Sacrifice!

Night had fallen. 

Black trees were shaking within a biting wind. A surprising fire was flickering from 6 geometrically arranged torches as I walked along the avenue from the car. In the dim light I made out a feint light signalling the open doorway - a sign swinging noisily above the doorway. The ceremony was about to begin. A gaggle of young, uniformed, uncomfortable and inexperienced girls, virgins clearly - whispering nervously to each other, but loud enough that it didn't matter – their master stared at them from a diabolical distance.

"I'm so sorry, We are sorry. We don't know how it happened." Then they really know there is going to be trouble, they look up and down at me nervously. They become more agitated and talk with each other. "Move it,  no put that in there, no do it manually, move it, move it. Shove it there. Oh. No there. No there. Ooh!"

What is it with hotel reservation systems?

This took 8 minutes. 

They hadn't got my name for my 3 night stay. Well they had - but their system wouldn’t let it get applied.

Not quite so funny when you have not properly slept, when this is the fourth consecutive time you've had it happen - and when to cap it all  - you've just flown twice around the world - and worse - recently circled the bruised skies of Heathrow 8 times – musing on our shrinking planet and our shrivelled lives.

Damn the software but double damn the fucking idiots who leave it in place. What are they thinking? Actually I don't care.  

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That Magic Flip-Chart Moment!

Picture the scene. That moment when some senior dude in a meeting takes the stage, grabs the pen and the flip–chart. Everyone holds their breath.

He draws (often very badly) what looks like a drugged hedgehog - with a rocket for a head - and big flippers for feet. Usually this moment is celebrated with some bizarre theatre and comedic stage craft. There's a nearly dry 'apricot white' colored permanent marker - applied staccato - to the top right hand corner of a wobbling flip chart/Zimmer frame thing - straight from the 80's.

There is a rapid fire narration with awkward gymnastic 'over the shoulder' glances at the audience. 

With each noisy scratch of urgency he addresses the group. He describes the mess the company is in, how it all used to be when he started 40 years ago, the political uncertainty over recent changes in the leadership. It's a torrent of emotion. He goes on to describe the powerful new products they have launched, the market that they keep missing, the enterprise culture, the fragmented systems, the new HR Director, his kids, the competitive context, the next 20 years of immense IP they must create and the strategy that will screw the competition well into the future – for as long as we all shall live. Amen.

By the time he has finished everyone is on their feet ecstatic, applauding – filled with rapture. "We need a copy of that!" They scream.

This diabolical inky scrawl becomes the stuff of legend. The guy has never had an art class in his life, he totalled in the region of 17 'no-way' straight lines and a couple of arcs - he cannot spell chiaroscuro - but everyone in the room falls into the magic of his story, the passion of his articulation and forever after the business uses this ACTUAL representation to explain the vision, the mission and the strategy. 

And it works. 

What was going on here? The idea of passionate translation with a visual. Capturing the sentiment and embodying it into something highly symbolic. The connecting of multiple ideas forcing a new iconic representation from the embers of something ordinary. 

The smallest mark of the pen has astonishing power. 

In a meeting the use of the pen and a simple drawing has a powerful effect. It is often not the amount of ink or necessarily its craft but more its sheer impudence. It cracks through the debate. Accompanied by vital words as it is born. Now committed with force to the wall somehow attracting all the energy in the room.

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Sharing Sharing! One Two!

I really like Posterous and if this works I will really like Crocdoc!

http://crocodoc.com/y5Qshn

This is frankly a test to see what and how this works but if it does then it will be most useful and more entertaining for users! Let me know what you think.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Sharing Sharing! One Two!

I really like Posterous and if this works I will really like Crocdoc!

http://crocodoc.com/y5Qshn

This is frankly a test to see what and how this works but if it does then it will be most useful and more entertaining for users! Let me know what you think. John

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Making Election Rigging History!

Transformation is tough in any language but with ingenuity and passion anything can be overcome. This last week in Nigeria was the culmination of many peoples dreams. But in fact was just another step on a critical journey. It was inspiring and a great privilege to be even just a small part of it.

A team of over 120 people assembled to make 'rigging' history. To that end they built a 'Nigerian Electoral System V 2.0 Blueprint'! They intended to make this turning point the tipping point - effectively 'by–passing' the breaking point.

Imagine!

A 70 foot wall of complexity awaits. We (Group Partners) had read, analysed reflected and synthesised over 4 years of frustration, countless reports - looked into the global context. We had come to understand the ongoing challenges and the daily barriers - the technological and infrastructural realities.

The unspoken thought in everyone's mind, as we went through the day, was just how do we keep all of this going! How do people, wholly representative of an entire nation, bring about a fair and just society. It was interesting to note the similarity of that thought, ever present in all of us, before embarking on anything – how do I keep it all going!

