Saturday, July 12, 2003

Project Management and Horses. Project Management and Horses. Spotted this gem on Anders site: The tribal wisdoms of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that 'when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount'. However, in many companies as well as in the UN and NGO community a range of far more advanced strategies are often employed, such as: 1. Changing riders 2. Appointing a committee to study the horse ... It just gets better from there. [High Context] It does. [McGee's Musings] And we think that we are so civilized and clever! 6:16:06 PM    comment []

Fathers and Sons It is only fair, if I was writing about Mothers and Daughters, that I should mention Fathers and Sons. There appear to be two areas of angst that I hear about the most. The "Lost father" and the "I'll show him father" . The Lost Father is a set up where the son feels that he never really knew his father. Where he saw his father have fatherly relationships with other young men - especially at work so he is aware that his father has the capacity to be a father but this relationship does not happen between the true son and the true father. The saddest example of this is Col John Boyd (the father of the OODA Lop and Shock and Awe) who was one of the great mentors of the modern era but who ignored his own sons. In the final irony, as he lay dying Boyd called out to his intellectual sons as his natural son sat by his bed in the vain hope that maybe, at the moment of death, his father would acknowledge him. For many of us in this category of sons, I am one, much of our adult life is a quest to find a father substitute. Sometimes these relationships can be nourishing and good - especially in the early years in boyhood or early adulthood. But others, if you keep on seeking into adult life, can be based on trying the same failed tricks to win the attention of the fake father that failed with the real father. If you are lucky, one day you find an older man who tells you that it is time to grow up and look after yourself. Thank you Fraser! The "I'll show him father" - good examples are Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner. Both men had successful fathers whose constant discourse to their sons was that they were no good layabouts. For these men this was the lash of ambition that drives then so hard to "show him" that he was wrong. Like much mania, the it appears that the pinnacle can never be reached and that the need to show him never ends. The sadder side of this set up is the son who believes his father's sentence of failure and acts this out his entire life. Are there fathers whose relationships fit their sons needs? I am sure there are - but good stories are never about comfort 2:29:56 PM    comment []

Creating the Future. A wonderful argument for and against scenarios ...... "The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created -- created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination." - John Schaar [Conversations with Dina] Yes!!!! If control is so important to us, why do so many of us put up with not participating in the co creation of our future. We wait for our partners to change, our bosses to make the call or worse, the government to save us.  The Greeks talk about the idea of "Destiny", the Romans talk about "Fortuna". Neither is predetermined and neither has much to do with our concept of "luck". Maybe the idea of Destiny and Fortuna fits the quote about co creation of the future. It is hard to see our own destiny, but we can often see that our friends and our family make their own future. My sister expects to be cheated by everyone - and so she is. My friend Tim tells himself that he is trapped in both his work and marriage. He first told me about this 8 years ago - he is still trapped. Positively my daughter feels that money and work will always come her way - and they do. My friend James always seems to have fortune smile upon him - work, SOS, Children - is he "lucky"? No he makes his luck happen by the choices, the discipline, and the energy that he puts into his life. Hope and James put a huge effort into their relationships with others. Diana and Tim hold back. I wonder if this is a clue? To co create a positive future seems that to require that you have to pay attention to the others in your life. Put into the other rather only than expect things from the other. 9:39:03 AM    comment []