?

“4”  Steve Kerr, 54: “When dealing with distracted people (and it’s safe to say that most people you’ll deal with today will have an attention deficit), assume that you must capture their attention several times throughout the interaction.” Libra

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines jumps from 8138 to 8193 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler, a classic I feel which still holds up. As the pace of change quickens we experience self-doubt, anxiety and fear.  We become tense and tire easily, until we are overwhelmed, face-to-face with a crisis situation. Without a clear grasp of relevant reality or beginning with clearly defined values and priorities, we feel a deepening sense of confusion and uncertainty. Our intellectual bewilderment leads to disorientation at the level of personal values. Decision stress results from acceleration, novelty and diversity conflicts. Acceleration pressures us to make quick decisions. Novelty increases the difficulty and length of time while diversity intensifies the anxiety with an increase in the number of options and the amount of information needed to process.  The result is a slower reaction time.
    • Daniel Kahneman’s, “Thinking Fast and Slow”describes two different ways the brain forms thoughts: “System 1” which is meant as a fictional shorthand — not as a brain system or structure: Fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious. “System 2”: Slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious. I’m learning a lot about my energy levels first described from within an introversion frame now, from within differences between System 1 and the harder working, energy depletion System 2.  Self-control, for instance is hard and takes a lot of energy to accomplish.  When I write the concentration requires effort until I can find the “flow.” Implications for True Belief — it’s easy to stay in System 1 vs. critical thinking — System 2.  Set some marketing and working on the business goals — System 2 and then ignore them by following the lateral thinking and associative thinking  which Leo da V invites me to do — System 1. 
    • “Why?: What Makes Us Curious,” by Mario Livio. “… socially shared myths, rituals, and symbolism were most likely the first sophisticated responses to nagging why and how questions and were therefore the fruits of curiosity. The chain reaction that resulted from the positive feedback between curiosity and language turned Homo sapiens into a powerful intellect, with self-awareness and an inner life.”

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S3 E44 — Make It Rhyme To Work Each Time

One remains active and always on 24/7 generating impressions, thoughts, intuitions and is the default basis for how we navigate our lives.  We have no conscious clue about how all those feelings and beliefs entered our mind.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Your creative endeavors are like a net you cast into the world. They will bring you some of the things you chase, as well as what just happened to be drifting by, caught in the middle of that pursuit.”  Aries

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 44 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 13th day of May in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E43 — Add a Little Foresight to My Misdemeanor Tab; S3 E42 — Greta, Juliette and the Partridge Family at Trestles; S3 E41 — What’s Up with Telluride or Humboldt County or Bodega Bay?

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E44 — Celebrating Emma the Baroness Tribal Quarantine Style; S2 E43 — See What You’ve Been Missing …; S2 E42 — It Was Short and Sweet, but Heart-Felt; S2 E41 — A Pandemic End to Real Estate and Consulting?

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E44 — Google Me Some Chopped Liver; S1 E43 — Desperation on Such a Summer’s Day; S1 E42 — Love on the Run; S1 E41 — The Dream Was Over, Long Live the Dream

Context

Is it simply ignorance and superstition fighting against intelligence as Ulysses S. Grant once said after the Civil War? 

Miles Taylor, Former Chief of Staff of Homeland Security Department and “Anonymous” author believes we are witnessing a newer civil war with constitutional implications and threatening our democratic way of life at stake.

Here’s what I’ve been ruminating about —has the way our brain evolved aided and abetted the gulf between patriotism and domestic terrorism?  Between ignorance and intelligence?

A third author joining Miles Taylor and Kurt Andersen may provide more insight, even as I become slightly distracted from my work on the “Conclusion” section of my “1-Year Natural Experiment Report.” 

You know the one which simply started with me stealing your horoscope when you weren’t looking.  

And, then wrestling with my guilt by asking “why?”

And now, this.

In Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” he reveals two selves residing in all of us. 

One remains active and always on 24/7 generating impressions, thoughts, intuitions and is the default basis for how we navigate our lives.  We have no conscious clue about how all those feelings and beliefs entered our mind.

Kahneman tells us that back in the 1970s he and his colleagues all assumed humans lived their lives as generally rational, reasonable creatures.

Our beliefs, they assumed, were by and large reality-based and arrived at by deliberation, weighing facts, opinions, and running calculations. 

If you observed the rationals out in the wild you’d see  people who exuded less warmth than others, while they doggedly pursued internally consistent  choices, judgements, conclusions and strategies.

The only time we opted out of that state of mind, their theory went, was when our emotions like fear, affection and hatred abruptly pulled us away. 

Now we know the reverse is true.  

We live our lives as the “experiencing self” who ignores time. It creates a bias in us for short periods of intense joy instead of longer periods of happiness.

Our remembering self is not always accurate, but it keeps our “individual story” alive. 

That’s the good news. 

The sometimes devastating news is we can fall victim to our pre-programmed errors of judgment and choice when more is at stake.

Most often we just aren’t aware of the errors or how we fell susceptible to them.

Out in the wild you’d recognize the experiencing self by seeing behaviors like impulsivity, excessive emotionality, or stubborn resistance to reasonable arguments.

So what?

So if all of that is true and we add the fact that the rational mind is lazy — most of the time rubber-stamping what the experiencing self serves up — then that’s why we jump to conclusions with only the sketchiest of information. 

And, why we spot patterns when none exist in the reality-based world and accept conspiracy theories when they fill in the blanks.

And why we assess the degree of truthiness by how easy we can find something like it from recent memory, or by how widespread  the media covers it, especially if celebrities are involved.

And it would explain why authoritarian regimes pressure and discredit independent media from fact checking and investigative reporting. 

Oh, and another of our Achilles heels — familiarity  — trumps our efforts to search for facts on our own (too hard of an effort) in favor of the easy and familiar.

  • So, the reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition.
  • Authoritarians and marketers take advantage of our evolutionary wiring.
  • They’ll do anything to reduce cognitive strain, by making their message simple and memorable.  
  • Almost anything they communicate in verse repeated over and over will be swallowed as the truth and we won’t even know why we believe it. 

If it can rhyme it’ll work every time.

Evidence

So, Zahnny do you agree this is a start?

