Posted by Luke in Here’s an idea. In a recent conversation on this blog I have noticed that I hold a particular view about the emergence of strategic direction. For example, when I started this blog I had no particular direction in mind and I had no real niche to draw from. However, I noticed that most of the major direction in my life emerges. Yes there have been times when I intentionally set out to do something and it worked, but the direction it was leading me to wasn’t obvious. Take for example my recent doctorate.
I was told early on that you got a doctorate to become an academic. I have since found that I enjoyed the practical application of ideas so much that I am wondering if I will continue as an academic in the next year. That said, this emerged from the terrible experience of doing a Ph.D. so perhaps I am speaking out of exhaustion, terror and the thought of becoming a lifelong nerd. Nevertheless, I learned through the process that I love applying ideas. I love seeing them at work and I love putting them to use. This emerged through the process.
When I started this blog it was more for personal development. But, I have learned that I like speaking more about general ideas and concepts rather than simply specifically personal development. So I followed the path I was leading myself in. In this sense I wonder if in a lot of real world problem solving endeavours and strategic applications we actually find ourselves following what emerges or if we are trying to make things happen. Emergence means following patterns as we notice them. Is this even possible?
There are clearly times when we plan in advance and it helps us. On the other hand there are times when a direction emerges outside of normal planning and following it seems logical. Now I haven’t adapted these or even thought about them before writing this post. Perhaps I need to put these down into a forum or something… who knows. All I really know is sometimes there is a framework that emerges out of a situation and we should follow it… it wasn’t planned and/or thought out. As a matter of fact this requires an intuitive leap.
In reality most of the things we do require this kind of leap and yet I don’t remember once being told by my lecturers that AT LEAST HALF of my life decisions would require an intuitive leap. We are taught about ambiguity, strategy and so on without ever being told that strategy sometimes emerges out of the muck. I remember once I was looking to buy a new dog. I analysed, thought out the plans and considered the alternatives. One day I woke up and thought I am just going to buy the dog. So I packed up the kids and hammered it down to the Animal Welfare League of QLD to get a dog we had picked off a website.
When we got there, the dog we picked wasn’t suitable. He wouldn’t negotiate the children or even come out of his little house to say hello. I was devastated having driven all the way from Brisbane to the Gold Coast to get a dog! I knew however that the timing was right and I knew intuitively that a dog was there for me. We hassled the volunteer in charge of dog dispersion and after a time she brought out an old dog that loved the kids and was 100% suitable. I can’t say what really made me think that the dog was there… God or perhaps advanced precognition? I just knew that I had to take an intuitive leap. I knew it! As I know now with things in my life… it’s time to take another leap to find the answer to my present problems… but that is a whole other post for another day.
I want to leave you today with this thought… don’t try and make things happen sometimes… just sit back and see if you can see where the pattern (hello FRINGE) is leading you. There is something that you need to do and if you think about it, perhaps with some wise counsel, it will become obvious. It is becoming obvious… though it isn’t quite yet. The thing is as patterns emerge and you follow them without much thought … you find out new and interesting realities that you never knew existed! Happy hunting!
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Beautiful thinking!
I think it goes back to what I’ve said before about rationalisation. The logic of the situation emerges more easily AFTER you’ve found the solution. We had a similar experience to yours with our cat. And I’m sure it happens all the time with people finding a home, or a life-partner, as well as better business models. But…it seems to me that you cannot shortcut the process. We can learn to intuit more, to think more laterally, to accept that our “advanced precognition” is worth bearing in mind, since the mind is much more than the little voice in our heads, and all the little things that make a big difference are in there somewhere before we turn our attention to them…but (article of faith) the future isn’t out there unless we care enough to make it happen!
Take care! And have a healthy and prosperous 2009
Thanks Alan same to you for 2009. The more I hear from you the more I realise that you one smart man. I think your thinking about rationalisation is spot on. For me this means two things… 1. that we pay absolutely no attention to intuition in decision making… 2. That “advanced precognition” is probably the way in which most decisions are made… take Soros as example… who is said to have backaches when he makes important financial decisions!
Thanks Alan… hope 2009 brings you a lot of joy.
I agree with you about emergent. We have our mind to strategize, but we know so little for what’s going to happen the best in the future. Between those two, Peter M Senge mentioned about ‘suspending your thoughts’ so you can emerge between what in your mind and what should be the reality – to happen. Our heart has the ability to detect the truth in the real world, much better than the brain which does the calculation. I would suppose to plan the best, but when you start to take action, take it easy for ‘upperhand’ or ‘system’ to adjust you to the best direction. Fighting the wind is not the best strategy when you drive 70-100 mph on the freeway. You have the ability, but you will get tired soon or your car will be blown away. Be flexible – but destination is still there. If tired, have a rest and continue the journey. Too much on our side to plan make us fatigue.
Thanks Fazrul,
This was really helpful. I like that idea of suspending my thoughts… I think you have point because when you are an academic you tend to over analyse sometimes. I will try to continue the journey as best I can.
LUke