James Drogan

My PDA  clicked on this morning to reveal nothing on the schedule.  I was struck by the seeming rarity of this, nothing scheduled.

I will, of course do things today (e-mail, blogging, checking in on my students), but to have nothing scheduled...

Maybe I need more days like this to reflect and recharge. 

I regularly graze a number of blogs, one of which is by Bob Sutton, Professor of Management Science and Engineering in the Stanford Engineering School.

I noticed for the first time today that on the left side of his blog he has "15 Things I Believe."  I commend this list to your attention.

This is from an exchange with a student.

The student wrote:

"I was reading one of your lectures from an earlier module. Scott and Beckner playe into this project as you wrote in your summary.

I plan to keep their insights in mind while adding my own effort.

Any advice to avoid in thinking under their concepts?"

I replied:

Interesting, most interesting question.

I'm not so sure that the objective is to avoid group think or to become a contrarian, but rather to satisfy oneself that the thinking of others, and of ourselves, proceeds from a base of facts and uses a rational approach at arriving at conclusions and recommendations.

The rational approach I have offered is fact-based hypothesis-driven thinking (see A Note on Fact-Based Hypothesis-Driven Thinking).  This is a widely accepted framework for critical thinking that has been in my kit-bag forever.  Complementing this are the concepts of systems thinking.  I've offered examples of this in the series of lecture notes accompanying this course.

I keep in mind some short, pithy phrases as reminders against arbitrarily falling into group think without individually thinking.

1. "You cannot solve a problem with the same type of thinking that is creating it."  Albert Einstein
   
   
2. "If stated reasons don't sit well with your conscience or stand the test of logic, look for deeper motivations."  Docent Glax OthnSee Herbert, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson. Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. 1st Edition ed: Tor Books, 2002, 0-765-30157-1
   
   
3. Drogan's Fifth Law: If you continue to think what you have always thought you will get less and less of what you always got.  See Drogan's Laws for more.

Reading widely and having a personal network crossing disciplines and subjects is, in my view, very useful.  I've often gotten ideas for solving problems in one discipline from another discipline.  My range of interests is fairly captured in Research Interests.  Curiosity may kill the cat, but not necessarily.

Communications skills are critical to acquisition and dissemination of ideas.  One could be proficient in all I have said above and fail to survive, thrive, and make a difference because of poor communications skills.

Let me close this with the following diagram.

Without integrity much of everything else about a person is lost.  Without imagination we can't really progress.

Oops, one more final point.

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."  Isaac Newton

One builds upon the work of others.  The work of Gould and Beckner needs to be examined with some care and not be summarily discarded because of either their affiliation, the length of their work, or  because we don't believe we can learn from them.  I believe you can learn something from everyone and every situation.

For several years I have used the following diagram to represent the essentials of the mind of the consultant.

This morning, courtesy of Ziff Davis CIO Insight Update, comes this reference to the book Minds for Modern Times by Harvard Professor Howard Gardner.  What struck me about the abstract is Gardner's Five Minds:

1. Disciplined
2. Synthesizing
3. Creating
4. Respectful
5. Ethical

It seems to me there is some alignment between the views that Gardner and I hold.  I take some satisfaction with what I consider a degree of confirmation of my thinking.

I expect to read Gardner's book, but also suggest that, even without the benefit of Gardner's complete words, it's useful to think about his Five Minds.  In what ways are the concepts relevant to the way we lead our lives?  What specific actions are we taking to develop our capabilities and capacities in these areas?