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Everyone has their own private worries. You’re braver about this than most. You realize that hiding can be more energy than it’s worth. You also know that your story cannot inspire other people if you don’t tell it.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

So if your Holiday Tau is true, Steve, then trolling through the works Miles Taylor, Kurt Andersen, Joseph Chilton Pearce, Alvin Toffler, Marshall McLuhan or listening to Sam Harris’ podcasts will make my creative net work?

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Your creative endeavors are like a net you cast into the world. They will bring you some of the things you chase, as well as what just happened to be drifting by, caught in the middle of that pursuit.”  Aries

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines jumps from 8138 to 8193 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler, a classic I feel which still holds up. As the pace of change quickens we experience self-doubt, anxiety and fear.  We become tense and tire easily, until we are overwhelmed, face-to-face with a crisis situation. Without a clear grasp of relevant reality or beginning with clearly defined values and priorities, we feel a deepening sense of confusion and uncertainty. Our intellectual bewilderment leads to disorientation at the level of personal values. Decision stress results from acceleration, novelty and diversity conflicts. Acceleration pressures us to make quick decisions. Novelty increases the difficulty and length of time while diversity intensifies the anxiety with an increase in the number of options and the amount of information needed to process.  The result is a slower reaction time.
    • Daniel Kahneman’s, “Thinking Fast and Slow”describes two different ways the brain forms thoughts: “System 1” which is meant as a fictional shorthand — not as a brain system or structure: Fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious. “System 2”: Slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious. I’m learning a lot about my energy levels first described from within an introversion frame now, from within differences between System 1 and the harder working, energy depletion System 2.  Self-control, for instance is hard and takes a lot of energy to accomplish.  When I write the concentration requires effort until I can find the “flow.” Implications for True Belief — it’s easy to stay in System 1 vs. critical thinking — System 2.  Set some marketing and working on the business goals — System 2 and then ignore them by following the lateral thinking and associative thinking  which Leo da V invites me to do — System 1.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S2 E84 — Maybe Robin Hood Got It Right After All, Eh?

I won’t lie to you, my initial transition back to civilian life wasn’t easy.  But, I adjusted to studying and working in the first of many Systematic-Professional Organizations over several of my careers.  

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “There really are things that turn out better because you don’t know what to expect and are utterly unprepared. Bias is usually unavoidable, but a lack of assumptions will work in your favor.” Pisces

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 84 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 24th day of July in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E83 — Why Shouldn’t You Always Lean On Things That Worked Before?; S2 E82 — How Do You Inject Innovation into a Century’s Old Company?; S2 E81 — 3rd of 4 Secrets to a Better WorkFit

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E84 — Crisis averted?  Energy depleted?  What are we going to do?; S1 E83 —The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book; S1 E82 — Why Writers Aren’t the Only Endangered Species. Sigh.; S1 E81— Is This My Wake Up Call, Steve?

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In recent episodes we broke out talent profiles for each of the 4 Organization Types starting with Paradoxy-Morons, Emerging-Entrepreneurs, Sustaining-Associates and Systematic-Professionals.

Four Talent Profiles Attracted to Systematic-Professional Organizations

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

Here are some examples from my list of best fit companies and clients to illustrate what it means to love Systematic-Professionals, the “blue box” organization, with it’s unique blend of talent profiles:

    • 113 SPIC Idea Packagers
    • 114 SPBE Brand-as-Experts
    • 115 SPPP Professional Practitioners
    • 116 SPIT Institutional Traditionalists

16. Graduate Student Assistant — Better Fit

My initial transition back to civilian life, I won’t lie to you, wasn’t easy.  But, I adjusted to studying and working in the first of many Systematic-Professional Organizations.  

I enjoyed learning and mastering something new and planned to practice my psychology profession after I earned my masters degree. I looked up to Professors with Phd’s — especially the 114 SPBE Brand-as-Experts — who in actual practice taught very little in the classroom while devoting the majority of their time researching and publishing their results.  

We research associates and graduate assistants performed the lion’s share of their teaching load, laboratory and library research assignments. Once they hit tenure they enjoyed extraordinary independence pursuing foundational research. 

I never qualified for tenure.  I didn’t stay on the doctorate track.  But, later I did work in a State Hospital system in which two talent profiles  — 115 SPPP Professional Practitioners (medical doctors, psychologists, speech and music therapists, social workers and physical therapists) collaborated with 116 SPIT Institutional Traditionalists the front-line workers on the wards who resembled Army’s lifers to me.  

Put in your time in a daily grind and collect your pension in the end. 

Of course, some of the 115 PPP Professional Practitioners knew a good thing when they saw it.  They could run their fledgling practices and side businesses while working half time or less at the state hospital. My job was to work under the supervision of two different psychologists (at two different times) and conduct intelligence testing and client assessments.  

What intrigued me was how the brain worked (or didn’t) and asking if there was any research (cerebral dominance, left and right brain functions) that could be applied. 

17. Graduate Assistant Internship — Better Fit

Under the supervision of my first Phd we ran a side-business start up offering bio-feedback services to individuals (a few) and organizations (none). 

It was kind of like a professional services start up with 115 SPPP Professional Practitioners.  So Les — Dr. Sig’s second intern at the State Hospital — and I would leave at lunch, drive from Costa Mesa towards the Pacific Ocean, park behind the Edward’s Cinema near the pricey Athletic Club and meetup in the standard medical layout office.  You’d enter into a reception area with three offices behind it.

At the Behavior Modification Institute (BMI) the office walls were painted white and the plush carpet was an electric navy color. The office furniture — modern see-through plexiglass — catered to a small niche of well heeled clientele.  At least that was the business model. I was brought in to create chapters for a manual instructing clients how to use our biofeedback equipment to create relaxation and meditative states of consciousness.

BMI felt like a sure thing, when in reality it was a classic under capitalized startup.

Forced into bankruptcy the side business died and unfortunately the founder did too shortly thereafter. 

The office closed.  I managed to work full-time at the State Hospital. Les took off for Hawaii embracing “est” — short for Erhard Seminars Training and also Latin for “it is” promoted by Werner Erhart — one of many New Age commercial offerings. I felt I suffered from PTSD symptoms, depression and general purpose anxiety.

Someone who traveled in the founder’s circle of friends and who lived in Beverly Hills thanks to the Entertainment Industry described the Leadership Crisis to me at a social function.  I was probably clueless at the time so wanting for everything to work out.  