The incredible 'system of thinking' that the team built is one thing. Tackling the underlying causes and making them end is something else entirely. We cannot underestimate the importance of the intervention but we can't overestimate the criticality of sustaining what it means. 

Download: https://wss.grouppartners.net/QuickLink/f24a5c3824d739bc7

Many themes emerged. Many ideas for what to do next. Much debate about what to 'Stay doing', what to 'Start doing differently' and what must 'Stop'. The big questions were therefore – "What must we do?" and "How do we do it?"

Among the big thoughts were a few that are massively interlinked. 

As in all 'living systems' these are highly implicated and multiply causal. Everything we heard was either a stated issue or a clue to a solution. Phrasing what we heard either way is readily appreciable as you look at the detail in the framework.

1. Clarity of each standing party and the issues they are fighting for.
2. Anything less than transparency is wholly unacceptable and punishable by law.
3. Social Media must become a platform for the collective conscience.
4. Recognition that this is every Nigerians responsibility and that now is the time to stand up and be counted.
5. Making Politics and The Security & Administration systems different things and separated in EVERY sense.
6. Redefining all of this and what now lives in the Nigerian Electoral System V 2.0 Blueprint part of the constitution. NES V 2.0
   

Sustaining change means owning each part as much as the whole. As you look at the system of anything it becomes massively detailed. This is at the root of why change is so tough. This means everbody has to deeply understand the role of their 'bit' in achieving the big picture. Not easy at distance and therefore communication and camerarderie become big dimensions. The individuals task must not be allowed to feel lonely or any less important. Passion for the simplest thing is as vital as the most complex.

More from the session:

See the full gallery on Posterous

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To Trinity & Beyond!

"Can I get access to the wifi please?" - (It was as if I had disturbed her in the shower)

A very stern lady, behind the desk, asked me how I had got into the airport lounge. I said - "via the elevator?" - from whose doors (directly in front of her) I had emerged.

"Are you a Club member!!!!" - she barked at me – the way she narrowed her eyes at that point made me think that the wrong answer to this question would mean me being disciplined by strap.

So you can fly around the US on a UK Drivers License - yet American Airlines ask you at least four times to present a simple ticket they create – represent it often to the same person. These same people, now elevated in importance by their next role, increasingly scan you like an Alien from District 9.

The lounge, I find out, won't give you free wifi unless you have a gold/club card which means you have to fish about a fifth time. Even if you are flying Premium yet domestically - no lounge. Needless to say my view of humans dropped back to normal. She backs down from any flesh tearing as I wield a fist full of Airline cards - fit to make Ed Scissorhands very proud.

Is it so hard for people to think as they work? I understand systems - really I do - but is this whole crappy process ever going to get a makeover fit for the century in which we now exist? Dumb, rude ignorant robots.

Oh and they have run out of food in my cabin...!!!

Where is Francis Bacon when you need him! 

"Uncritical acceptance based on the word or position of authority is a barrier to sound reasoning."

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The 4 Idols Of Truth!

Way back in the day Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) came up with 4 'idols' of truth to explain whether or not one was critically thinking. He felt strongly that by recognizing them one would avoid the mistakes they might lead you to in the act of thinking.

His main premise being that in order to really know an idea one had to know its opposite just as well. He also felt strongly that we need to question all assumptions from both a personal and a cultural perspective. So think about that as you ponder the 4 idols.

The Idol of the Tribe.

Fallacious thinking is often as a direct result of believing that one's senses and thinking are correct to the extent of ignoring evidence when that evidence does not conform to one's pre-conceived notions of reality or idea.

The Idol of the Cave.

In addition to an over-reliance on one's own physical senses we humans also act selfishly and don't consider the rest of the 'society'. Bacon said - "Everyone has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolours the light of nature."

The Idol of the Marketplace.

This represents the mis-use of language, representing Bacon's concern that unclear language is one of the primary causes of unclear thinking, reciprocally, to use language clearly will help one think clearly. "Because words govern reason [and] reason governs words."

The Idol of the Theatre.

The situation where one's mind is guided by accepted and often irrational (or blindly) accepted traditions. To 'uncritically' accept the authority and validity of an established tradition is to accept its errors and shortcomings. "Uncritical acceptance based on the word or position of authority is a barrier to sound reasoning."

Hat tip to Enoch Hale.

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Do you know the way to San Jose?

An Epistemic Journey through the Rio Grande and White Sands. Captain Williams suggested that there would be no cloud between Dallas and San Jose and he was right. He also suggested it was a great day to pick to fly. He was right.

In fact there was pretty much no more - cities, green stuff, water, pylons, humanity or anything else - just desert and mountain - oh and White Sands missile testing base. Which was a large area of white - what looked like sand. Hmm. Thing is - this is where the first Atomic Bomb was detonated on July 16th 1945.

