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I have just completed Behind Closed Doors by Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby.  I wanted to read something by these authors, since I will be going to their Problem Solving Leadership training in January in Uppsala, Sweden. Gerald Weinberg will also be part of the teaching team and you can be sure I look forward to it.

The book

I read this book two times and that tells you how much I appreciated it. Behind Closed Doors is about best practise in management. Rothman’s and Derby’s approach is a bit different than in many other books. Here we have a story about fictitious manager, Sam, newly employed at a software development company. You follow him as he deals with different situations and uses sound management principles. The story is accompanied with the author’s comments about the situations. At the end there is a chapter called Techniques for Practising Great Management that discusses some of the principles in greater detail.

Story-telling

The story-telling ingredient in the authors teaching style is a great idea and it enables them to communicate and paint the picture of good management even better. Though the story does not have novel quality, it carries the message in an acceptable way.

Team building

It is very interesting to see how Sam treats the development department as a system and how he works on jellying the leader group together. Leadership is creating an environment that enables people to work successfully. Sam spends time every week with his group leaders in one-on-one meetings. He helps them to see the big picture and their role in the company. Together they create shared goals as a team and time boxed action plans.  Sam coaches them to formulate personal goals that fit into the company’s goals.

Ego

People often optimize for their own success, at the expense of the team or the entire organization.  I have surely been guilty of this. We are working each one in our own hole, digging and shovelling. There is clearly a need for leaders who can bring people together.

System problems

We are quick to blame each other for problems, but often problems are not caused by individuals. The cause can be  rooted in the system and its processes. People do not see the system problems, because they are part of the system. They are on the inside of it. An experienced manager (systems thinker) can see the system and facilitate the group’s problem solving work. A system problem can only be solved by the involved group of people. This is very interesting. The ability to take a step back and reveal what is going on and see the system processes is extremely valuable.

People

Sam is very interested in each one in his department employees. He coaches them to improve their capabilities and gives them clear feedback. Step by step he builds a successful team in difficult situations, prioritizing (and reprioritizing as circumstances change) the work that supports the goals of the group and the organization.

Simple principles

Rothman’s and Derby’s main tenet is that the principles of good management are not that difficult to understand. They discuss for example one-on-ones, portfolio management, feedback, coaching and delegation. The thing is to consistently and reliably perform these practises week after week.

Wise thoughts

I have started to read good books a bit more careful lately. When good thoughts are brought to us, we can act as they are just interesting; like standing at a distance and observing them. But wise thoughts should be treated in a better way. If you find them, take the time to expose yourself to them. Thoughts are powerful. Let them sink in and affect your mind-world and your feelings. There is plenty of room for some changed worlds today.

A few months ago, while scanning the web for interesting books, I stumbled over Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. I understood by the commotion the book has caused, that it was special. I bought it and saved it for a suitable moment. A week ago I was up trekking in the Swedish mountains and during the evenings in the tent I read it.

Ishmael

The book explores the problems of humankind. The two characters are an old gorilla and a man. The gorilla, Ishmael, has studied ecology and the human condition. He can somehow communicate telepathically. He is looking for students and through an ad in a newspaper this man becomes his student. Ishmael, little by little, mostly through challenging questions, unfolds the true nature of our culture. Slowly the man (and the reader) realizes the cause of mans destructive behaviour and what can be done about it.

Enacting a story

Our “culture” is relatively young, only some 10,000 years. Humans existed on earth for about 3 million years before that. Something entered that made the human civilization destructive, Ishmael explains.

Behind our culture there is a story. It is so familiar that few is conscious of it or questions it. The story, or really the myth, was formed long ago and is still invisibly ruling our minds. Ishmael talks about “Mother Culture” humming in the background, telling her story over and over again. We are enacting it, that is, we live so as to make the story a reality. The truth is that we are unknowingly held captive by a system of thoughts that controls our actions and puts us at odds with the world.

The takers

A key theme in story of our culture is that earth belongs to man. Everything on it is ours to use and exploit. Man is like a biological exception and the end product of the creation. As a consequence he thinks he is free to live outside the laws that keep the rest of the living community together, Ishmael tells us. Man wants to grow without limit. This is how our culture thinks: We kill off everything we can’t eat or use for our purposes. We kill off everything that eats what we eat. We kill off anything that doesn’t feed what we eat. Ishmael calls our civilization the takers.

It seems man has difficulties to live side by side with other creatures. Up until recently we believed that everything would get better and better, but now as a consequence of us breaking the laws, disaster is coming. The laws hold for everything living on earth.