But, he told me, “Most firms go out of business six months before they realize it.”  

The founder, following an emerging trend, sunk his own money into two white egg-shaped bio-feedback “chairs” wired up to help train a customer who wanted relax and meditate at deeper levels. 

He leased an office with a reception area for medical practice and two offices — all outfitted with electric royal blue carpeting. He sold me, it was so exciting and on the cutting edge of psychology for the time.

7.  Professional Training Company — Worse Fit

The focus was on customizing suite of supervisory training programs.  Seemed old school to me at the later stage of my second career. I’d “been there and done that” so the projects didn’t engage my attention.  I didn’t meet their expectations since I didn’t sell new business. However their business model made sense to my growing knowledge management “Robin Hood” understanding of repurposing what you’ve already done for other clients and applying a customized version for new clients as an efficient way to grow consulting revenue.  

But, I also learned I wasn’t cut out to design and deliver supervisory courses for clients like university hospitals, a transportation agencies, or even to three technology companies. I lost interest in management training for slow moving mature organizations while craving the adrenalin rush of working in Paradoxy-Moron companies. 

It just didn’t satisfy the idea packaging  talent I had developed years earlier when the ideas were old and trending towards commodity knowledge.

27. Knowledge Management in Brand Company — Better Fit  

We crashed our models together — learning and development, knowledge creation, media production, internet communities, advertising and marketing in a newly formed strategy and brand consultancy. We pioneered a way of capturing the essence of a brand on digital video, searched through audio tracks for the touch points and reused portions of the interviews for orienting new coders hired at accelerated rates.  Each of us had become 114 SPBE Brand-as-Experts providing what Emerging-Entrepreneurs couldn’t afford at their stage of growth.

28. Knowledge Media Business — Better Fit 

Three of us tried to make a go of our pioneering efforts to capture the new knowledge being spun off so it wouldn’t fall through the cracks for Paradoxy-Moron and Emerging-Entrepreneur organizations.  But the market didn’t support it, again I couldn’t sell it and so we had to go our separate ways.

29. Key Executive Advisor — Better Fit 

I was offered a Senior Vice President position heading up the Key Executive outplacement services in the Southern California regions for C-suite executives paid for by their former companies. I delivered individual and group facilitated services for offices from San Diego to Woodland Hills, Pasadena and West LA.  It dawned on me that who you (they) knew made the most difference for people at this level so I created an online community for information and insight sharing and of course for trusted referrals. 

33. Advisor — Executive and Healthcare MBA Program — Better Fit 

For a decade I conducted a field test or a laboratory applying the content in these second volume of books. I proposed a curriculum to the Director for him to review and meet with me.  “Why would anyone choose to come back to school for an executive MBA (and spend over $100,000 over two years) when you’ve got all they’d ever need in this curriculum? 

And soon, you won’t have to either.

Summary

What makes Systematic-Professionals tick?

These are the expert who love their profession instead of a specific organization like Sustaining-Associates do. They’re the Idea Packagers, Professional Practitioners, Traditional Institutionalists in standards-setting associations led by well-known Branded Experts in the field.

Advanced Degrees and Certifications. 

Embedded Knowledge, Independence and Mastery

Emerging knowledge is classified, categorized, tested and benchmarked.

Motto?

“Robin Hood had it right”

What are their unique challenges? 

        • Research into complex problems and complicated large systems
        • Working in knowledge organizations and consulting partnerships.
        • Application of proprietary best practices and knowledge gleaned from their benchmark databases.

What are the takeaways?  

Methods and Metrics.  They prefer to distance themselves to remain objective and follow a well-articulated and tested methodology.

Their majority of clients are large-cap companies, government partners and the medical industry systems.

Studying these organizations provides a giant learning laboratory.

Acknowledged expertise attracts potential clients.

Rainmakers play an outsized role developing new and repeat business.

Evidence

“3”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Staying humble is the most important aspect of your game plan. The cosmic omens warn against self-satisfaction. Remain focused on what still needs doing.” Scorpio

WTF?  My only legitimate TauBit for today can’t match the four 5s the rest of the Steves earned.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The middle ground isn’t so easily found. You first have to go to two extremes to touch the outlying boundaries. Be patient with yourself. This is a process, and you’re making it up now for the first time.” Aries 

Can I get an “Amen!” to that?  

“5”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “There’s an art to envisioning your projects. Think of outcomes that are just beyond the reasonable, so that you’re sure to keep stretching and growing.” Taurus 

An art, you say?  Just beyond reasonable, you say?  OK I’ll by that, if you will.

“5”  Steve Aoki, 41: “This long-term project does have an end, although that is hard for you to see right now. If you can glimpse it, even for a second in your mind’s eye, you can and will have it eventually.” Sagittarius

Even glimpsing the next few steps for a second here and there keeps me going.  But, I have to confess it feels sometimes that all I’m accomplishing is to expand that end, because explanations were missing so critical to you (and my) understamdomg/

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “There really are things that turn out better because you don’t know what to expect and are utterly unprepared. Bias is usually unavoidable, but a lack of assumptions will work in your favor.” Pisces

In more politically charged social situations I’ve come to ask, “What would I have to believe to agree with you?”  We’re all susceptible to confirmation and selection bias, so instead of rejecting people outright, I find it more satisfying to hear their assumptions (and set them straight, haha).

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4397 to 4427.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S2 E83 — Why Shouldn’t You Always Lean On Things That Worked Before?

We already know that a worse fit is found where higher degrees of affiliation, speed and new knowledge intersect in the “green box” of Emerging-Entrepreneurs.

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “Don’t lean on things that worked before. The same thing that caused a triumph yesterday could be ineffective tomorrow. The importance of context cannot be underestimated. Stay awake and alert.” Libra

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 83 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 23rd day of July in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E82 — How Do You Inject Innovation into a Century’s Old Company?; S2 E81 — 3rd of 4 Secrets to a Better WorkFit; S2 E80 — Unrealistic Expectations Hatched Green Box Lessons the Hard Way

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E83 —The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book; S1 E82 — Why Writers Aren’t the Only Endangered Species. Sigh.; S1 E81— Is This My Wake Up Call, Steve?; S1 E80 — I’ll Give You Adverse Conditions, Steve

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In recent episodes we broke out talent profiles for each of the 4 Organization Types starting with Paradoxy-Morons, Emerging-Entrepreneurs, Sustaining-Associates and now Systematic-Professionals.

