"Innovation Age" Skills? LO14326

Richard C. Holloway (olypolys@nwrain.com)
Sat, 12 Jul 1997 21:49:16 -0700

Replying to LO14272 --

John Zavacki wrote:

> from Carol Johnson <carol_johnson@weains.com> said:
>
> Going to the edge without facts sound a little like making decisions about
> the physical world while being in a sensory deprivation tank. With no
> knowledge of temperature, sound, visual cues, etc. we're not on the edge,
> we're over it. We can only be of value to an organization by being in the
> organization, which means being in facts.

John -- took a lot out of context here; thought your dialog with Carol
quite insightful (both of you). However . . . I visualized all of the
ancient explorers when I first read this paragraph (above). Norsemen;
Polynesian; Phoenician; Portuguese; Cristobal Colon (Columbus). They were
on the edge--indeed, many thought they were over it, I'll warrant. No
knowledge of what lay beyond. Those who fare into outer space, especially
the first ones, were armed with only slightly more facts than these
ancient explorers. It's not only those who explore the depths and heights
of our environment, though, who live on the edge. Artists, scientists,
inventors, well--the list goes on of the risk takers who compel the rest
of us to follow.

Organizations have been known to be risk takers also--jumping off the
edge; running contrary to facts. Indeed, their CEO's write books
exhorting others to do the same--but how many will take the plunge?

Innovation--exploration; they both require foresight, willingness to risk
and the perseverance to ignore those who insist on more facts.

-- 
Richard C. "Doc" Holloway
Thresholds--Human Development and Networking for Learning Organizations
LearnShop(tm) Creator and Facilitator
P.O. Box 2361, Olympia, WA 98507 
Phone: (360) 786-0925 Fax: (360) 709-4361 mailto:olypolys@nwrain.com

" You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough." --William Blake

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>