In the last couple weeks, many casual meetings have turned into full, philosophical debates evaluating the current and future outlooks of
the org.
Mix's latest post about internal blogging touched off an unexpected explosive reaction in my head. The main point of
the prose is to express the want and need for ground-breaking conversations to be had and shared by all who wish to participate in the innovation and implementation of
the org's goals.
I do not disagree with this sentiment, but upon completing the middle paragraph, my eyes blanked, my head swiveled, my nose wrinkled, and my mind raced forward. One of the underlying stories of the post is the extreme lack of knowledge of the history of
the org and the seemingly growing divide between the current and past member goals.
Current Strategy: Think outside the box (Don't limit your imagination)
-Forget all past experiences*
-Think about the mission REALLY hard
-Answer questions similar to these: "If you lived in an ideal world**, how would
the org look? How would it function?"
-Discuss everyone's ideal world
-Come to a consensus on: a)what this ideal world looks like b) what
the org looks like inside of it
*By forgetting all past experiences and not being allowed to call upon them, it allows all members, new or old to have completely equal footing in the discussion groups.
**The idea of the strategy is to NOT put limits on anything, but the questions always start with a limit, ie the ideal world. Without a limit, there would be no point in asking the question. Therefore, the strategy of not limiting your dreams/imagination contradicts itself.
This is the same reason why thinking outside the box is an act in futility. The idea
behind the phrase, you shouldn't keep thinking and repeating what has already been done, is well thought out and exemplary. But in-order to not repeat... you need to know and discuss what happened previously. You need to know the past to not relive it. You need to call upon your previous experiences in the real world to help you navigate your present and future experiences in the real world.
By most modern interpretations, 'the box' referred to in the phrase seems to relate to limits and parameters or current strategies and philosophies. And somehow there's a perception that the best ideas are those that have no limits or parameters and rebuke all current strategies and/or philosophies. But I have yet to see a history/societal changing invention created in the last 500 years that was created by a person who whose mind did not dwell in this world.
Edison: the lightbulb and the movement of electricity; he wanted to read at night without candles and used existing materials to create
Lilienfeld: the transistor; there was a need for amplification and using existing materials, a computer could then be made
Jobs/Apple: iPod wheel; it was created by first compiling the existing problems with [something]. then using existing materials and technologies to fix these problems. ever heard of radio stations being switch with a wheel, or tv stations, or phone numbers
Great innovations aren't these magical ideas that are carried on the backs' of unicorns to be presented to our imagination in jewel encrusted chests. They're ideas spawned from the desire to solve an existing problem now with the given materials and realities of the present.
Therefore,
the org needs to change its current goal creation strategy to acknowledge the real inconsistencies in member experiences and allow the hierarchy of experience to function.
Labels: iPod, lightbulb, transistor
