Everything Is Connected
.. and not just this series of posts!
WOW - Busy Week. I asked for comments. I got them. Thank you. I am also moving the send date out one day these next two weeks - and another day after that ... just doing some testing!A quick reminder on the first two articles in this series on the future.
This week, a slight pause on my planned flow, to summarize where we got to after last weeks issue. (Skills Or Characteristics - and Values.)
That last one set the comment stream in motion. Bottom line, I think we all agree … with nuance. And that nuance is important. To summarize, there are not two things being conflated (characteristics/traits and skills), but three. The third is ‘values’ and it’s all connected if not completely intertwined.
Stuart provided detailed commentary, but I particularly liked;
”The confusion of personal characteristics and values is akin to corporate confusion of policy and procedure.”
Derek wrote;
”Character may be something you are born with and largely in place by age 5 but surely it is something that is developed and refined in many ways through a thousand experiences in both good and bad directions.”
going on to say;
”I have always subscribed to ‘hire character, teach skills’.”
right in line with Stuart;
”Every hiring manager must understand the complimentary interaction between a potential employee’s skill set and that candidate’s capacity to flourish in the existing company value system.”
Yes, though I do worry about organizations and their ‘annual review processes’ where they seek to understand ‘how and where you fit in the organization and how you compare to your peers’.
During the process, someone inevitably calls out a weakness in the spectrum of your abilities that ‘needs work’. Rarely a mention of how you excel and even rarer how they can help you build on your natural strengths. Instead, they focus on your weakness.
See those little red dots? We need to get those aligned with ‘the norms’, completely forgetting how those little green dots point to something extraordinary.
Finally, I started this mini-series because of my frustration with people that write about the future that;
fail to demonstrate imagination and thought regarding the future. It’s different.
the status quo will just continue, with slightly different jobs. It won’t.
assume the future is years out. It isn’t.
That last one brings me to Daniel’s point;
”Start with being improved now. What skills could we inspect and practice to do that? Respect is one,”
Absolutely. No argument, because
“If not now. When?”
[No Login Needed … we’ve got you covered!]Much more to come in the series, that will be my take on ..
Values/Skills/Character
The Future of Jobs - what I think they might be
The Future of Income - it’s can’t just be jobs
New Idea [1] - a career that services <1% of the job market, could serve 100%
New Idea [2] - a totally different way of looking at the topic
As always my thanks and appreciation for your continued support, comments and attention. Please like the post, share through your social channels of choice and forward the email to colleagues, friends and family that want to join us on this journey and don’t forget to send me your thoughts. Inspired? Why not comment on the post itself.
This just in :
"Hadn't seen the Leary Circumplex or Leary Circle in a while. Made extensive use of it for years at HP while responsible for leadership development survey instruments. It's a very good tool."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_circumplex
Funny - I have used this tool and derivatives so many times over the years - and of course in turn - they have been used on me ... never once did I know that its origins lay with Timothy Leary.
Any discussion of the Interconnectedness of all Things (including People) should include mention of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s writings. From his perspective, which is both aspirational and a category of theological discussion, the concept of a “noosphere” can be imagined as the next phase of human spiritual development. For more information, see https://teilhard.com/2013/08/13/the-noosphere-part-i-teilhard-de-chardins-vision/
Chardin spent much of his Jesuit career seeking expression of the bridge between science and religion, long before second-generation cybernetics provided a technical (networked) metaphor. While I dare not claim a full understanding of Chardin’s theology, I have long admired his hopeful reach for human potential, and the possible role that networks might play in that pursuit.
In this metaphor, we are all “nodes” on the network. The implicit system of values (per our current discussion) is a worthwhile point of reference - what we choose to do, even in the face of uncertainty, is to act in manners that nourish and inspire our connectivity - not just for communication and commerce but for our healthier (howsoever lofty it may seem) future...