Four Organization Types

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

Four Talent Profiles attracted to Sustaining-Associates:

    • 109 SAICA Internal Change Agents
    • 110 SAAS Analytical Specialists
    • 111 SAAT Agile Tiger Teams 
    • 112 SALS  Loyal Survivalists

Moving on to Systematic-Professionals

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

Counter clockwise from Sustaining-Associates we fill in last of 4 boxes, “above” the shared border with 109 SAICA Internal Change Agents and 110 SAAS Analytical Specialists and to the “right” of Paradoxy-Morons, sharing a bolder with 102 PMTL Thought Leaders and 104 R&D Experimenters.

Four Systematic-Professional Talent Profiles

If we follow the vertical border edge defined by high degrees of mastery anchored with 112 SALS Loyal Survivalists to 110 SAAS Analytical Specialists (high in affiliation) and into Systematic-Professional “territory” you encounter 116 SPIT (Systematic-Professionals) Institutional Traditionalists and finally 114 SPBE (Systematic-Professionals) Brand-as-Experts where highest degrees of embedded knowledge, independence and mastery intersect.

Worse Fit

We already know that a worse fit is found where higher degrees of affiliation, speed and new knowledge intersect in the “green box” of Emerging-Entrepreneurs.

Better Fit

Systematic-Professionals share a slower, higher degree of Mastery with Sustaining-Associates and a higher degree of independence with Paradoxy-Morons.

You’ll find a better fit if you value higher degrees of embedded knowledge too.

Within the “blue” Systematic-Professional “box” continue counter clockwise from 114 SPBE (Systematic-Professionals) Brand-as-Experts to the remaining two talent profiles who mirror their Paradoxy-Moron counterparts.

The 113 SPIC (Systematic-Professional) Idea Packagers  crave higher degree of independence but medium degrees of mastery and embedded knowledge. 

While the 115 SPPP (Systematic-Professional) Professional Practitioners are attracted to medium degrees of independence, mastery and embedded knowledge.

Up next I’ll share what it’s like working for Systematic-Professionals either as an employer or as a client.

Evidence

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “You don’t need to control a situation to work it to your advantage. You need only be ready to take your turn and hop on the opportunities that open up.”Scorpio

Seems to be so Sun Tzu-like the way it unfolds.  Originally titled “The Art of War” later versions named it “The Art of Strategy” for the executive business market.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “You can thank today’s smooth ride to your own clean karma. Moral questions come up this evening, but nothing that needs to be solved immediately. Think it over.”  Aries 

Haha.  Another one to look forward to like the TauBit of Wisdom below unfolding in the afternoon.  Check back.

“3”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Your fantasy of a relationship doesn’t quite match the reality of it, and this is causing some tension. It’s easy enough to resolve, if you’re willing to adjust your expectations.” Taurus 

While important wisdom, Emma the Baroness and I adjusted our expectations of each other while dating, becoming an item as she says and then as parents when you undergo the a transformation no-one understands until the day after, and then for the rest of your life.

“4”  Steve Smith, 30: “If you place too much significance and value in the wrong things, this is a human mistake. You’ll learn quickly. Experience is the only way to really understand what’s important and what’s not.” Gemini

Of course all the “book” learning goes out the window until you apply, learn and build your knowledge.

“5”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’re wanting a result, and you’ll get it, but the timeframe is the matter in question. It is very difficult to predict how long things will take. Be patient and willing to adjust.” Leo

Look, for someone wired like me this corundum is the hardest part of preparing a consulting proposal — estimating the realistic timeframe for meeting clients’ demands.  At risk was either a nonstarter, because they expected to spend far less, or anticipating their budget I’d low ball my submission and end up with a lot less income.

“3”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “You’ve been a leader, and you’ve been a follower. When you’re acting to the best of your ability, the roles are equally demanding. You’ll be at the top of your game this afternoon.” Virgo

Well, true but I’m not seeing this one playing out.  But then it’s not afternoon yet.  So, I may have to change my rating tonight.

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “Don’t lean on things that worked before. The same thing that caused a triumph yesterday could be ineffective tomorrow. The importance of context cannot be underestimated. Stay awake and alert.” Libra

What is it “they” say?  An overused strength becomes a weakness.  And as we’ll see in later episodes you could definitely describe the “gap” between stages of growth from Start Up to Maturity and from Decline to Reinvention in the same way.

“3”  Steve Aoki, 41: “You don’t have to comment on every statement or have a judgment of everything going on around you. It’s enough to be a witness. Save your energy. You’ll need it later.” Sagittarius

Except as the evidence for relevance applied to my day, eh?

“3”  Steve Harvey, 62: “People find you attractive, and they will want your attention and time. Both of these commodities are precious, and today they will be best given in the spirit of investment instead of charity.” Capricorn 

The reverse doesn’t seem to be working for my Patreon supported episodes.  Oh, well.

“4”  Steve Nash, 45: “A sense of calm will alight on your decision-making process. There is no need to overanalyze — if you even need to analyze at all. You simply know what to do.”  Aquarius

Ha ha, I’m sensing a theme about methodological problem-solving and decision-making approaches setting up this next one.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You don’t have to anticipate every outcome. Get a general idea and then act. There is an opportunity that can only present itself when things aren’t exactly going as planned.” Pisces

So, even though I’m a card-carrying Systematic-Professional as a 113 SPIP Idea Packager, I only anticipate the broader horizon to set up If That, Then This actions, instead of sinking into analysis-paralysis.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4397 to 4427.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S3 E39 — Ready for Your Big Leap Forward? 

This morning my knee weather is tight, with a chance of pain, but dull achy in my left hip bone, feeling like a COVID vaccine site, with a slight chance of improving if I wear a sleeve.