I would love to know where I am at all times when flying. I want to know what I'm looking at. What is that mountain, river, mushroom cloud, highway or open cast mine thing. Whose is that swimming pool and 18 car garage.

I would like Google Earth fitted to my plane. (Not 'my' plane)

Maps are key to everything and especially strategy. So says Sarah Kaplan too - "Cartography - the drawing of maps is key to strategy. It's about dividing stuff up - establishing territories, deciding what's in and what's out." The creation of strategic frameworks - in my world at least - is precisely that and at the same time a very discursive practice.

Our world is all about collaborative endeavour. From 36,000 feet it's truly incredible to see roads and tracks winding or stretching between distant mountains and nearby villages. Over rivers, gorges and vast plains. Who worked that out. Why. Why not! Discursive practice if ever there was - but written on the planet for us all to see.

Getting to stand back far enough to see the pattern though requires Captain Williams. Nice day for flying sir and thank you. Oh and coming into land – that's me.

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Rational? Imagination? - Err...!

"Just as rational thought depends on the imagination of alternatives, so, too, imaginative thought depends upon rational principles." - Ruth Byrne

I'm prepared to state categorically that by developing a frame, a structure that will restrict the mind of those instructed to think rationally, then we humans will begin to think far more imaginatively in an attempt to break out of the imposed boundaries.

Bizarre and daft then that the idea that logic and creativity are opposites - even each others nemesis - have so long been held to be true.

Ruth argues, and I agree completely, that imaginative thought is not as chaotic, unpredictable or impenetrable to scientific study as people think, but is instead underpinned by a set of principles that guide the possibilities that people think about and which are similar to the principles that underlie rational thought.

I just need to get this idea across to the air transport industry. Our education establishment. The banking sector. Politicians. The media industry. I'm just saying…

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7 steps to thinking like a genius!

Thinking like Leonardo Da Vinci.

While these are interesting lists, hard to argue - they can somewhat do my head in. Stephen Watt teaches leaders at Nike, Microsoft and IBM using the following 7 principles - I've just discovered. Stephen studied the great man and his notebooks and came up with the following list of things.

1. Never ending curiosity.
2. Become an original thinker.
3. Sharpen the senses.
4. Thrive in the face of ambiguity.
5. Think using the whole brain.
6. Balance body and mind.
7. Be a systems thinker.

OK! Well that’s alright then. 

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Pay Attention To Signs

"The end of civilization will be that it will eventually die of civilization." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

We need to 'break frame' - that's an instruction - like break step. 

For humanity to survive in the long-run I believe we have to cause a global mental fracture of such significance that it's apocalyptic. We must transform the long held paradigms that ensures the madness of the systems in which we now live. Whether by big bang or by stealth - I haven't decided. This way we might stop humanity in its headlong denial. A denial in the name of civilization. A world where we operate on our own and within which each of us continues to overlook the many better possibilities. Damned by our new conditioning for the blandness and ridiculousness of our society. 

We need a whole new framework for living and for that to happen we have to break frame. 

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Thinking Critically!

"Critical Thinking entails the integration of three dimensions: being idealistic (capable of imagining a better world); realistic (seeing things as they are); and pragmatic (adopting effective measures for moving toward our ideals." - Linda Elder Head of The Foundation for Critical Thinking

Most people think they are thinking critically the fact is we aren't.

We always tend to think the other just needs to change their minds to think like them. In reality this is the viciousness of all circles. Most people are not capable of pausing and imagining the semantics or contexts of the other perspectives either at all or long enough. Structured Visual Thinking™ enables us to ask people to question everything.

Applying a Design Mindset in Structured Visual Thinking™

Being a Structured Visual Thinker: Design as a 'mindset' means having a particular approach – an attitude to how to approach the Exam Question and the needs of those before you.

1. Openness. So that you are impartial and an empty vessel when it comes to 'listening' to the answers to your questions.
2. Empathy. Being on the same page and caring sufficiently about the frustration and ambition of this with a different context to yours.
3. Intrinsic motivation. Wanting the outcome to be as good as you can possibly make it for everyone involved in the session and beyond.
4. Mindfulness. Awake and alert to everything that’s emerging – wherever it may come from. Every thought and idea is valid – recognise it.
5. Adjustment. Changing as new thoughts and ideas emerge. Adopting and adapting to the input as it arrives and changes the preceding 'frame' or circumstance.
6. Optimism. Knowing and appearing that there is a far better outcome beyond the barriers that will inevitably be put in the way. It may seem tough at times but the framework will liberate breakthrough at some point and I some way.

These competencies - if recognised, owned and applied are the key steps to being ready to design.

Doing Structured Visual Thinking™: Bringing Structured Visual Thinking™ method to the madness. The need for the tactical agility to deliver.

1. Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration. Co-creation and collaboration means working well with teams and individuals recognising that alignment and consensus are not always possible or desired.
2. Understanding and Need-Finding. Getting very forensic with root cause and drilling for the truth. Detection and then articulation of the issues that are driving the conditions.
3. Iterative developing and experimentation. Working each module at different depths and through the sequences as we build context and logic against the Business Equation™  
4. Systems mapping and thinking. Understanding the line of sight, dependencies and implications as each sequence unfolds
5. Story-telling. Working the framework as a story is vital. Knowing the Business Equation™  means to be able to tell the story – recognising that different audiences are interested in differing things.
6. Co-creation. Ideation and creativity within the context of each module within the frameworks.

Thinking Thinking: Developing the well-rounded capacity for convergent and divergent thinking.

1. Emotional Intelligence. The capacity to think and process – conscious - reasoning and discernment.
2. Systems Thinking. The art and science of recognizing the vital patterns emerging or inherent in all situations.
3. Visualization. Thinking visually and being creative is central to the method. Mastering the art of symbolisim and the language of the configurable assets is the essence here.
4. Abductive Reasoning. Discernment, surafcing the logical outcomes of sequenced questioning – the vital art of those practicing Structured Visual Thinking™
5. Synthesis. Distilling and precising all the context, insight and data is to master the art of quality thinking – emerging with the correct answer given the Exam Question.
6. Intuition. Knowing, from experience and appropriate learning, what is the right way. Being present and instinctive around all the above.

Structured Visual Thinking™ calls for convergent and divergent thinking together with adaptive doing, enabling a constant toggling between a variety of ways of thinking and doing. This agility is the raw material required for innovation and for mastering the application of the method.

"Creativity requires a 'perfect storm' of high choice, high prior experience and explicit instructions to be creative." - Sheena Iyengar

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Thinking like a Structured Visual Thinker!

Thinking like a Structured Visual Thinker! 

"The ill-structured, 'wicked' problems we face today require three particular mental skills which, when combined, can lead to insight." - Jordan Peterson 

These three skills are crucial to understand if we are to create a Structured Visual Thinking™ level of outcome. This means we must understand and combine the power of structured and logical thinking together with creativity delivering a free-flowing and valued experience. Let's avoid solving the wrong problem really well. This means overcoming the insight problem.

Not all insights are good, indeed the immediate jumping to an insight is high risk and an even bigger problem is that with many people once they have birthed it they will die to keep it alive. The term insight typically indicates the moment when a new, more effective formulation suddenly appears in one's mind enabling one to view the situation in a new light.

The Three Skills

1. Convergent Thinking: Analytic in nature moving linearly and logically toward a single solution. This includes the ability to give the correct answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in standardised tests for intelligence.
2. Divergent Thinking: Non-linear and moves associatively through a web of related ideas or images in search of patterns.Such thinking occurs in a spontaneous, free flowing manner whereby many ideas are generated in a random unorganised fashion, many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected conclusions are drawn.
3. The Ability To Break The Frame: Leaps of imagination – not jumps to conclusion. Overcoming the 'functional fixedness' or 'context induced' set. This is what we refer to as impartiality but is in fact a deeply seated human condition which began when we were infants. Someone with a fixed view and even an insight can be very hard to change. Sadly the immediate insight is often wrong. 

The best example we have found to illustrate this point relates to the following. Picture this case of insightful thinking and deduction. Try it yourself. 

"An unemployed woman who did not have her driving license with her failed to stop at a railroad crossing, then ignored a one-way traffic sign and travelled three blocks in the wrong direction down the one way street. All this was observed by a nearby police officer, who was on duty, yet made no effort to arrest the woman. Why?"

Read on the answer is below.

Defining the indefinable.

Thinking and reasoning whilst processing against specific structures is hard. What is going on is also extremely difficult to define. We have made it into a codifiable act through the frameworks of Structured Visual Thinking™. We have done this over many years and it has become natural. We know that the three skills are vital to the 'thinking' act and central to problem solving and decisioning in the human mind.

What we don't know is how easily we can describe what this means physiologically nor how readily people can grasp all of the components in order for this to become second nature.

We apply our minds to an avalanche of data and the noise of implied knowledge that comes at us from all over by testing this material against proven architectures that we have designed over our lifetimes. These structures enable us to capture, sort and rank in rapid ways against deliberate measures. 

We then begin analysing against this more targeted data and against our desired outcomes. We do this by applying the Business Equation™  By the use of co-creative techniques we can then mitigate risk, force review then provoke the stimulation or revision/acceptance of better 
thinking. This removes the classic barriers of semantics, politics and ritualised paradigms.

Data arriving from external sources can feel very alien. 