It is easy to believe that something is fundamentally wrong with man and that we cannot do anything about it. This is another myth that has held us captive. We are not evil by nature, Ishmael says, we just act according to our story.

Ishmael believes that the world can be saved only through a radical mind shift. Legislation cannot do it. People have to realize the hidden story that governs our civilization and replace it with something else; we need a different story to enact.

The leavers

Ishmael also describes the alternate story, which he calls the story of the Leavers; the one we ought to listen to and learn from. The premise of the leaver story is that man belongs to earth and is a part of the world as the rest of the living creatures are. People have been living this way before our culture and is still so living today. The takers call them “the primitives”, look down on them and despise their way of living. Still their story and their attitude to life is a key to the survival of mankind, Ishmael thinks.

Ishmael does not believe that we should return to our former primitive hunter-gatherer existence, nor does he think that technology is evil in itself or that science should be rejected. What we need is to humble ourselves and reconsider our place and purpose in the living community.

Creating a world

The book really gave me much to think about. I believe Ishmael is right. We are the takers and we ought to learn from the story of the leavers. By thinking together we can disclose the false myths and find out the true story to enact. We create a world with our story, by thinking, talking and acting.

Novels

To communicate deep and challenging truths through storytelling and novels can get your thoughts going like nothing else. Why is it so? It is because in a novel you have a richer palette of expressions. Many things are hidden and you have to work and participate with the story to fully understand. The author uncovers his intentions little by little in metaphors, parables and through the characters thoughts and feelings.

When you reach the end of a good book, you want to read it again. You might have missed something. That’s precisely what I did. I immediately started to read Ishmael a second time. We need more novels like this!

Rousseau said (1754):
“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody”

There are a number of sites dedicated to Ishmael:
Friends of Ishmael Society
Read Ishmael
Ishmael.org

A while ago I finished reading Weinberg on Writing – The Fieldstone Method by Gerald Weinberg. I have always been interested in storytelling. When my children were small, we dreamed up stories and fantasy creatures, each one crazier than the other. I used to have secret plans of making children’s books. Writing has for a long time been on my list of personal development areas.

Since I have read other books of this author and like them, I bought The Fieldstone Method. In it, Weinberg manages to clearly describe the creative process of writing, step by step. The writing style is very practical, with a lot of exercises in each chapter. He has regular training seminars on this subject.

Fieldstone process

Weinberg uses the metaphor of building with fieldstones to illustrate the process. When you build with fieldstones you first walk around in the fields and gather a lot of stones. After that you line them up for inspection. Every stone is rough, uneven and unique as nature made them. When building, you take them one by one and try to find a fitting place. Sometimes you have to do some trimming or even cutting to get a smooth wall. Perhaps after a while, you must go out collecting stones again to fill some obstinate holes. The result is a unique wall that’s not as boring and predictable as a brick wall.

Writing process

Gathering fieldstones is catching the ideas that pop up in your mind. You catch them by writing down phrases or key words that carries the idea. Ideas can come haphazardly or in any order, but you just hang on to what is coming. Don’t try to organize or trim them at the same time. After a while you have a pile of interesting thoughts and reflections that might end up in several articles. As next activity, go through your ideas and organize; see how they can fit together and arrange them in some order. Lastly trimming is necessary; looking at the flow of language.

The metaphor he uses is spot-on. Weinberg states that creativity is a non-linear process. Reading is a linear process; most of the time you read a book from beginning to end, but creating a book is different. There is an inherent randomness in creating, because of how our brain works. Weinberg talks about different activities in the writing process; briefly he calls them gathering, organizing and trimming. You stay with one activity for as long as you have ideas. When the flow stops, you change to some of the other activities. Don’t force yourself to continue. Different activities need different states of mind. Gathering is unlike organizing and organizing is unlike trimming; the focus is different.

Software development process

I can’t help comparing Weinberg’s method to the prevalent way of creating programs. In software development we talk about working incrementally and with many iterations. That means that we build little by little and go back and forth between different phases, instead of first doing all the analyzing, after that all the design and lastly all the implementation. Software industry has found out that this way of working is consistent with man’s creative abilities and is the best way to handle complexity and the ever changing requirements.

Precious stones

Here is another word of wisdom from the book; Look for stones with emotional energy. Weinberg discusses how you can use your inner being to find the real gems. Watch your own emotional response to your stones. Don’t look so much at the exterior, you will trim and polish them later. Go for stones that awaken something in you.

Understanding through writing

To me writing is very much part of the process of understanding a subject. I don’t wait to write about something until I have fully understood. I write, and during the writing process, during the gathering, organization and trimming the deeper understanding comes. Rearranging and rephrasing becomes a powerful tool of reflection.