“5”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “It appears that someone took a big leap forward, when, in fact, this was just a series of small but consistent steps over time — doable for anyone with the tenacity. You are most certainly in the category.”  Taurus

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 39 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 2nd day of May in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E38 — Sliding on a Super Slippery Slope to 2nd or 3rd Cousins; S3 E37 — Tell Me More Lies I Can Believe In; S3 E36 — Placebo, Meaningful Coincidence or Just Feeling Lucky

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E39 — The Best Tau for the Pandemic Year, Don’t You Agree?; S2 E38 — What Should You Do If You Stumble Across Loaded Information?; S2 E37 — How Deep is the Chasm? What Do We Do?; S2 E36 — Turning Lemons into Margaritas

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E39 — What’s Up with Facebook?; S1 E38 — Day 38 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E37 — Day 37 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E36 — Day 36 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

You know when you sprain your ankle sometimes you can walk it off?  And then later when you sit down for any extended period of time the pain sets in with the swelling and stiffness?  

Really?  

Thank your lucky stars, then.  Well, Saturday was that day.  Only I tripped over  a 6 inch sprinkler next to a fading green telephone utility cylinder which brought me unexpectedly to my knees. 

They hyperextended buckling under me until in the same motion I rolled on the cement edge of our driveway.  Luckily releasing the mower handle’s squeeze bar automatically shut it off so I didn’t have to use my feet to push against the mower rolling towards me.  

Ouch. I struggled to stand.  Once I assured myself with Emma the Baroness’ help that I could walk some of it off I hobbled over to our garage and sat in a tan plastic molded chair, rested, drank an energy drink and calculated I’d better walk it off like a sprain.  

I did. 

I finished mowing the lawn. Like an ankle sprain, the swelling ache with occasional sharp pain here and there took over for the rest of the afternoon and into my dreams last night. 

This morning my knee weather is tight, with a chance of pain, but dull achy in my left hip bone, feeling like a COVID vaccine site, with a slight chance of improving if I wear a sleeve.

P.S. The grass looks fabulous. 

Evidence

Will rest and pain pills and positive thinking take me through the upcoming week?  What’s the forecast?

Holiday Forecast for the Week Ahead: 

People cannot talk themselves into happiness, and people who demand smiles from others are unlikely to get real ones. Why? Because feelings speak their own language, a tongue as complex and nuanced as it is raw and verbless. 

Even those who exist inside a feeling state are often at a loss as to the particulars of its communication, let alone how to recreate it. Even though emotions seem to defy spoken command, they are not impossible to conjure. ‘I have’ and an accompanying misconception that possessions are the key to emotional satisfaction. 

The theory has remarkable resilience. No matter how many times it’s disproved, the desire to acquire never seems to abate. But at least our quest to own things tunes us in to our senses and gives us an appreciation for the material world that often ends up aiding our journey to a feeling. While owning things, claiming people or chasing the material cannot create an emotion, the quest makes us aware of how we join the moment. Appreciation, wonder, criticism, frustration, joy and other feelings are conjured not by life but by our choice of response to life.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Yeah, right.  Funny you mention “lend a leg up,” right?  But not to worry.  As you know, this ain’t really my birthday.  I hope it is yours and you find relief from self-regulation.

Today’s Holiday Birthday: 

Your love-hate relationship with self-regulation is about to change into all love. You’ll get into the swing of treating yourself so sweetly and nudging, nay, seducing yourself into the habits that give you the life and look you want. You’ll leverage social vibes skillfully; relationships lend a leg up in the professional world and vice versa.

Boy, for two singers and a comedian your Holiday Tau is especially mean.  I’ve been working with my physical therapist on my left knee to straighten it out, rebuild my muscles around it and master my balance.  So don’t give me “someone took a big leap forward.”  That was probably your idea, right Colbert?

“5”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “It appears that someone took a big leap forward, when, in fact, this was just a series of small but consistent steps over time — doable for anyone with the tenacity. You are most certainly in the category.”  Taurus

What is it about today?  Oh, right two more comedians.  I don’t appreciate your Holiday Tau emphasizing “a break and a distraction” as a benefit.  Luckily it wasn’t a break, more like a hyperextension in both knees.  As far as a distraction, “Emma the Baroness, will you bring me another pain pill, please darling?”

“4”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Once your heart sets a quest in motion, it’s pretty difficult to stop the search. However, since things often show up when you’re not looking for them, you’ll benefit from a break and a distraction.” Leo

At least your Holiday Tau feels a little more reality-based, except for your first part, G&G.  We’d been working on my balance issues, my physical therapist and me (or I?), and you can’t not take chances even though they involve stomach-churning risk, right?  

“3”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “You’re open to the magical, wonderful happenings, but you’re also aware of the stomach-churning risks involved. One won’t happen without the other, and most likely, the risk comes first.” Virgo

Oh, okay.  First I didn’t expect today’s Holiday Tau to come from someone like you.  And second, being laid up on the couch made me appreciate Emma the Baroness’ interior design talent.  But, pain trumps all else in my internal environment.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “Your internal environment is worth addressing since it’s the temperature and lighting scheme you live in all day. Give intentional thought to what would make you feel more comfortable.” Pisces

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 8003 to 8088 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • I enjoy any of the Harry Bosch detective books in the series authored by Michael Connelly.  “A Darkness More Than Night,” described “A strange constricting feeling filled his gut. He didn’t believe in coincidences… (It) was a coincidence that even a believer in coincidence would have a difficult time accepting.”So much for detectives, tying up loose ends, relying on their hunches and reordering data, information and witness first hand accounts. 
    • Or, in “Black Box,” Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch adventure he writes, “But Bosch stayed positive.  He’d gotten lucky with Pistol Pete and the serial number.  There was no reason to think it wouldn’t hold.”  Of course, Harry had a run in with his newer Lieutenant a page or two later … “So much for his luck holding… he felt that more than his luck suddenly ebbing away.  His momentum and positive attitude were eroding. It suddenly felt like it was getting dark out.” 
    • “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler, a classic I feel which still holds up. As the pace of change quickens we experience self-doubt, anxiety and fear.  We become tense and tire easily, until we are overwhelmed, face-to-face with a crisis situation. Without a clear grasp of relevant reality or beginning with clearly defined values and priorities, we feel a deepening sense of confusion and uncertainty. Our intellectual bewilderment leads to disorientation at the level of personal values. Decision stress results from acceleration, novelty and diversity conflicts. Acceleration pressures us to make quick decisions. Novelty increases the difficulty and length of time while diversity intensifies the anxiety with an increase in the number of options and the amount of information needed to process.  The result is a slower reaction time.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

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S2 E81 — 3rd of 4 Secrets to a Better WorkFit

Usually when people ask what do you do, you probably say something like I work for … (fill in the blank with the name of your employer) and say it with pride.  It might be Nike or Pepsi or The Gap or O’Neal.  The point is if you cut yourself, you’d bleed the colors of the organization.

