[Ailist] If you had one wish...

[Roger Davies]

>From my own experience in an industrial sense, compassion also underlies
excellence in customer service, quality, safety, productivity, staff
development... You name it, compassion it is the foundation. Compassion is
not a soft dull thing. It can and should be vibrant and dynamic. Passion is
the 'ME' incarnation of the compassionate 'WE'  to borrow from another post.

The problem that industry has to grapple with is it's obsession with data
(Quantophrenia). Measuring the performance any of the above will not lead
you by mathematical means to the same conclusion. Equally one cannot
directly correlate compassion with any of these performance factors so the
bulk of industrial organizations simply dismiss it because it 'can't be
proved'. Karen, the ex-nun, might well say that it is not necessary to prove
the existence of God in order to benefit from His presence. 

The problem the world has to overcome is the habit of assuming something and
then justifying it with appropriate measurements and statistical analysis.
This of course is no different from just believing your assumption in the
first place and is not (as some would tell you) scientific method. One can
look at many a prediction of the future supported by statistics that quite
plainly turned out to be wrong and based on flimsy logic and assumptions. 

The ability to view something from the perspective of others is a key
ability that we all possess but is so infrequently used. I think this is one
of the real treasures of Ai in that through storytelling and interviewing we
are forced to listen to different perspectives. As well as 'asking why five
times' (as many quality guru's have us quite rightly do) we also need to
'ask what if five times' and then do that from five other, very different
people's perspectives. One of the 'What ifs' should always be 'What if I'm
wrong'?.

It's interesting that so much follows the asking of such a simple question.

Thanks

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: Sue Hammond [mailto:shammond at bendbroadband.com] 
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 10:41 AM
To: Roger Davies
Cc: 'Nick Heap'; 'Appreciative Inquiry'
Subject: Re: [Ailist] If you had one wish...

Bill Moyers interviewed a woman who is trying to create a compassion
movement throughout the world. She is British, first name Karen, not sure of
her last name. You can usually see those programs on the web. 
Karen is an ex-nun who has researched all the religions of the world and
finds that compassion is the underlying denominator of all. I believe her
definition included what I would call reframing, of putting yourself in
someone else's shoes to see it from their viewpoint.
I also want to recommend Barbara Fredrickson's new book on Positivity. 
She translates her academic writing into a much more accessible read. I
would bet that our wishes will reflect the outcomes of a 3:1 positivity
ratio. I don't think she would mind if I share those ten positive emotions
with you all. They are: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride,
amusement, inspiration, awe and love. In a one sentence summary, the idea is
to practice 3 of those positive emotions to one negative. That practice will
change your mind...literally and chemically.
Sue

Roger Davies wrote:
> Hi Nick,
>
>  In most everything that I have thought deeply about I seem to end up 
> at a root of compassion as a foundation. Compassion in the sense of 
> caring passionately about the effects one's actions might have on the 
> well being of others and the environment.
>
> The other sense I have is that we lose some degree of humanity and 
> humility when we convince ourselves that we are infallibly correct about
something.
>
> So now I have to combine these into one wish! 
>
> My wish would therefore be that we recognize each other's humanity, 
> keep our minds open and act compassionately in everything that we do.
>
> Roger
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
> [mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Heap
> Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 3:48 PM
> To: Appreciative Inquiry
> Subject: [Ailist] If you had one wish...
>
> Dear All,
>
> I am playing with this question "If you had one wish, to make the 
> world a better place, what would you use it for?" I am attracted to it 
> because it is very simple and anyone can answer it. People could share 
> their wishes and help each other achieve them.
>
> So I wonder if we could share our "wishes", see what common ground 
> there may be and perhaps help each other achieve them somehow. I have 
> already posted the question on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com and had some
interesting replies.
>
> My wish is that "People concentrate their energy on loving rather then 
> on being loved".
>
> What is yours? It doesn't matter at all if it's completely different 
> from mine.
>
> Any other comments would be welcome.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Nick Heap
>
> www.nickheap.co.uk
>
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