Weinberg’s book made explicit the way of working that I partly already used. It has deepened my understanding and enhanced my creativity. Now, I can “go with the flow” in a better way. If I would summarize with a sentence I would say “practical wisdom”. I really recommend it.

Last weekend I read The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski. I found the book through recommendations on Amazon and it was surely food for thought. In his book, Jaworski gives a very personal and reflective description of his own journey as a leader. He shares both the good and the bad, both successes and failures. Jaworski was a successful lawyer, but after a divorce and a personal crisis, he took a break and reevaluated his life and began a search for true leadership. He founded the American Leadership Forum and has also worked as leader for the scenario planning for the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies.

If you play an instrument it is important that you are fully present in what you are doing. There is a state, which we call awareness, in which you can tap into a flow of music. The flow comes from the inside. If you are playing in a group, you can connect together and there is a collective flow in the music. There are of course other important factors also. The flow is sometimes called “the groove”.

In his book, Jaworski talks about a collective flow in a dialogue. A discussion can be shallow, because people hold on to their opinions. Often we unconsciously have assumptions that we defend with great emotion. They block honest heart-to-heart communication. But we can also have a deep dialogue, where people are willing to share, to be changed and to see things from different perspectives. Awareness, listening and empathy are important ingredients. This form of dialogue can be very creative as people connect together. Jaworski shares from his experience about this phenomenon, how his understanding of it was formed and how he began to practice it.

I have a number of friends with which I often have a deep and personal dialogue. Sometimes I marvel over what is happening and what is being said; understanding is enlarged and things unfold in a flow from the heart. I have written about it in a post earlier. This state may seem unexplainable, but I sense that it can be cultivated and nurtured. I really want to learn more. A deep, personal dialogue is very precious in a family, in project teams and between friends. It can also be an indispensible tool when resolving conflicts. Dialogue is one of the cornerstones in ALF, the American Leadership Forum, The organization is intended to be a national network of diverse midcareer professionals. Jaworskis vision is to contribute to a new generation of leadership.

Jaworski believes that through dialogue you can have a collective leadership. He thinks it is possible to go beyond the coalition model where separate individuals have to make various kinds of trade-offs and deals. He believes leaders can think collectively and shape the future, if they choose to serve something beyond themselves.

I am reading Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough, an architect and Michael Braungart, a chemist. I read a few pages every day, just to make it last as long as I can. Why? Because I like the book very much and it is food for my thoughts.

The subtitle is “Remaking the Way We Make Things”. The book is a manifesto that presents a new approach to manufacturing. It encourages a paradigm shift and the term “eco-effectiveness” is coined. They challenge the conventional view that we should recycle, reduce our emissions and reduce our use of natural resources. Doing less harm is good, but it is even better to do good. They mean that what we call recycling is really downcycling. Buildings, neighborhoods and even whole cities can be entwined with surrounding ecosystems in ways that are mutually enriching.

Their idea is to not try to reduce waste, but to eliminate the concept of waste altogether, while preserving commerce and allowing for human nature. Sounds like a dream doesn’t it? The authors work together along this path and have created products and buildings in a new and radical way. Even the book itself is special. It is made of fully recyclable plastic with non-toxic ink. The live in their vision.

It is easy to be pessimistic about man. We have ruined and spoiled nature. We fight each other. But man has also achieved great things, even landed on the moon. Couldn’t we use our ingenuity to live in symbiosis with nature? Couldn’t we learn from the ecosystem of the nature and build our own ecosystem to reflect that. The authors think it is possible. I almost begin to believe also…

The most recent book a read about amplifiers was “Valve and Transistor Audio Amplifiers” by John Lindsley-Hood. It gives an overview of amplifier construction during the years from the first primitive valve circuits to the latest transistor designs. The book is full of schematic diagrams and you can follow his interesting discussion of pros and cons with the solutions. I found the book very interesting and I especially got much from his discussion of different kinds of feedback. Just 208 pages, but full of insights.

I am very fond of the Pragmatic Programmers. I have read several of their books. Especially the “Pragmatic Programmer” collects a whole lot of wisdom concerning application building. Many sound principles trancends the coming and going of languages, tools and api’s. These principles can make a firm foundation for our day-to-day work and so we can avoid loosing our hair (some have lost it anyway). It is better to be driven by thought-out principles that has formed to habits, than by coincidence. Put everything under version control, take responsibility for your work and career, learn one editor and stick to it, automate as much as you can, keep documentation close to the code, keep on testing early to name a few. Read it!