“5”  Steve Harvey, 62: “The better days that are coming will not come because you hope they will. They’ll come as a direct result of the actions you take today. You’re creating better days right now.”  Capricorn

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 81 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 18th day of July in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E80 — Unrealistic Expectations Hatched Green Box Lessons the Hard Way; S2 E79 — Ain’t No Paradoxy-Moron? How About an Emerging-Entrepreneur?; S2 E78 — What Do Paradoxy-Morons Want and Need?

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E81— Is This My Wake Up Call, Steve?; S1 E80 — I’ll Give You Adverse Conditions, Steve; S1 E79 — Can I Keep It Up? For a Year?; S1 E78 — Drag Me to Obsolescence, Clear the Way to the Future

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In a recent episode we broke out talent profiles for each of the 4 Organization Types starting with Paradoxy-Morons and Emerging-Entrepreneurs.

    • 105 EEMA Marketing Athletes
    • 106 EEOA Operational Accelerants
    • 107 EERPT Resilient Product Teams 
    • 108 EECBG Core Business Groups

Moving in a counterclockwise direction we shift to Sustaining-Associates, the third Organization Type.

You’ll find a better fit working here if your identity is with the organization — expressed as falling along the scale of medium to high degrees of affiliation.  

Usually when people ask what do you do, you probably say something like I work for … (fill in the blank with the name of your employer) and say it with pride.  It might be Nike or Pepsi or The Gap or O’Neal.  The point is if you cut yourself, you’d bleed the colors of the organization.

Now, if you’re a high affiliation kind of person, you’re probably struggling the most with forced quarantines and working from home.  Zoom meeting may help, but it’s just not the same thing.

Worse Fit

We already know that a worse fit is found where higher degrees of disruption innovation, speed and independence define Paradoxy-Morons.  In fact I should point out that at the opposite ends of fit, you couldn’t be more distant and farther apart than 101 PMBI (Paradoxy-Moron) Breakpoint Inventors and 112 SALS (Sustaining-Associate) Loyal Survivalists. 

Better Fit

112 SALS Loyal Survivalists represent the talent profile where higher degrees of sustained improvement, mastery and affiliation meet.

Feeling no need to disruptively innovate, Sustaining-Associates place more value on sustained improvement instead.

Higher degrees of affiliation is what Sustaining-Associates share with Emerging-Entrepreneurs, but without a high degree of speed.

In fact, we can say “sharing a border” with Emerging-Entrepreneurs translates into “medium degrees of speed meet medium degrees of mastery.” 

Emerging-Entrepreneurs, 106 EEOA Operational Accelerants and 108 EECBC Core Business Group share their border with 109 SAICA (Sustaining-Associates) Internal Change Agents and 111 SAAT (Sustaining-Associates) Agile Tiger Teams. 

If we focus on high degrees of affiliation (the “row” stretching from Emerging-Entrepreneurs to Sustaining-Associates) you’ll notice a progression starting with 107 Resilient Product Team to  108 Core Business Group (team of teams) which jumps into Sustaining-Associates with similar 111 Agile Tiger Teams and finally 112 Loyal Survivalists.

Or speed and new knowledge transitions into mastery and sustained improvement.

As we’ll see later when we continue in our counter clockwise sequence, 110 SAAS (Sustaining-Associates) Analytical Specialists share higher degrees of improvement and mastery with 112 Loyal Survivalists and they share a border with Systematic-Professionals.

But, up next I’ll share what it’s like working for Sustaining-Associates either as an employer or as a consultant.

Evidence

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “As a rule, you like to think about things before you act. So it will be interesting for you to witness the brilliance that comes from acting naturally, subconsciously and/or automatically today.” Scorpio

So true.  Thinking, but maybe more to the point visualizing how events might play out.  Even when I’m confronted with a problem, I run visualize different ways of solving it — probably entangling memories of solutions similar it.  

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Today’s Holiday Birthday: 

You’ll pick up hard and soft skills this year and be well-paid in more ways than one. A new style of communication will improve your relationships across the board, including your relationship with yourself. You’ll be the star of someone’s life and revel in the role. Your talent for creating memorable experiences will be oft employed.

Wow, this is heady and humbling forecast for getting out of this damn pandemic.  I wish today was my birthday, but you know it isn’t  Hopefully, it is yours and will come true for you.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Willpower is a muscle that, like the other muscles you have, if worked too hard will become vulnerable to fatigue. Avoid using it until you really have to. Work on systems that will make the desired action a no-brainer.” Aries  

Systems, eh?  Sounds good.  I do feel fatigued, but I’m not sure it is for the same reason.  I guessing it’s just uncertainty, disease and partisan  politics.

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “You’ll do purposeful work, unrelated to the job you do for money. You are creative and have a fresh take on this, unbound by rules you don’t know.” Cancer

I love this one,  sure I’ll take it.

“4”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You have an artistic eye and you care how things look, feel, how they are lit and the message they send. You care how things fill the senses and the emotion that is released as that happens.” Libra

Can I throw this in with Howey’s?  I feel it describes what you do with a fresh take.

“3”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Since you really don’t know what’s possible, it would be foolish to limit yourself your own ideas about that. What’s impossible? Maybe you should start there and work your way back.” Sagittarius

I don’t quite understand the message, but it seems positive. Maybe it fits with how to start brainstorming without eliminating 

“5”  Steve Harvey, 62: “The better days that are coming will not come because you hope they will. They’ll come as a direct result of the actions you take today. You’re creating better days right now.”  Capricorn

Well, all I can say is when this Pandemic Year’s Natural Experiment comes to a close that the content I’m drafting for this work-in-progress, “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” helps you as you position yourself today for better days ahead. 

