Current Reality
I "met" my friend Julie Beedon on the Deming Electronic Network and she
introduced me to the LO list a few months ago. I've been receiving the
digest version ever since. It has been almost impossible to participate
in dialogue on both but I'm trying.
I grew up in McKeesport PA and now live in Houston TX. I'm an engineer
and internal consultant for AlliedSignal at the Johnson Space Center.
We provide technical services, operations, and maintenance for NASA's
Mission Control Center, Shuttle Simulator and other crew training
systems. I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and I participated in
NASA's Cooperative Education Program for 5 Semesters. I'm a "certified"
NASA and AlliedSignal TQ workshop and team facilitator and have been
very active in leading change.
As a NASA co-op you're young and excited. (Wow! I actually work for
NASA.) I couldn't understand why the "older" guys weren't anymore.
Then, Dr. Deming showed me why, in a profound way, via satellite in
1992 at his 4-day seminar. I changed my goal of being an astronaut to
something even more challenging as you will see. I've been doing
research and practicing in the field of organizational learning and
improvement ever since! I facilitated the Deming User Group of Houston
for a couple of years and I'm now co-founder of The Greater Houston
Deming Alliance, a study group that now meets at the University of
Houston. We learn and discuss LO concepts in the context of the System
of Profound Knowledge. We even hosted the Senge satellite conference at
UofH last year. I'm now leading a W. Edwards Deming Institute/DEN
project on the DEN where we are reviewing Newt Gingrich's Renewing
American Civilization lecture transcripts and providing apolitical
electronic feedback to the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Great
stuff!
I am, however, more than my position or credentials. I'm 30 years old.
I have a beautiful wife and three children (10, 6, 3mo) whom I love
very much. I've been divorced and we all are now practicing a "One
roof mentality in a two roof situation" philosophy. Systems Thinking
really works in Divorce! (I love the recent quote on the LO "Religion
is for those afraid of Hell, spirituality is for those of us who have
been there." thanks) I'm a Southern Fundamentalist (guilt by
association only.) I've served in Christian church leadership in
children's and single's groups at an evangelical, non-denominational
church, became dissillusioned...and wanted more. The only thing
"fundamental" to me is I'm spiritually one with and belong to God...the
rest is open to dialogue. Transformation is required.
My favorite recent book is David Steindl-Rast's "Gratefulness, the heart
of Prayer." My favorite scripture is Proverbs 2:1-5, "My son, if you
receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your
ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes,
if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear (awe) of the lord and find the
knowledge of God." (Yes, the DEN and LO directly apply to that aim.)
Personal Vision
Proverbs 2:1-5 is my aim, personal vision and methodology. My dream is
to become an international writer, teacher and speaker in business,
government, family, and the church...teaching transformation to an
organizational system that I envision Christ would be a leader of.
(thanks for the LO reference "Politics of Jesus by Yoder...I ordered it)
Deming, Senge, Kohn, Steindl-Rast, etc. are leading the way, whether
they know it or not. Currently, as you already know, my next step is
to find a non-traditional advanced degree related to organizational
learning and Deming's Profound Knowledge. Also, like most aerospace
workings these days, I'm looking for another job. I want to lead
transformation in the private industry, not out of fear, but to
diversify my background.
What am I most interested in learning more about...without limits?
These are a few personal questions that interest me:
1) I'm very interested in the word "metanoia" and exploring the
frontiers of science and spirituality. What is the difference between
the metanoia process I experienced in spiritual conversion and in the
discontinuous transformation I experienced with Dr. Deming. How do they
differ from the continual enlightenment I experience in learning? How
are learning and enlightenment the same and different? Can true
transformation come without spiritual conversion? Thus, my interest in
inquiry systems, mental models, perception, and the psychology of
change. (If anyone thinks there is no "answer" to this...reread
Proverbs 2:1-5.)
2) My favorite metaphor from the Bible is from the "fall" of man in
Genesis... "The Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil" and "The Tree of
Life." I'm exploring the paradigm shift from "the fall of man caused
evil to enter into the world" to "the fall of man as metaphor that tells
us the KNOWLEDGE OF good and evil entered the world." I'm interested in
the link of this metaphor to judgement, rules, rewards, punishment,
merit systems, grades, gold stars, competition, fragmentation,
reactiveness, etc. Could this be the ultimate paradigm
shift...knowledge of good and evil is the only evil that exists? Should
we eat from the Tree of Life instead? How could this belief be codified
into a management system?
3) We have been having alot of fun "double-loop learning" together on
the DEN and challenging the Deming Community's somewhat "closed-system"
paradigm. (Shifting from "Deming said" to "Deming himself isn't just
Deming" He was a profound integrator of many people's ideas, including
Senge). From what I've seen there is very little difference been the
topics on both lists. I'm trying to challenge everyone on the DEN to
better define, communicate and expand the System of Profound Knowledge
(SPK) beyond the limited interpretation it has been trapped in under the
terms quality, SPC, TQM, etc. To me, SPK is an interdependent
"supradisciplinary approach" (to steal Marion Brady's term) to inquiry
that integrates Systems Thinking (Expansionist, Shared Vision),
Reduction of Variation (Quest for Certainty), Psychology and Theory of
Knowledge (Mental Models, Team Learning, Personal Mastery). For me, the
Four Components or the Five Disciplines provide a better way of
organizing my continual learning...a practical way to dance with quest
for certainty and my profound awareness that knowledge is temporal in
space and time (expansionist). The exciting thing is that they have a
built in "outside view" to keep us from becoming a dogmatic, cult-like
group. (unfortunately most of the Deming Community missed the boat on
that point)...but I love them...and expect the same. My favorite saying
is "I'm sure glad Jesus wasn't as hard on us as we are on other people!"
Have any of you asked these same questions? What have you learned?
What have I missed? As I told Julie Beedon, David Steindl-Rast says
"Love is saying Yes to belonging." I hope you say yes!
Have a Great Adventure!
Don Kerr
donald.kerr@alliedsignal.com
(713) 282-3878
--"Kerr, Donald" <Donald.Kerr@alliedsignal.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>