Category: December

“I just received the following note from one of our Inner Circle members.  Below the note is my response.”

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I would welcome a discussion about the content in the attached article.  The question used to be…, “who are you?”  Now is it “how do you identify…TODAY?”  An identity anchored in something has been replaced with how do you feel today is who you are.  I have LOTS of problems with this…but I am an old fart!

I have a Lesbian 30 year old daughter, who has a 2.5 year old toddler, which she carried.  The sperm donor was the brother of her partner.  She did a undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Women’s Studies and a graduate degree in Women’s Studies.  She has friends who are not “hes” or “shes” but prefer to be referred to as “theys”.  One day we were walking with her baby in her hood, and we came across a couple who she hadn’t seen in a year or so.  All four of us had a friendly intelligent conversation laced with pretty good humour.  As we parted, I said…”what gender are they?”.  She smiled and said, “well Dad, it is complicated.”  That is when I realized it is/was a brave new world we are in.  She had been heavily inundated by the politics in the article which made our relationship VERY difficult for a time.

Those of you who are curious about defining identity in this age might want to take the time to read this.

http://www.spiked-online.com/spiked-review/article/the-crisis-of-character#.VnAXhUorKM9

What is today referred to as the rise of identity politics is in truth the hollowing out of the institutions, beliefs and freedoms around which life and identity were shaped and cohered for centuries. It is a crisis not merely of politics, or class, or the left; it is a crisis of character, a questioning of what it means to be human, an uncertainty as to how we become fully human. Addressing the emergence of new, weak identities, and the corresponding creation of a therapeutic industry and new forms of moral censure to prop up these identities, will require more than ridiculing the new left or the so-called ‘identitarian movement’. It demands nothing less than the reconstruction of public life, and the rediscovery of our faith in the strong individual who both makes and is made by the world, rather than simply needing to be consoled by it. It requires that we refuse to acquiesce to alienated, subjective identity-making, and instead recreate the conditions in which people can develop their identity through the exercise of moral autonomy, and through creating and engaging in new institutions, new ideas and new societies.

Brendan O’Neill is the editor of spiked.

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Mike’s response:

 

 

 

 

“I just received the following note from one of our Inner Circle members.  Below the note is my response.”

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You make many great points Mike and I agree with all of them.  The one concern I would have is, will we as a nation step up and control/keep in check the people who put these ideas [building the wall, for example] so that they with their expanded power/authority, will not take advantage of the situation and extend their power to other areas.

There is a section in our constitution that allows the states to have more control over the federal government through the Convention of the States.  Currently there is a group attempting to  convene such a convention and it is being thwarted at every step.  If the citizens are not willing to exercise their right as “free” people, then restricting our freedoms now to make a better future will not work.

One of my pet peeves is the TSA and its supposed security.  Is/was it designed to help protect and keep us safe or was it designed to control us?

PS: I thought this had been sent and since it hasn’t I will add another of my pet peeves – the media.  At one point in our history the news media actually reported mostly unbiased news based on the facts as the reporter saw/found them.

Today the reporting seems to be written to gain readership and not to report the news in as unbiased fashion as possible.  I seldom read or listen to newspaper gossip [the so called “news of current events”].  However, I do find it amusing/interesting to read the comments of people responding to those stories.

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Mike’s response:

Here’s something that people who don’t/aren’t interested in studying SGD don’t realize.

As basins expand with density and frequency, they become more complex in all directions.

So a more complex version of DQ-BLUE…even led by red (trump is more blue)…would be able to eliminate much of the low density blue problems of bureaucracy etc.

The question comes down to this, do u err on the side of freedom and throw everything into chaos, opportunism and graft, or do you go back to blue and rebuild it from there….

I promise u what allowed students to ride around with loaded rifles and pistols in their pickup trucks was not emergent from too much freedom, it was a norm established in blue.

There was no lack of respect for authority until the 60s, no matter how stupid the “cops” were.

The MORE PEOPLE YOU HAVE, the tighter and denser you must build blue.

3 CHP patrol 800 miles of CA interstate…that’s not due to freedom, that’s due to a strong cultural fabric of respect.

People today have NOT GROWN VERTICALLY enough for the freedom that has emerged…we haven’t earned the freedom that has emerged from strong blue density and frequency.

Those of you who want more personal freedom base on your respect for authority, not as the youth are today who have been reared at FS-GREEN, where respect for authority is “relative.”

We have chaos coming, and it is not because of freedoms emergent from DQ-BLUE, but the unearned freedoms bestowed by others and a society, while imperfect, respects its leaders.

But that’s just my opinion, what do I know, I’m just a redass;)

 

“I just received the following note from one of our Inner Circle members.  Below the note is my response.”