“4”  Steve Nash, 45: “What’s relaxing for one person is stressful for someone else. Be sure to do what works for you to create a neutral state of being from which you can recharge and thrive.” Aquarius 

I chose this TauBit of Wisdom, because I need to remind myself to meditate or I won’t be able to recharge and find opportunity in all this chaos.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4341 to 4397.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S3 E36 — Placebo, Meaningful Coincidence or Just Feeling Lucky

Luck is a form of superstition. We already mentioned how Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, which he described as “a meaningful coincidence”.  Some evidence supports the idea that belief in luck acts like a placebo, producing positive thinking and improving people’s responses to events.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The first idea that comes to you may indeed be the best one, but come up with more anyway, if only for the accompanying thrill of heading into unexplored directions.” Aries

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 36 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 29th day of April in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E35 — This Ain’t No Zemblanity; S3 E34 — Why You’re Susceptible to Subliminal Suggestions Like …; S3 E33 — Do Meaningful Coincidences Really Exist?

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E36 — Turning Lemons into Margaritas; S2 E35 — Was this Pandemic Year a 1-Off or New Way of Life?; S2 E34 — Why Is This Kicking Off the 4th Industrial Revolution?; S2 E33 — What Happens When Your Business Collapses?

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E36 — Day 36 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E35 — Day 35 of My 1-Year Experiment ; S1 E34 — Day 34 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E33 — Day 33 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

In the Report’s Conclusion Section of The One-Year Natural Experiment we’ve covered meaningful coincidences and synchronicity, now it’s about their second cousin,  serendipity or happy accidents as in unplanned, but fortunate discoveries. Diving deeper into Wikipedia I found luck. 

Isn’t that what we all hope for? Yeah, I thought so and that’s why this section of the natural experiment’s conclusions is:

Do I Feel Lucky?

“Harry Callahan: You’ve Got To Ask Yourself One Question: ‘Do I Feel Lucky? ‘ Well, Do Ya, Punk?”

There’s Dirty Harry and Harry Bosch.  While Michael Connelly’s  Detective Harry Bosch doesn’t believe in coincidences I just read a passage in “Black Box” where he drew energy after getting lucky — he knew reporters follow a story which leads to another and another or to a trusted source.

“But Bosch stayed positive.  He’d gotten lucky with Pistol Pete and the serial number.  There was no reason to think it wouldn’t hold.”  

Of course, Harry had a run in with his newer Lieutenant a page or two later …

“So much for his luck holding… he felt that more than his luck suddenly ebbing away.  His momentum and positive attitude were eroding. It suddenly felt like it was getting dark out.”

We talk about luck in improbable, negative or positive terms as random or chance events beyond our control which occur all around us.

Luck is a form of superstition. We already mentioned how Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, which he described as “a meaningful coincidence”. 

Some evidence supports the idea that belief in luck acts like a placebo, producing positive thinking and improving people’s responses to events.

Richard Wiseman did a ten-year scientific study… concluding, to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune.

His research revealed that, Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. 

They are skilled at: 

          • creating and noticing chance opportunities, 
          • making lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, 
          • creating self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations, and 
          • adopting a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

We’ve heard from two Harrys, a Michael, a Carl and a Richard.  What say we turn our attention to four of my favorite Steves?

Evidence

You know Zahnny, I have to disagree with your opening premise.  I could agree if you added “but there are certainly ideal tribes which I call Talent Cultures in organizations, and (this is a big and) if you know which of 16 Talent Profiles you can claim, then you can more easily select the best and worst organizations and growth stages to pursue. 

To your second Holiday Tau observation — yes, organizational change happens slowly and, thank you that fact alone provided years of consulting fees for me in mature companies heading towards decline, but desperately wanting to reinvent themselves.  

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “There are no ideal groups, though it’s fun to imagine things being better. Organizational change tends to happen very slowly; changing yourself is relatively quick and doing so will affect the entire group.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Which way should I interpret your TauBit of Wisdom, Steve?  My first take more easily fit this passion project, especially as I write up my natural experiment’s report.  But now rereading it — probably influenced by Zahnny — I might reclassify it from practical, project and task orientation to how I went about my role as an external consultant and an intrapreneur in those declining organizations.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Because you want to make your work the best it can be, you’re willing to entertain new ideas. You’ll banter, twist and play around with your resources. Changes and add-ons will take it to the next level.” Aries

WTF G&G?  How lucky am I?  All three of today’s Holiday Tau, yours included, describe what was foremost in how I approached my professional career and peeled away the onion layers to find the simplest answer to complicated challenges. Thanks, Steves.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “Complex problems may not require complex solutions. However, finding the solution that works may be a long and winding journey that seems complicated indeed! Regardless, stay in it for the long haul and the satisfying end.” Virgo

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 8003 to 8068 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge” by E.O. Wilson, an entomologist who studied colonies of ants for their insights.  But didn’t stop there, according to The Wall Street Journal, “A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them.”
    • “True Believers,” the novel by Kurt Andersen (which seems to precede Fantasyland)? I like how he goes back and forth from now to the ‘60s in which the main character is writing a memoir, but needs “Okays” from her friends who had been hiding a secret for 40+ years that could ruin their careers?  Like, what’s my equivalent?
    • “Disappearing Through the Skylight” by O.B. Hardison, Jr. which proceeded “Consilience” by a decade.  Hardison’s been described as a polymathic renaissance man who wrote, “… Nature has slipped, perhaps finally beyond our field of vision.”  What does it mean for “… science, history, art and architecture, music, language, ultimately, for humanity”? This one provides missing chunks of understanding where we came from and where we’re going.
    • I enjoy any of the Harry Bosch detective books in the series authored by Michael Connelly.  “A Darkness More Than Night,” described “A strange constricting feeling filled his gut. He didn’t believe in coincidences… (It) was a coincidence that even a believer in coincidence would have a difficult time accepting.”So much for detectives, tying up loose ends, relying on their hunches and reordering data, information and witness first hand accounts. 
    • Or, in “Black Box,” Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch adventure he writes, “But Bosch stayed positive.  He’d gotten lucky with Pistol Pete and the serial number.  There was no reason to think it wouldn’t hold.”  Of course, Harry had a run in with his newer Lieutenant a page or two later … “So much for his luck holding… he felt that more than his luck suddenly ebbing away.  His momentum and positive attitude were eroding. It suddenly felt like it was getting dark out.”