It’s often unstructured, out of any context, arbitrary and silo based. It doesn’t always need to feel unloved, it can be our friend and it is often very valid – not to be ignored because it doesn’t fit our view. The point of all this though is that out of context its worthless, it wont be used and it can be used to damn not to fuel a positive outcome. 

The role is deeply exploring its DNA, where did it come from, why, where is it headed and how can we help it get there? I’m just as content when it gets thrown away as when I find its home as bad information is just that. The reality though is that its mostly useful. It simply needs a home or its more valuable in a place it didn’t think it was intended for.

Our frameworks are the measure and tool I use to help inform these decisions.

We are fascinated by insight. It's a creative moment for us when things that were previously unrelated now make sense, when people who were struggling to make sense see the flow or logic of a new piece of the jigsaw. They have overcome several earlier insights to arrive at a far better one. Hugely valuable when mistakes or errors are avoided by a change of thinking created by the frameworks and structures we can create out of the information pouring in. Behavioural change - whilst the toughest nut to crack - can often be instigated by that inspired moment when these clues get exposed in this way.

The observation then the physical identification of patterns – more and more important structures and frameworks in abstract (or ad hoc) conversation (and content) - a new art of the possible. In developing executable outcomes in complex businesses this certainly requires a type of mindset and an approach to thinking that few people have naturally. In Structured Visual Thinking™ it is at least 100 percent of the approach.

Our work is founded on 3 major planks. 

1. Structured Visual Thinking™  - Visualisation and logical reasoning ahead/beyond and in live co-created interventions.
2. Contextual Analysis™ – Involving Pattern recognition of a narrative, collaborative and relective nature.
3. Information Design applied consistently in the preparation of stimulus, in the facilitation of clients and on into the resultant development of all the outcomes.

These foundational elements are how we work, how we think and what we do. We are not using visualisation to over simplify or deflect - we use it to signify logic and meaning and connect purpose with decision. We are not using pattern recognition to dumb down or simplify anything - we are using it to identify risk and opportunity and engage with practical; actionable work. Removing those jumps to conclusion - those first few wrong insights. We are not using Information Design to perform cosmetic surgery on the problem – we are using it to empower and inform the widest possible audience.

The answer to the riddle – She was walking not driving. 

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Strategy On Purpose

A great quote from the manager of the highly successful new plans for the New York Botanical Gardens. A rejuvenation program was underway.

"At the time it was created, the plan was better that the institution. The plan was a view of what we wanted to be. As people came to understand and accept the plan, they came to embrace the Garden that they saw 'through' the plan, rather than the Garden as it actually was, even though not much had actually been accomplished yet."

We need a mixture of strategy as thought and strategy as felt - satisfying the needs of the corporation. This means to have created a valid hypothesis and then to allow the satisfaction of the broad community to emerge through the authenticity that they can bring to it through their own challenging and then ownership.

Strategy On Purpose

Plans that are developed by remote - often robotic analysts - then written up as doctrine and mission statements to be hung around people's necks are proven to fail. Nobody cares about them. The Economist stated recently that only 63% (of their research base) achieved a reasonable amount of the promised returns on their business plans. They went on to say that they were simply not 'felt' to be owned by the people who had to deliver them. Discouraging? Entirely not surprising.

"Aligning word with deed." -Jeanne Lietka

Recently a new phrase has emerged - 'Strategy as Experienced' - strategies that are felt/witnessed and owned by those whose lives they effect. Not rocket science. Felt meaningfully and personally. Compelling and understood by those whose behaviours we demand to change accordingly - to suit the new structures and paradigms.

Let's be sure we enable that experience!!

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Leadership, Sunday & The Super Bowl

The Green Bay Packers & Vince Lombardi

"People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society." - Vince Lombardi

Take a look at any image of Vince Lombardi and you will see a character. With a bit of delving it's not hard to find the story. How did he become such a motivator and leader - and develop such a great command of the perfect quip? Well for me the there are some great clues. Firstly he was born in Brooklyn New York to Italian-born father Enrico "Harry" Lombardi - a butcher – they were a family of butchers. His grand–parents parents had immigrated as teenagers from just east of Salerno in southern Italy. Vince was raised in the Sheepshead Bay area of southern Brooklyn and attended its public schools through the eighth grade.

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." - Vince Lombardi

Wave Two of the education: In 1928, at the age of 15, he entered Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception, a six-year secondary program to become a Catholic priest. After two years, Lombardi decided not to pursue this path and transferred to the St. Francis Prep, where he was a standout on the football team – he also played baseball.

In 1959, at age 45, Vince Lombardi accepted the position of head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi inherited a team which in 1958 had lost all but 2 of its 12 games (a win & a tie) - the worst in Packers history. Lombardi created punishing training regimens and expected absolute dedication and effort from his players. The 1959 Packers were an immediate improvement finishing at 7–5. Rookie head coach Lombardi was named Coach of the Year.

