Living in More Than One World

Guardian.co.uk continues to produce useful, thought-provoking content in easy-to-digest formats. The latest example I’ve discovered is How to Believe. So far, this series of blogs by expert commentators is mainly centered on philosophy, with some religion. Mark Vernon, a multi-talented author, journalist, teacher, broadcaster and former priest in the Church of England is doing a series of eight blogs on Plato; two so far with the next due tomorrow. His next book, Plato’s Podcasts: The Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living, will be published in the UK in October. He does a nice job of setting Plato in context in the two blogs so far, demonstrating his importance in the middle of the linked chain of philosophers between Socrates and Aristotle. In the August 3rd posting, Plato’s dialogues, part 1: Why Plato?, Vernon writes, “We live in an age of religious pluralism, secular innovation and ideological searching. Reading him encourages us to delve deep and refashion a way of life that can speak truth to our own times.” In the August 10th posting, Plato’s Dialogues, part 2: Who was Plato’s Socrates?, Vernon’s interpretations about how we can make uncertainty and the unknown work for us, as we navigate change in our lives, are inspirational. “It might be said that the genius of Plato’s Socrates,” Vernon writes, “was to embrace ordinary human uncertainty and doubt, and fashion it into a flourishing way of life.” This embrace of and desire to reach beyond the unknown can further our creativity, innovation, love and wisdom. The postings have drawn many passionate comments, showing that Vernon has hit a nerve, no matter what you think of his ideas. Kudos to guardian.co.uk for devoting so much thoughtful and impressive coverage to these important areas of life. And to follow more of Vernon’s work, see his own Philosophy and Life blog.

Planning for the Rest of Your Life, a concise essay in the Chicago Tribune by Jim Sollisch, an executive with a Cleveland-based advertising and public relations agency, provides food for thought as we enter the holiday weekend. He reflects on the question “So what do you want to be when you grow up?” He finds that it is relevant not only for his 23-year old son with a BA in Political Science who is working odd jobs as he determines a career path; and his daughter who is about to begin college; but for himself, at 51. He points out that despite a presumably high-powered job, he tells new college graduates looking for internships that he still struggles with how to define himself. He explains that he got both a BA and MA in English, followed by teaching and writing two novels. That life was traded for work in advertising, while still writing short essays for various publications. He has an intriguing warning for young people: you can get stuck in life not just by financial and family obligations, but by success. You can get so efficient at what you do that you make fewer false starts, which “are the fuel of art. They lead to dead-ends and to cliffs that force you to jump. Which requires you to imagine how to land.” His personal and professional strategy that brought career success keeps him from getting up early to write another novel, in his estimation. His message to all of us, at almost any age, is that exploration and what you do and learn when you get lost are important in life. And asking yourself what you want to do when you grow up is really a lifelong question.

One of the best ways to start your week is to read Bill Taylor’s concise leadership advice on HarvardBusiness.org, The 10 Questions Every Change Agent Must Answer. I first found this on BusinessWeek.com as Change-Agent Checklist. Taylor, author of Mavericks at Work and co-founder of Fast Company magazine, provides a neat conceptualization of how leaders should be thinking about their companies, and their personal self-development, in these still-scary times. He points out that we can’t control markets or current events, but we can think about our situations in new ways and figure out how companies can differentiate themselves. The questions are deceptively simple and speak to how we can find new opportunities, new ideas, new contributions from employees and crucially, new customers.  Leaders, in his view, should ponder whether or not customers care about you and your company, and what would happen to those customers if your company disappeared. He also comes down on the side of focusing on your most important customers, even if it means ignoring others. Finally, he reminds leaders to never stop learning. “How do you push yourself as an individual,” Taylor asks, “to keep growing and evolving — so that your company can do the same?” The list of questions is not from original research, but it is a handy synthesis and analysis referencing such disparate sources as the psychologist Jerome Bruner, Albert Einstein, Marcel Proust, Gary Hamel and Jim Collins. A big takeaway for me is that the future belongs to eclectic, reflective thinkers who can translate the most relevant thoughts into meaningful actions.

I’ve just discovered Harriet Swain’s delightful weekly series, How to Be a Student, on guardian.co.uk. It’s been running for a year and a half, and it’s all online. Although these concise columns are aimed at British university undergrads, they have broader relevance to anyone involved in ongoing learning (even if it’s informal) or teaching, no matter where you live.  I found it especially interesting as next week I begin a new teaching semester at The Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science. Each column is titled The Art of…; May 26’s is The art of asking questions. Swain touches on not just studying skills in these columns, but also life skills that have relevance beyond the classroom. While this type of counsel could come off as didactic in the wrong hands, she adopts just the right tone, providing sensible and realistic advice in a witty and friendly voice.  In The art of asking questions, she says university is less about finding answers than learning to ask the right questions. She suggests continual practice related to what you want to learn: start with broad self-questions beginning with what you’re trying to achieve and work toward more specifics, such as why a particular book has been assigned, what point the author is trying to make, etc. From this follows asking questions in class and emailing questions to the professor. “Asking questions can help you to hone and clarify your ideas,” Swain writes, “but it’s a good idea to understand the difference between asking a question and randomly thinking aloud.”

Curt Rosengren’s April 23rd guest post on usnews.com, Take the Slow Road to Success, is a brief reminder that speed and frantic activity aren’t always the best ways to advance your goals or further your career. He suggests finding something that works for you –  such as meditation, gardening, journaling or other centering activities – that by doing on a regular basis can help you slow down, focus and think more clearly. An important point to remember is that these tools are short breaks, not obligations that consume your life. Also worth reading is a post on the same day from his own blog, The M.A.P. Maker, How to use questions to create a positive perspective.
The self-questioning technique is similar to the organizational concept of Appreciative Inquiry. For more on AI’s application in the workplace, see the April 6th “Viewpoint” piece in BusinessWeek, The Problem With Problems, by Fred Collopy, a Professor of Information Systems at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University.