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S3 E35 — This Ain’t No Zemblanity

What about luck? An “architecture of serendipity” provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life so crucial to you, because it expands your horizons.  And, when you boiled away all the jargon, this was at the heart of my new knowledge creation and innovation services.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The first idea that comes to you may indeed be the best one, but come up with more anyway, if only for the accompanying thrill of heading into unexplored directions.” Aries

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 35 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 25th day of April in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E34 — Why You’re Susceptible to Subliminal Suggestions Like …; S3 E33 — Do Meaningful Coincidences Really Exist?; S3 E32 — But, Why Should You Care?

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E35 — Was this Pandemic Year a 1-Off or New Way of Life?; S2 E34 — Why Is This Kicking Off the 4th Industrial Revolution?; S2 E33 — What Happens When Your Business Collapses?; S2 E32 — Trapped and Bored? Or Unleashing a Reinvention Wave?

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E35 — Day 35 of My 1-Year Experiment ; S1 E34 — Day 34 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E33 — Day 33 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E32 — Day 32 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

In the Report’s Conclusion Section of The One-Year Natural Experiment we’ve covered meaningful coincidences and synchronicity, now it’s about their second cousin,  serendipity or happy accidents as in unplanned, but fortunate discoveries.

What about luck? Let’s skip “zemblanity” coined by William Boyd — you know, “If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.”

In my career workshops I emphasized the path to higher paying and more enjoyable positions was paved with preparation — identifying what you did well, was valued by decision-makers facing challenges you could capitalize,  who commanded the budget needed to engage your services and in which types of or phase of growth would value your skills and abilities the most.  

That’s the preparation part of organizing you luck.  

Over the years I was able to predict with almost with 90% accuracy when a person would luck into the job of their dreams if they interviewed almost anyone informally, described which challenges a client or employer faced (that you met before), asked for three referrals to other people and broadcast to your audience in a similar matter. 

And, then out of the blue one of your connections hosts you and your future client or boss at a lunch, you loosely propose what you do and one thing leads to another and boom you’ve been hired.

In my other career, advising innovation teams and product development teams I introduced a variety of tools to increase serendipity into decision making, problem solving and creative endeavors.

Innovations made by chance have gained purchase throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. 

Most everyday products had serendipitous roots (Post-Its, Silly Putty, microwave, velcro, popsicle and even penicillin) with many early ones related to animals or imitations of nature.

Serendipity has potential application in the design of social media, information searches, and web browsing.

In some Paradoxy-Moron organizations serendipity factors into potential design principles for online activities capturing a wide array of information and viewpoints, rather than just re-enforcing a researcher’s opinion.

 An “architecture of serendipity” provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life so crucial to you, because it expands your horizons.  And, when you boiled away all the jargon, this was at the heart of my new knowledge creation and innovation services.

Now in this passion project of living life like an art form in a natural experiment, each day’s Holiday Tau triggered lucky new insights and fresher perspectives.

Evidence

While Zahnny, the Fonz, Emma the Baroness and I inherited a sucky Holiday Tau today, the outlook for next week had our names all over it.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Wait, what a coincidence, throw in a smidge of serendipity and we’ll be on to something, Steve

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The first idea that comes to you may indeed be the best one, but come up with more anyway, if only for the accompanying thrill of heading into unexplored directions.” Aries 

Hi Howey, I’m already a believer in your Holiday Tau.  It’s already 2:46 p.m. and I’m still banging away on this document.  Did somebody say squirrel?  Time break this composition off and step outside!

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “The most productive day involves stints of concentrated effort followed by breaks in the fresh air. To skip the breaks makes the journey much less enjoyable, and longer, too.” Cancer

As an introvert, I’m already tuned into my supply of emotional energy almost like a battery knowing when I need some time to myself to plug back in to the source.

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “While emotional energy, like love, may be invisible, to your eye, it animates the physical world quite obviously. You will easily tell how people are feeling, especially when they are trying to hide those feelings.” Leo

So, let’s piggy-back on the Holiday Tau of the inventor and his two comedian partners in Tau.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “Daydreaming is anything but a waste of time, though don’t expect concrete ideas to come from it now. Today’s flights of fancy open up the borders for later breakthroughs.” Virgo

Will somebody throw a little serendipity my way?  I’m well overdue.

“4”  Steve Nash, 45: “You’ve a quirky style and a worldview that could be described as ‘singular.’ You’re unintentionally entertaining, and this works in your favor. Once disarmed, people are so amenable to your suggestions!”Aquarius

Normally, Steve I love your TauBits of Wisdom, but not so much today.

“3”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You don’t fear the influence of others. You know who you are. It is because your rules for yourself are so firm that you can afford to have an open mind.” Pisces

Holiday Forecast for the Week Ahead: 

“This…will not disappoint by ramping up the tension. Besides the domain of life, death and transformation, seduction, with a penchant for using shadows and fog to enhance the allure of our fascinations. Some will be drawn to build temptations, and others will be called to fall prey to them. An early theme of this transit is: what a little power can do. It changes people. Some would say it corrupts them. … will recall to us the times we’ve used and abused power, and the times we were victimized by forces more powerful than us. The lessons of these happenings aren’t learned all at once. They soak in over time. Just when we think we’ve gotten all we can from a past lesson, … will show us a new level of meaning we hadn’t been aware of before.”

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 8003 to 8068 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge” by E.O. Wilson, an entomologist who studied colonies of ants for their insights.  But didn’t stop there, according to The Wall Street Journal, “A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them.”
    • “True Believers,” the novel by Kurt Andersen (which seems to precede Fantasyland)? I like how he goes back and forth from now to the ‘60s in which the main character is writing a memoir, but needs “Okays” from her friends who had been hiding a secret for 40+ years that could ruin their careers?  Like, what’s my equivalent
    • “Disappearing Through the Skylight” by O.B. Hardison, Jr. which proceeded “Consilience” by a decade.  Hardison’s been described as a polymathic renaissance man who wrote, “… Nature has slipped, perhaps finally beyond our field of vision.”  What does it mean for “… science, history, art and architecture, music, language, ultimately, for humanity”? This one provides missing chunks of understanding where we came from and where we’re going.
    • I enjoy any of the Harry Bosch detective books in the series authored by Michael Connelly.  “A Darkness More Than Night,” described “A strange constricting feeling filled his gut. He didn’t believe in coincidences… (It) was a coincidence that even a believer in coincidence would have a difficult time accepting.”So much for detectives, tying up loose ends, relying on their hunches and reordering data, information and witness first hand accounts.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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