"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit." - Vince Lombardi

Vincent Thomas Lombardi is arguably the greatest football coach of all time, and is on the short list of history’s greatest coaches, regardless of sport. His ability to teach, motivate and inspire players helped turn the Green Bay Packers into the most dominating NFL team in the 1960s.

"If you can accept losing, you can't win." - Vince Lombardi

-------------------------------------------------------------------

More from the Bard Of American Football.

Teamwork

1. “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
2. “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”
3. “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

Commitment

1. “Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”

“Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”

“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”

“I would say that the quality of each man’s life is the full measure of that man’s commitment of excellence and victory – whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you.”

Success/Sacrifice

1. “Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
2. “To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.”
3. “Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.”
4. “Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.”
5. “A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”

Discipline

1. “I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. “
2. “There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.”
3. “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”
4. “The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.”
5. “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
6. “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
7. “Once you have established the goals you want and the price you’re willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure and the temporary failures.”

Will to Win

1. “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel – these are the things that endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events that occasion them.”
2. “There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do.”
3. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”
4. “You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn’t mean a thing. That’s for the fans. You’ve got to win the war with the man in front of you. You’ve got to get your man.”
5. “If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.”

Leadership

1. “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
2. “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
3. “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality --- the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.”
4. “Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.”
5. “Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity – having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.”
6. “A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the community.”

Excellence

1. “….I firmly believe that any man’s finest hours – his greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
2. “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel --- these are the things what will endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves.”
3. “They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them…you show them the reasons.”
4. “After all the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written, and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and after all the pomp and fanfare have faded, the enduring thing that is left is the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”

Mental Toughness

1. “If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.”
2. “Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.”
3. “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it ‘character in action.’”
4. “Mental toughness is essential to success.”

Habit

1. “Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.”
2. “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
3. “Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both.”
4. “If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t belong here.”

Passion

1. “It is and has always been an American zeal to be first in everything we do, and to win…”
2. “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
3. “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.”
4. “To be successful, a man must exert an effective influence upon his brothers and upon his associates, and the degree in which he accomplishes this depends on the personality of the man. The incandescence of which he is capable. The flame of fire that burns inside of him. The magnetism which draws the heart of other men to him.”

Results/Winning

1. “Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization…”
2. “Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.”
3. “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”
4. “Success demands singleness of purpose.”
5. “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”
6. “Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while…you don’t do the right thing once in a while…you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”

Truth

1. “The object is to win fairly, by the rules – but to win.”
2. “Morally, the life of the organization must be of exemplary nature. This is one phase where the organization must not have criticism.”

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Critical Thinkers - Getting To Genius?

In thinking about critical thinking observe and understand the following statements/axioms. Do they make sense? Why are they important to each other? See if the following two quotations resonate as two parts of something very connected.

"Without speculation there is no good and original thinking." - Charles Darwin There are certain identifiable parameters in the general science of the universe. They are known as Genetic Algorithms. "These genetic algorithms 'evolve' solutions to problems that resist linear thinking by generating populations of different solutions and then testing those solutions against 'programmed constraints'." - Lee Smolin

Not understanding something is often to admit defeat. So we don’t like to admit that. We often nod - suggesting that we understand and then at some point later – NAKED! – we are exposed. The two thoughts above will be very apposite if, like me you work to discern fact from context, ideas from dynamic situations and patterns from seeming chaos. It's an evolving process.

"Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. Facts and theories are not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away while scientists debate theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in midair pending the outcome." - Stephen Jay Gould

We often get confused and dazzled by our choices when confronted with any challenge to our ego. Whether to say we don't understand - or we would like more explanation - or we just admit it's going to be a journey of appreciation - a passage.

So it is with our ability to think.

There is something obvious and yet vital to appreciate about how we each think. The evolution of it. To reach a mastery in anything takes time and effort. You can see, touch and read and talk and ponder about stuff all you like. It won't just click. You do it when asked to, told to and when you know you should. It just won't stick. It can be very superficial. The obscurity of it can drag you down. Bits of it will frustrate enormously.

But you just don't really get it fully until you are rightly ready. When that final chunk of awakening to the whole beauty of it dawns. When you are ready and the understanding washes over you - it can take your breath away.

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Literally Symbolic. Part 2

There should not be symbolism versus literality. They should co-exist. A hybrid.

We love the 'ages' thing. 

The Steam Age, The Industrial Age, the Knowledge Age. We evolve as a species like this. We go, albeit consciously, for a new era, because it’s new. We flock like lemmings to an unnatural and extreme positioning. Led by a frenzied media or populist chant. A new and acceptable positioning. "I'm so literal." - "I'm truly symbolic." We focus on the extreme of it for a while before eventually moving off towards the next paradigm. Bored.

