Barry's SuperBlog » Thought Leader

UK Coalition Government -could this be the seed for a Global Empathic Civilization?

Barry Mapp — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:26:35 +0000

In this RSA video, Jeremy Rifkin looks at what he calls the emerging “Empathic Civilisation”. He says that in the last ten years there have been many developments in Evolutionary Biology, Neuro-Cognitive Science, Child Development and many other forms of research that are beginning to challenge some of the long-held assumptions we have about human nature and the meaning of “the human journey” and this information challenges the institutions that we have created based on many of these assumptions – our educational institutions, our business practices and our Governing Institutions. So could our new coalition Government with its brief beyond traditional Party Dogma be a seed for the start of such a revolution in our thinking?

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Have Big Banks heard about this “Bonuses” study sponsored by Fed Res Bank?

Barry Mapp — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:04:16 +0000

I have blogged many times about the “iatrogenic” effects from paying big bonuses. Like when “Bonus Culture” inhibits creativity in the organisation and the observation that rewards sabotage people’s intrinsic motivation and sabotage good customer service. The idea of using rewards to drive/modify behaviour comes from the Old Psychology models. To get to understand the nature of intrinsic human motivation we need to look to New Psychology models.Well the RSA have just produced this video summary in their Animate series from Dan Pink which summarises some of the other problems about paying bonuses, including a study at M.I.T. sponsored apparently by the USA Federal Reserve Bank.

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Thought Leadership – what does it mean?

Barry Mapp — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:56:10 +0000

For me the term ‘Thought Leader’ has been hijacked from its intuitive meaning (someone who leads on thought and thinking) to become used as a surrogate for “Trusted Advisor” and also someone who effectively manages their reputation.For me the important part of the term in “Thought Leader” is “Leader”. If you are trusted and well known and respected are you a Leader? Maybe these are necessary characteristics but surely not sufficient.A Thought leader in my book will be someone well differentiated from a trusted “Thought Follower”.This means that every true “Thought Leader” must also be an iconoclast in their field. Most Blogs for example are full of interesting content but nearly all reflecting the thoughts of others or opinions about thoughts of others. The Thought Leaders will be the one’s who are challenging much of the current thought, not simply regurgitating it.When Einstein said that we won’t solve the problems of today by the same thinking that created the problems, he was obviously suggesting that in order to solve the chronic problems of the day we need to think differently and from a higher, wider or different perspective. Not “more of the same” thinking or “this worked for me thinking” or the “solution is obvious thinking”.It’s interesting how many of my “Thought Leaders” are, or were, Physicists. It was Bohm for example who devised a way (Bohm’s Dialogue) of allowing new thoughts and new solutions to emerge from a group. It was Deming who identified that Western Management not worker malaise was the biggest threat to continual improvement in Business. It was Eli Goldratt and his Theory of Constraints that helped manufacturers remove broken links from their value chains and improve performance and profits. Each of these Physicists were looking at issues from outside of the current paradigm. And of course Einstein was a Physicist as well.So how many people calling themselves “Thought Leader” could also be described as “Iconoclast” coming up with thinking that challenges the grey cells? For me a Thought Leader will be someone – if they do nothing else- makes you stop and think! Also an Iconoclast Thought Leader is unlikely to be “thinking with the majority” and therefore will not always be popular.Oh and someone has just asked me “Are you a Thought Leader”? Well I’ll let you decide. Here are some of my recent ramblings intended to make you think about your thinking and to signpost possible different directions that your thinking could take in order to find new solutionshttp://barrymapp.com/2009/07/it-strikes-me-that-a-lot-of-wh/http://barrymapp.com/2009/07/iconoclasts-stand-a-very-good/http://barrymapp.com/2009/07/thinking-in-different-ways-2/http://barrymapp.com/2009/07/what-makes-a-“creation-company”/http://barrymapp.com/2009/08/how-rewards-sabotage-creativity/http://barrymapp.com/2009/10/unintended-consequences-what-do-very-large-bonuses-attract/http://barrymapp.com/2009/11/bonus-culture-proud-to-win-a-cabbage-not-the-cash/http://barrymapp.com/2009/07/235/http://barrymapp.com/2009/07/three-new-words-for-the-21st-century/http://barrymapp.com/2009/07/lessons-for-science-from-the-mesmer-experience/http://barrymapp.com/?s=thought+leader

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Unintended Consequences? What do Very Large Bonuses Attract?

Barry Mapp — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:28:46 +0000

It would appear that Very Large Bonuses Attract – Very Greedy People. Now if experience tells us this is so (and certainly Alfie Kohn’s research showed that one thing that bonuses and other rewards don’t do is to lead to long-term improvement) how should we read the statements that have been made by the top British Institutions that if they don’t pay large bonuses their top earners will go and work for European or American Companies. Put these two ideas together (Greedy People and Go Elsewhere) and a super strategy for British Companies would be to – wait for it – stop paying bonuses. Bonuses might attract top earners but experience (with the credit crunch etc) is telling us that these top earners do not benefit their organisations IN THE LONG TERM (and therefore do not benefit any of their stakeholders in the long term either).So are there some British Companies out there brave enough to stop paying ‘performance related’ bonuses and to see what happens? The consequences could be very good! Not a loss at all but a gain. All the greedy earners who don’t care a stuff about the customers, will go to the competitors (hooray I hear from all those people who have suffered from all this miss-selling), leaving space for a new type of entrepreneur to take up these jobs within companies – (those with an innerpreneur mindset). Would not it be good for the long-term success of financial institutions for example if all the work was done by employees wanting to do the very best they can to give good service for past, current and future customers. Unfortunately as Kohn showed many years ago, big ‘carrots’ move the focus away from the service. The focus in the bonus culture is “what do I need to do today to make my carrot bigger (and also give me bragging rights to the biggest carrot)”. The focus should be of course be “what do I need to do today to really help my customer?”So should not our politicians be suggesting that bonuses simply STOP in order to make our Institutions better? This then leaves one question. If such an organisation goes on to make increased profit in a ‘no bonus for performance’ model, how do all the employees get to share in this success as an intended consequence? (Answers not on a postcard, but please post your suggestions here) What is a fair way to keep the focus on customer service, and to share in the benefits that accrue from being a truly long-term customer-focussed (as opposed to a bonus-focussed) company?