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I read this yesterday and some of the comments.  I also filled my head with Trump-related discussions on the Scott Adams blog (http://blog.dilbert.com/post/134465690536/my-prediction-about-my-predictions-trump).  Now, this morning, I come across this piece (https://medium.com/bad-words/the-rise-of-the-demagogues-e56a3f0b6a3c#.6be3iv8g8) that I’ve only skimmed enough to see more reference to this narrative about “the rise of the demagogues.”   Or neo-demogogues, whatever that means.

One thing that struck me about the NYT piece is how it’s an influence piece dressed up as an informative piece.  It’s effectiveness is reflected in the comments when people ‘independently’ come to ‘conclusions’ by re-stating the narrative set by the author.  Demagoguery!  It will be the end of us!  Which brings me to another trending term, “outragism”.

I have zero opinion about who should be elected to the role of POTUS, or, at least, I don’t have enough of an opinion to notice what it is.  I am intrigued by the conflict between the influence tactics that Donald Trump employs (which work, duh) and the fear-oriented reactivity of intellectual elites that the publics are making irrational decisions based on emotion.  Surprise!  There’s a power struggle that seems, to me, based on the information I’m exposing myself to, growing more explicit.   This struggle is between a push to global, centralized control with the sheen of egalitarianism and the desire to stick with the group we can identify with comfortably.  The current US presidential election cycle is shining a light on this. Trump, in particular, seems to tap into the rugged, individualistic, pull-up-by-the-bootstraps sentiment that appeals many in the US.  It represents opportunity and hope and a clear sense of who we are and who we aren’t.  Who gives a crap whether Trump is an example of bootstrapped success or not.  That’s not the point.

Any agenda, with any momentum, taps into the irrational, emotional elements of human nature.  It’s easy to be ‘outraged’ by the tactics when a bunch of people are coming to the “wrong conclusion” by one’s own estimation.  Strangely true is that it can be quite logical to be outraged by blocks to one’s agenda.  What’s logical is emotion.  What’s emotional is logic.

Alicia Parr

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Mike’s response:

SGD might say, who is at the right level to deal with the problems we have and will have with global depression, an eminent war cycle and  CP-RED riding the naïveté and blind followership of BO purple?

Hint: THERE ARE NO YELLOW LEADERS AVAILABLE!

mike

 

“I just received the following note from one of our Inner Circle members.  Below the note is my response.”

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Thank you Mike for unpacking your thinking on this and sharing your model. This is gold.

What pulled me into Adizes’ work is his business maturation model, which I’ve been thinking more about lately as I finetune how I provide value and to whom and how to generate ongoing income for the family.  The Adizes model stages of go-go into adolescence and into prime describe a pattern of business growth and maturation that hold opportunity for me.  I’ve witnessed those changes first hand more than once. Locally, increased investments and incubators are now generating some ‘winners’ making their way into go-go stage, where there used to be very little mid-market.  A number of signals point to this investment trend continuing– a governor stumping on a position of investing in innovation and growth within state borders, a growing pool of entrepreneur talent through university training and relocations of silicon valley folks to this area for “improved quality of life”, a growing track record of well-publicized successful  exits, and plentiful private investment dollars feeding the system.  I see the opportunity, I have a rep and track record, steadily growing connections, so now it’s a matter of matching value to need with language that activates the meaning making of those who hold the purse strings in the growth business space.

Back to the model.  This is Adizes’:

http://www.adizes.com/lifecycle/

As usual, Mike, your version is more complex than the alternatives.  Mike, would you mind expounding on your model a bit?  What is the E/S line and what is the relationship between that and “2nd tier mastery”?  Also, you include a double-arrowed bracket with coaching along the left side of the trajectory.  What value does that add to the model in your sense?

Thanks,

 

Alicia

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Mike’s response:

E/S line (B/I leap)

Kiyosaki’s CASH FLOW QUADRANT

Clearly some of the employed become entrepreneurs creating a low-paying job as a self-employed person.

Coaching is done on levels hence the elevator moving among floors–identifying where people are and what is the next step!

mike

 

“I just received the following note from one of our Inner Circle members.  Below the note is my response.”

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A well-known management consultant offering a different sort of guidance to MBA students– unhinging oneself from the external acquisition process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRr_hbRqEhU

Alicia Parr

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Mike’s response:

It’s a great piece from Ichak.

The ONLY issue I take is that it IS spiritual/purposeful for a few (1-5%) to acquire…

What society has done is brainwash most of us into thinking, that’s the right thing to do.

When you start unwinding humanity, you begin to realize that the spiritual work through whatever means has to do with self-knowledge.

And it’s that twist of self-knowledge that allows you to begin to find an exit ramp off of BS.

My point about “questioning the underlying assumptions” is key about understanding why we are doing what we are doing.

All of us MBAs see this as a means to an end, aside from the few who just love the work.

The key?

To what end.

Unwind that and the emptiness begins to dissipate and soul returns.

mike