Literal? Symbolic? Where do you sit?

The symbolic is a more metaphoric, more representative idea. The literal is about a very clear and non-negotiable definition of something. Much less room for interpretation. The issue with this is plain to see. 

On the case for the literal: Us humans can go a couple of ways – we either get all caught up when someone is literal and become very defensive – or we would accept it and give thanks for the clarity. 

On the case for the symbolic: A purely symbolic position can engender frustration that our translation of someone's symbolism wasn’t in fact what we had expected. Or we might indeed use it deliberately to encourage a different perspective - because we have evoked the creative idea

If we had a somewhat more symbolic or hybrid age would might we develop a more conscious society, more able to accept wider and less definitive/dogmatic literality? If we had a more literal age would we be sure not to have any doubt about everything that was codified as such. I know where I would prefer to live. 

When it comes to thinking and making big decisions for our species we are just the same. 

In the west we manage things in three main ways. Politics, Media and Business. These are the three big systems we typically work within. You could add religion. They condition us to think either more literally when it suits them or more symbolically when it suits them. Think about it. Whatever suits the argument at the time. But crucially we would have to balance both if we were to get anywhere. There are merits to both. Armed with an acceptance of both, more sane and valuable outcomes would be achieved.

Symbolically Literal A perfect paradox?

The capability of symbolism to convey a deeper idea is hugely valuable. The vital importance of true definition and literality when and where required - all in balance - a supremely valuable tool for the 21st Century. Taking things literally is to see a one dimensional view of the thing. To add a symbolic dimension is to immeasurably broaden the story. Increasing the emotional bond and developing an energetic humanity for the thing.

To have a balance between symbolism and the literal is the holy grail. Get it?

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Symbolically Literal. Part 1

I find that flying is a great time to write - appropriately distant - yet just connected enough.

I write all the time - parking ideas, fragments and 'nuggets' in a variety of oddly-named folders. 'Interesting But', 'Yes, Maybe', 'See how you feel', Don't Ever Fly Again', 'Idiot', 'No-One Will Read It Anyway' - you know the kind of thing. Mostly it's stuff that will never see the light of day. Like the following. - 

"In this - the 21st Century - we need the symbolic to take up its rightful place alongside the literal. Why do people so often just fall into one or other category?" 

I probably should have left it in the folder marked 'Doh!' - but the idea continues to pre-occupy me.

What was I thinking?

Well, I know this isn't a new thought - 

"The 'literally' blinding ambition for western civilization (so called) has outlasted its welcome. The single-minded pursuit of money, profit and growth. It has been an economic imperative. Tangible returns at all cost. Greed. Literally. Disgustingly so. Interest shown only in the facts and figures - only what can be counted. Where only the left side of the brain rules. We've lived in the domain of the accountant - worse – the financier for far too long."

Recently the world has woken up a little - needing a change from this condition. It has spoken up a bit. Not enough in many peoples opinion - but we now see at least some shoots of reason. Reasonable folk and on-line activists seeking additional sense, meaning and purpose beyond the literal. 

The banking crisis and the distrust of governments around the world has caused us to question everything. Thankfully. Beyond simple growth at all cost - slaves to shareholder return. These things are now increasingly recognised as a 'by product' of something else, something symbolising trust and belief – profit is an outcome not a strategy.

Literally - no longer good enough.

To know how something works (or is built) is not the whole picture. It may be literally correct but it misses its true meaning by a long shot. It lacks the symbolic virtue or grand design and purpose of itself. The people working in the financial systems lost sight of the vital and symbolic position that they had held. For many in government they also have lost the symbolic reasons that they exist. To see how things operate under the hood is necessary of course - but to appreciate its whole – the value, the importance and quality of it - that is now crucial. 

In business it is proven beyond doubt that a bigger ideal, a clear mission and a shared vision (all symbolic) hold the secrets required to win. Today we are rightly far more concerned about the 'whole' story. The bigger picture and context from which meaning can be taken. To isolate the literal (and value that alone) was convenient for the financiers and governments of the 20th Century. 

In the 21st, to measure just what is tangible – to value only that - has become certain death.

Fact is we humans love to go to the extremes don’t we. 

We oscillate like crazy and we jump on bandwagons. Don’t ask me why, that’s a whole other question. We waver constantly and we do so in extreme cycles and over centuries. If we observe earlier societies, Romans and Greeks, Mayans and Egyptians for example, we would recognize and value a bit more symbolism - they were some of the most creative societies on Earth. 

But we muddle along. 

We are mostly literal – and then – we are uneasily symbolic when it suits – wars mostly. It takes time for any real shifts. It's imperceptible but we can do it. Fashion and all that. However I can't seem to find a time in recent history when we might say we had a conscious balance.