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-05

Barry Mapp — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Driving to Powys Castle (Wales) so far a sunny and dry day #
Time to head back from Wales to England. Powys Castle Gardens definitely worth a visit highly recommend -no sign of the thundery showers! #
Entrepreneur or Innerpreneur, give me the latter anyday #
@grahamjones here is a review of papershow, http://bit.ly/vcc7zcurrently for Macs unfortunately in reply to grahamjones #
1st July- posting my first two blogs on my new ‘superblog’ site. Sorting a few WordPress issues with Ian McK before ‘pinging’ the Universe! #
Stourport is hot and humid, 28degrees in shade! You don’t want to know this, but most of the day I’ve been working just wearing underpants! #
Barry Mapp’s Blog now up and running. On knowing the what and knowing the why – part one “Beliefs and Thinking” http://ping.fm/JsZea #
Apologies to my followers for the earlier test blogs (with therefore duff links) that I had forgotten would automatically ‘tweet’ all now OK #
RE: @http://twitter.com/ElasticMind VirtualBox looks interesting for all Mac Users who want to run Windows progammes occ… http://disq.us/rvf #
Looking forward to 4 N Telford in the morning at to hear Julie Owen+ also recite part 2 of my 40 second ‘elevator speech’ rap (Mapp the Rap) #
It strikes me that a lot of what I read on the subject of “Thought Leadership” is actually about “Thought Followship” #
Iconoclasts stand a very good chance of being Thought Leaders. FInd some. Experts are not Thought Leaders – they’re ‘thought followers’! #
RT @thoughtstrategy: poll on thought leadership. If you are a top 10 or 100 twitterer or blogger does it make you a thought leader? HARDLY #
WordsOfWisdom (WOW)- Momentum is what U have when your legs get moving. Omentum is what you have when they don’t! #
Searching Twitter on Mind Mapping. Most of what I see doesn’t seem to resemble anything I do. Mainly Spidery Diagramy stuff. Help! #
@ElasticMind If you know anyone near you that does Reiki get them to do some promptly on your back. Works wonders with pulled muscles in reply to ElasticMind #
Putting finishing touches to next post on my know-what/why blog, but cutting grass & now 60mins of Stourport circuit-training intervenes! #
Driving 80 miles south to Clevedon now just to let dog run wild in a field with other dogs (he has dog aggression issues) Longest dog walk? #
160 mile round trip to walk Buster off the lead! Dog now shattered – he had about an hour of exercise. I’m fine. Good Night All #

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Beliefs and Thinking

Barry Mapp — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:45:05 +0000

Knowing the What and Knowing the WhyTo know the ‘what’ or ‘why’ about anything, we have to understand something about our current beliefs and how beliefs interact with how we think and what we think about. If you see yourself as a ‘Thought Leader” this is definitely the blog to be.This first post takes an initial look therefore at beliefs and thinking.Virtuous or Vicious Cycle in your Thinking?What we believe (our models, theories, assumptions) influences how we think and what we think about. Equally how we think and what we think about influences our beliefs. This process can either represent a virtuous cycle or a vicious cycle depending on whether the process is opening up or closing down the limits of our thinking (And believe it or not this interaction between thoughts and beliefs is so powerful it influences ‘how we see things’ so that what we actually see through our own eyes has less direct and immediate impact on our beliefs than we think – the idea that ‘seeing is believing’ is in fact rarely true for us)It is our models, beliefs, theories that we ‘hold’ in our head that help to make sense of the world around us. However we often fail to recognise that ‘that sense’ is not representative of a true reality but is a ‘best fit’ of reality as it has appeared to us so far in personal everyday experience.Every model can be true (useful) at some level (within its own often limited context).Harmful Models - Some models prove (demonstrate) to be harmful in that they generate actions, behaviours, systems, viewpoints that in the long term make matters worse rather than better. Theories about what is right or wrong, good or evil have led to destructive wars against people who are little different from ourselves except for the beliefs they hold.Helpful Models – Other models prove to be useful in the long term in that when the principles of the model are followed things consistently improve. In this blog we will be particularly interested in models and beliefs that have led to sustained improvement rather than holding a status quo or making matters worse. And of course we will need to keep an eye on what we mean (operational definition) by improvement as this is not always clear and can therefore can muddy our thinking.Models that broaden our reality - We should be aware that some models and beliefs will broaden our view of reality (like a wide-angle lens for photography). Such models will be particularly useful when we need to see the bigger picture or to see how things interact and connect together. Such models are also likely to be useful in times of rapid change when a broader model has more inherent flexibility in the thoughts that it allowsModels that constrict our reality – Other models may narrow or constrict our view of reality. These models may be useful when we need to be focused on the “where-we-are” and the “here-and-now”. However the danger with these models is that we can’t see further than the end of our nose, we can’t see the forest from the trees and we can’t see why and how mankind in general is making things on planet Earth worse not better. Also such models are likely to be a liability in times of rapid change where the here-and-now almost instantly becomes part of the back ‘there-and-then’.Next: Different ways of thinking.

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