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Conversations about conversations

Posted on Jan 1st, 2006 by Steve : Zen Plumber Steve
Almost by accident I met Ryan and Scott in a cafe in Calgary. I explained I felt like John the Baptist wandering in the wilderness etc. - the frustration with spending valuable oxygen talking about our need (as a species) to embrace our own evolution.

Our conversation lead to conversations, we shared a sense that conversation cafes were one of the places where homo sapiens could begin to benefit from 'collective intelligence' and make the next step forward.

The work of David Issacs and Juanita Brown and their most recent book 'The World Cafe' came up - they seemed to have orginated the 'cafe concept' and have done a great deal to promote the use of dialogue and conversation within the corporate world. I had been researching their work as part of the backgroud toa book I am writing on the topic of resilience and teams.

As I researched the chapter on 'connection' I was simply blown away by the quantity and depth of work that is being done in the area of Collective Intelligence (see the wonderful article on the topic by Craig Hamilton in WIE magazine). Maybe I should get out more!

Anyway I am in the process of trying to weave the topic of resilience with this important trend toward collective awareness.

Would be interested in hearing from anyone who is aware of others working in this area.

This is the first time I have ever 'blogged' and frankly find it very unnerving - like the first time I had to shower in public (don't ask) so excuse me if I have missed the point.


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Tagged with: conversation, connection, resiliency, tough?, self-realtion, meaning-makers

Words are cheap unless you buy them in bulk

Posted on Jan 16th, 2006 by Steve : Zen Plumber Steve
Sleep deprivation has always been a weakness of mine - the CIA wouldn't have far to go to break this boy - just keep him awake a few hours past his bead time and he would be squealing like a pig. Admitting to crimes that haven't been committed yet.

I am trying to piece togehter how I got into writing a book . Is it what happens when you rad too much - by force of nature you have to comply - squeeze a few words out yourself. In this case it feel like fate has trodden on me - innocent little tube of toothpaste - that I am forcing out the contents, probably not a pretty sight.

In reality it was a ,ogical conclusion to everything else I have been doing over the last few years, the 'obligatory book' must be got out of the way. Maybe I will never do this again. I am not sure I am enjoying it enough to want to live long enough for another chance. Which brings us to menaing - as in meaningful participation. Doing something meaningful - am old enough to know that this does not necessarily involve saving damsels (my wife doesn't like it when I mention trying to do that). Or saving the planet from an approaching astroid (dealing quietly with my own hemoroids is challenge enough). It seems to me that life comes and brings all this stuff to us - consciousness - relationships, nice tans - then sneaks back and steal it all back - bit by bit to prolong the suspense - the grim deterioration of mind and body. Which curls us back to meaning.

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My ancestors are making me ill

Posted on Jan 19th, 2006 by Steve : Zen Plumber Steve

I woke up this morning with a drippy nose and a stuffed head. Decided to look into the matter a little more deeply and discovered that I wasn't really 'ill' I just had a few ancestors dropping by to say 'Hi'. They call themselves Mr. & Mrs. Bacillium - I have a picture  of them taking a stroll across a decaying leaf 3.2 billion years ago (I think it was a Sunday).

When questioned what they do for a living they assured me that they were the 'Ultimate entrepreneur'. This is what I found out about them. One of the defining characteristics of this lovely family (yes I forgot to mention they also brought along several billion of their children to visit me) is their remarkable resilience.


Right from the beginning they encouraged their offspring to learn as much as they could about the world - father bacillus constant advice was that the foolish bacillus expects the world to adapt to them - the wise bacilli adapts themselves to the world. This simple principle became the mantra of subsequent generations and served them well. Bacilliciums discovered that by applying this little piece of advice they were able to colonize 95% (check stat) of the world's surfaces. Bacilli found themselves in the fridges and garbage pails of the highest and mightiest on the planet. Rubbing shoulders with presidents, philosophers (Nietzsche was a close friend) and great generals of the planets history.


They began in lowly circumstances - however they opened their very first colony on a dead leaf and never looked back (they technically don't have eyes so to be brutally honest, it would never have occurred to them). They also claim that I am, more or less, a direct decendent - am not sure whether I should be proud or ashamed.


The unnerving thing about this whole encounter is that I get the weiredest feeling they know more about me than I do about them. Excuse me while I blow my nose.


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Tagged with: bacteria, ancestors, ill, adaptation, adapt

What Makes Us So Tough?

Posted on Jan 21st, 2006 by Steve : Zen Plumber Steve
Have you ever watched ants at work? - One of the things that comes to mind when you watch them is they seem to have a strong sense of purpose. They look like they know what they are doing. If something gets in their way they work around it for as long as it takes for them to get back on track. What is it that is motivating them?

Etymologists tell us that ants (and all other insects that live in colonies for that matter) appear to be hard-wired to serve the colony. By doing so they are enabling themselves to survive. They serve the colony - the colony serves them.
Jim Doheney was the CEO of Capital One, the credit card company. It was Jim who coined the phrase ‘You can't teach an anthill to fetch'. The story behind this remark is that although you can't teach an anthill to fetch - an anthill can feed itself and survive in very harsh environments.  In other words the ant and the colony it belongs to is a good example of a resilient system. No single ant knows how it all works - nor does it need to for the thing to work - and the ant serves the anthill, which in turn serves the ant. Great system really. Not unlike how human colonies operate. Except we seem to have more trouble with the ‘serving the colony' thing, especially within organizations.

I would like to propose that  you can teach an anthill to fetch. That on closer examination there seem to be very simple rules that guide the ant's behavior and because everyone follows them the whole thing works - most of the time. If we were to apply this concept to human systems, such as businesses the simple rules could be taught.

I would like to stretch the metaphor one last little bit and say that the rules are skills which every human being already has on-board. However one reason or another we don't express the skills as much as we can.

It is my contention that given the right opportunity people and teams will embrace these skills and as a result become more adaptable and resilient.

Ray Wurzeil, author of ‘The Age of Spiritual Machines' has calculated that the next 100 years will be accompanied by 20,000 years of technological progress compared to to-days rate of change. The acceleration is almost numbing.

It is becoming increasingly clear that if we are to accommodate to these rapid changes in society and business, we shall have to increase our ability to adapt and tap into our own deeper reserves of resilience.

This is why I say ‘you CAN teach and anthill to fetch.'

My blog is an exploration of ‘what makes us so tough?'

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Tagged with: resiliency, anthill, ants, wurzeil

Cowards to Our Rationalizations

Posted on Jan 21st, 2006 by Steve : Zen Plumber Steve
Are we taking our own advice - how is it that we give our children such good advice and can't act on it ourselves? When we were kids - we also received great advice.

What's going on that we can't take our own (some of it great) advice?


Children are told
To give not just to take
If we were all children
You know the world
Will be a better place


Marvin Gaye Lyrics ‘Piece of Clay'


Is it the way it is delivered or does the world get in the road - like the someone said "well I had this life planned and then life happened to me"


We tell our kids to play nice - to share, to stand up for the weak, to respect their elders, well you and I  know roughly what is on that list - do we all do it? - How do we get compromised?  



I think we become ‘cowards to our rationalizations' - we let them bully us - manipulate - and cajole us - that's my theory anyway.


AND let's remember this......


Michael: Don't knock rationalization. Where would we be without it? I don't know anyone who can get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.


Sam: Aw, come on! Nothing's more important than sex.


Michael: Oh yeah? Have you ever gone a week without a rationalization?



Well - I'm off to have a mighty good rationalization! (Third one this morning)
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Tagged with: advice, children, Rationalizations, manipulate, cowards