Benjamin Zander
(http://awareconsultinggroup.com/technology_gap/zander.jpg)
Reading Response: The Art of Possibility, Chapters 9-12
"Enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share." from The Art of Possibility
This quote sums up the entirety of the concept of enrollment. Ben Zander tells the story of his father taking the train to Glasgow to have breakfast in the train station to discuss an important meeting and he wonders why he didn't just use the phone. He comes to see that passion must be engaged over fear. Later, he is able to persuade a famous musician with a tight schedule to play a piece that was written expressly for him at the Evian Festival in Lake Geneva by following his father's example and meeting the gentleman in person. He was able to ignite the musician's passion for the composers work. This story is illustrative of the main idea of this practice - engage peoples' passions rather than their fears.
The story of the students at the Dockland's school in London - I was especially taken with the 10 yr old boy who was asked to come up and conduct the orchestra for the finale of Beethoven's Fifth. Zander was motivated by the boy's passionate movements in his seat to invite the boy to conduct. The young boy's passion in turn motivated all the musicians. Passion is contagious.
I'm listing the steps exactly as Zander lists them in the book (directly quoted) because I think they are so useful:
1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment.
2. Stand ready to participate willing to be moved and inspired.
3. Offer that which lights you up.
4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.
The next practice that is delineated is the idea of "being the board." "I am the framework for everything that happens in my life." The authors state that this is the most radical and hardest to grasp of the practices. I would agree because it seems entirely too simple that I feel like I must be missing something. I feel like the crux is the story about the musician coming late on the Mendelssohn piece where another musician is going to rat out the culprit but before they have a chance Zander, the conductor, says "I did it." I feel like this chapter was about not letting blame get in the way. Once mistakes are made, they are done, playing the blame game simply takes more time and loses site of the ultimate goal. When one assumes the role of the board rather than the player, they don't see themselves in relation to the the other players, and so there is no need to divide up fault and assign blame.
In the practice of framing possibility or being a leader of possibility, the authors outline clearly specify what it takes for a leader to create an environment where people feel comfortable to make mistakes without falling into the downward spiral. This quote is rather meaningful to me because it acknowledges our innate nature and how we might transcend it: "As a species we are exquisitely suited to thrive in an environment of threat where resources are scarce, but not always ready to reap the benefits of harmony, peace, and plenty. Our perceptual apparatus is structured to alert us to real and imagined dangers everywhere." The part about not reaping the benefits of harmony, peace, and plenty are particularly striking. Its like we have to be constantly aware and open to the POSSIBILITY of the universe.
Again (directly quoted) useful steps for framing possibility:
1. Make a new distinction in the realm of possibility: one that is a powerful substitute fo the current framework of meaning that is generating the downward spiral.
2. Enter the territory. embody the new distinction in such a way that becomes the framework for life around you.
3. Keep distinguishing what is "on the track" and what is "off the track" of you framework of possibility.
Zander relates a moving story about an elementary school girl who has lost her hair due to chemotherapy. The other students make fun of her and she doesn't want to return to school. When she does, the next day, the teacher has shaved off all of her hair and now all the students think its cool and want to do it. The teacher stopped the downward spiral by changing the board. She didn't negatively engage the students who were making fun of the little girl (at least that isn't shared in the story). But she simply created a powerful substitute for the current framework and thus created a realm of possibility. I think that this is the biggest take away from the book so far - that we cannot control the actions of others but we can change the framework surrounding the players.
"Aside from the few grammar and typos that we talked about that you need to fix, I think your paper sounds good. I still think you need to consider adding a Facebook presence for them to drive traffic to their Twitter feed. I know that you said you are not working with them anymore, but I think that would be an easy suggestion to add to your paper. Maybe add a sentence stating that in the future a Facebook page could be added to increase their online presence. All of that being said, you offer a lot of interesting ways to use Twitter."
2 comments:
Loved the fact that you used a video for this one. Especially when talking about networking and see a person face to face. This wasn't a face to face situation, but it did make the presentation more personal. People often forget the importance of real life networking because of technological advances. Thanks for helping me remember, maybe I can use this in my workplace.
I like you interpretation of the story of the bike: "How can I use what I've got?" In other words, can what looks like a bad situation be reframed to benefit all involved. I must admit when I read the story, I felt like this is a long way to explain that you asked for 2 quarters - but I think after hearing your take on it made me reconsider that sometimes the easiest solutions are the most obvious but we sometimes fail to see them because we are looking at them through the blinders of what we believe is fair, right, acceptable. By allowing the men to give her the money, she was able to let them express their generosity.
Nice to hear you share a story about the St. John's River - my bedroom and balcony overlook the St. John's. Your story nicely summed up the practice of being the board. The gentleman you described was engaged in the practice without even realizing it.
I also liked the way you have you class create mission statements and make sure that they include in the the passion or the "why." I think this is a greg way to make sure that they aren't creating "visionless mission statements."