Problem is we just aren't good at riding any two seemingly opposing themes at once – anything where there is a continuum there comes a point when there is a versus. Then we beat each other for being one or the other. We lack the ability to consume and manage both in equal or fair shares. This means we are somewhat binary when it comes to the shadow side of things, the opposing - the seemingly paradox. 

There should not be symbolism versus literality. They should co-exist. A hybrid.

To be continued…

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Observing Or Participating?

Well to me anyway. I'm back in London (temporarily). I just took time out to do nothing and found that I can't do nothing. And I love that.

I've realised that I can't stay still. 

As much as it sounds idyllic, I cannot sit on a rock and meditate. Maybe if someone taught me to get into a trance-like state (suitable for rock sitting) then I would figure how that works. I worked out that in fact I'm very happy with where I am. I loved my rock - and I already live in a trance-like state. I am a very lucky person – I have my roll as well as my rock. 

I'm participating.

Sitting still doesn’t mean doing nothing of course. 

As you would expect it sends your brain on a crazy ride that makes up for one's lack of physical motion. It delights in making the ride very whacky indeed. It is probably a symptom of our 'normal' life that our brain feels it has this deal with our devil - so it winds us up with violent mental electric shockerey. 

Some thoughts emerged from my most recent road-trip. 

They were recurring so I place them here to remind me of their work in progress. Frankly I will never answer them fully. Nor do I particularly care to. They provide a constant source of amusement, curiosity and challenge. They remind me what an utterly useless soul I am. They dare me to answer them. I should even have the temerity to conjur such daft questions shocks me as I see them written down.

"Do I have the ability/strength to change the course of my life?"

"Why is the source of creativity so impossible to put my finger on?"

"Do I really know anything for real? Does it really matter?"

"Actually - why is it that I'm unable to retain my mojo in the face of arcane human laws and systemic stupidity?"

"Why do I like so few people I meet?"

I have my roll.

I found myself asking these things as I sat at total peace and in a wonderful place. I'm very lucky that I have a very small selection of people around me that I love and that love me. I will protect them, their's and my own space above everything. I am fiercely protective and have the following two simple guidelines that ensure my sanity. 

• Total respect and lifetime support for people who return that respect – there's no other transaction involved. 
• Demand distance. I give everyone theirs - just don't ever ask me stuff that suggests you don’t get that.

Finally

Victor Frankl asked one hell of a question.

"Should we look for meaning at all?" 

He goes on.

"I doubt whether a doctor can answer this question in general terms. For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. 

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfilment. Therein he cannot be replaced nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it. 

As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the questions of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he which is asked. 

In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible." 

Frankl may not have given us the answer, but he asked the only question that mattered to him.

He was most definitely participating.

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Leaving the hat at the rock...

Heading back to the other world 24 hours from now.

I just took a walk through the plain towards the mountains to the East. I didn't make it to the mountain. I had a strong feeling that something else was there - it told me to go away. It was a strong sense of something present and that didn't want to have to tell me twice.

It is a part of the area that becomes a dead-end to the South of a massive valley system. You can climb over it but I never made it - or simply chose the wrong paths. I can do that.

I thought I heard a low growl to accompany the instruction but that was almost certainly my imagination - or possibly the wind in the rocks.

Imprinted on my mind will be the tiniest things as I head out of Dodge. The simplest things.

For example. 

There is no real desert (if we are meant to believe that that word suggests a paucity of things).  Only quite the opposite. Being in such a seemingly desolate place inspires the most rich and elevated state of the all the senses. This hasn't surprised me because of all we get told about such things. But to experience it has been one of the most amazing things I've ever done. Ever.

I have been more short on things to do and think about in London.

I didn't come here to see animals or plants or geology. I came to get away from anything predictable or arranged in any way. I didn't come here to find myself or some inner peace. I didn't come with anything but an open mind as to what to find and so it found me.

I don't expect the visual specialness of this place to survive long in my world but the sharp reminders they have given me will surely live on.

Some of the things this place rammed home to me:

• Get some sense of space back inside your head to even allow yourself to look, let alone think.
• Walk around and take those other perspectives much more seriously. Things can begin to look a whole lot closer and further and different. And as a result they will definitely tell you things you never knew.
• Always have a good quality tyre guage handy. Even when drinking coffee.
• Just because you are part of a system, and may even have voted for it, don't feel you can't kick up a good storm.
• Remember that even in surprising places something vibrant and long lasting can grow up and survive. Don't begrudge the occasional Pygmy Falcon.
• Listen to the energy that is all around you. If you hear nothing then you are either dead or you need a hearing aid.
• Leave the hat at the shack by the rock. You will look utterly ridiculous at the airport with 400 others.

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