"Edge of chaos:The place where you're taking things in and interpreting
them. It's an edge where you can watch your own thinking to process your own
information to stay vital and alive. It's the place where organizations need
to be at."
I've been thinking about this lately...the boundary between systems (or
identities of systems). That's where the energy is, at the boundary where
information (& energy) flows from "outside" to "inside" (& vice-versa). In
terms of personal mastery, I think of it as where my belief system takes
"observable data" and begins to move up the ladder of inference (shown below
for those who don't know what it is):
/---/ I take ACTIONS based on my beliefs
/---/ I adopt BELIEFS about the world based on my conclusions
/---/ I draw CONCLUSIONS based on my assumptions
/---/ I make ASSUMPTIONS based on the meanings I added
/---/ I add MEANINGS, both cultural and personal
/---/ I select DATA from what I observe
/---/ OBSERVABLE DATA (as a camera might capture it)
In saying that it's the place where organizations need to be at, I believe
she is saying that orgs have to look at their own cultural meanings,
assumptions, conclusions and beliefs about who they are in order to stay
vital and alive.
Here's some more thoughts of Meg's that might tickle someone's fancy:
"We are deeply entrenched in our lives, especially our organizational lives.
We all operate under the assumption that without us, things won't happen. If
we don't push and politic and make things happen, this organization will
fall apart.
The deeper place that's imbedded in, is that without us, nothing will happen
(playing God, or practical atheism). This has been a difficult posture to
maintain.
It's impossible to manage change."
(Good thoughts for those of us who are "change agents"! ;-)
Robert Levi | voice: 303/665-6679, x361
Alexander Dawson School | fax: 303/665-0412
4801 N. 107th St. | email: dawson@usa.net
Lafayette, CO 80026 | Director of Computing