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Bateson
These days this is my favorite book. I have blogged previously on one of Bateson’s “Metalogues” – look here to review. Bateson’s metalogues are styled as father daughter conversations. Here’s another one I would like to consider – this is a short extract from the opening: Mealaogue: About games and being serious Daughter: Daddy, are these conversations serious?Father: Certainly they are.D: They’re not a sort of game you play with me?F: God forbid … but they are a sort of game we play together.D: Then they’re not serious! Through this conversation Bateson goes on to introduce many ideas about how we “play” together. The core of this idea is not…
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Can we measure learning?
Somewhere in recent conversations someone came up with the line “if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it”. I have heard this many times before and I’m not sure of its origin – if I was asked in a pub quiz I would suggest Jack Welsh of GE but I could be wrong.Anyhow, the axiom is part of everyday management speak and is often cited as a core principle used in change management and strategic planning.We’ve had a good example of this recently where financial systems and governments appear unable to ‘measure’ the extent of the bad bank loans (aka toxic debt) and, so the argument goes, we need…
