Bill Hobler asks:
>Our categorical imperatives are to encourage human behavior that ... ?
>
>Can we fill in the rest of the sentence?
You will not be surprised to read me say: "is based on understanding
wholeness." Or, further, "understands that the Golden Rule is not a goal,
but defines the nature of human relationships. For good ill or we do unto
others as we would have them do unto us. By becoming aware of that, we do
a better job of looking out for ourselves because we do a better job of
looking out for others." A little more on the sentences just above.
Think about this: In every interaction, we are creating in the minds of
others a memory of that interaction. They will use that memory to guide
their future interaction with us. Thus, we should always ask the
question, "how do we want to be remembered?" If we have left a pleasant
memory, the likelihood is that we will have reinforced a positive
relationship that will continue to be mutually beneficial in the future.
If we have created an unhappy memory, we will likely have reinforced a
relationship that will be mutually problematic. It's sort of the idea of
self-fulfilling prophecy or, perhaps, karma--two ideas completely
consistent with why it's important to understand that organization as a
system.
Our gift, however, is being self aware, which means that we do not have to
respond negatively to those who create such memories in us. We can change
that relationship. We can give good for ill. We can consciously change
the dynamic. In fact, knowing such ideas as just stated above, we have
the responsibility of doing that. Otherwise we perpetuate a situation
that is good for neither of us. I would contend, also, that at the heart
of learning organization ideas is the necessity of exercising this
responsibility.
John Woods
Author, Speaker, Consultant
jwoods@execpc.com
--jwoods@execpc.com (John Woods)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>