How about a slight variation of your thoughts, Harrison?: We have spent so many decades "strategizing" (the word seems to have become a "holy cow") that it is time to give greater respect to "muddling through" - a trait that some consider particularly Canadian.
A true ideologue (religious or secular) cannot be true learner. A time may come when future generations will cycle back from an excess of muddling through. Put another way, we may get to "simplicity the other side of complexity", but we are not there today. Masud Sheikh Those who elect to be free in thought and deed must not hanker after the rewards, which the world offers those who put up with its fetters - T.H. Huxley -----Original Message----- From: Harrison Owen [mailto:hho...@comcast.net] Sent: November 4, 2004 8:51 AM Subject: Muddling Through Lucus Wrote: My feeling is that "muddling through" is all that we've got left. We may even become good at it, I hope! Lucus seems to be suggesting that "muddling through" may be our last option. I rather think it is the only option, and always has been. And becoming good "muddlers" should be our first priority. For those of you unacquainted with British-speak "Muddling through" is what happens when all plans fail and still a positive result emerges. It seems to be mysterious, particularly when one assumes that careful planning and detailed execution is the only way to move forward. I am by no means suggesting that planning and good execution is irrelevant, but I think it is incredibly important to fully understand the nature and limitations of both planning and execution. There are those who see planning as an exercise in creating the future -- and therefore execution becomes the implementation of that desired future. Implicit in that understanding is the assumption that we could actually comprehend/understand the myriad forces and variables in our world and therefore come up with an accurate plan leading naturally to effective execution. Nice idea, but fatally flawed. I think the good news of the moment is that the limitations of our capacities are becoming painfully obvious. We do not, will not, nor have we ever had sufficient grasp of the complex and fast moving elements in our world/country/company/organization (what I have called "raplexity") to enable the creation of effective plans which lead naturally to elegant execution. This is a real blow to the old ego (individually and collectively) but, I believe, an essential first step towards dealing with our lives, to say nothing of our sanity. When reality and our perception of reality are wildly out of phase, that is indeed crazy making, and may in fact be the definition of insanity itself. We call that a "break with reality." Plans (at best) are rough approximations of the territory that lies ahead. They are man-made maps, and like all such things -- good as far as they go, but never mistaken for the territory they depict. To think otherwise is to invite disaster -- as is painfully exemplified by the current American adventure in Iraq. On the subject of muddling through -- I do believe we can (and must) become good muddlers. Not as a matter of last resort, but rather as a first priority and possibly the beginning of wisdom. Our own adventures in Open Space may be well characterized as a School for Muddlers. I think we have learned a lot. Thoughts? Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
