Thursday, February 12, 2009
Problem Awareness
1:36 PM | Posted by
Steve |
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I have a coffee cup on my desk that I use throughout the day. It seldom has coffee in it. Much more often it has water or diet soda.
The cup has a phrase imprinted on one face
The quote applies equally to many endeavors. Who hasn't been in an unfamiliar situation, such as, oh, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and thought, "Isn't there a better way?" If we're so bold as to utter the question aloud, we're met with, "Well, there's a lot you don't understand." Clearly.
This is a primary reason why organizations invite outsiders inside to offer advice and even pay them for it. We call them consultants, but, really, they are observers who ask the question, "Isn't there a better way?" Because we invited them in, and because they are experts, and because we are paying them, we usually try to find one.
We often expect people who've spent long years developing expertise in a certain field to be able to raise our awareness and help us solve the problems we face in that field. But, we seldom approach those folks about problems in other areas because, well, there's a lot they don't understand.
That's unfortunate. The experts didn't become smart because they were experts. They became experts because they were smart. And, smart folks have something to offer in a variety of areas. Besides, why would we want to limit our resources at the exact time when we need the best and brightest we can muster?
If you need any further encouragement to seek out good people wherever you find them to help change your awareness, perhaps it would help to know which great observer of human psychological behavior provided the quote
None other than Albert Einstein, a smart guy known more for physics and forgetting his phone number than for his grasp of human behavior; but, he certainly had insight about that, too.
The cup has a phrase imprinted on one face
Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.This may be my favorite quote. It has certainly kept my attention longer than any other favorite quote. I often refer to it when discussing a work situation; and, those of us in the know knowingly nod.
The quote applies equally to many endeavors. Who hasn't been in an unfamiliar situation, such as, oh, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and thought, "Isn't there a better way?" If we're so bold as to utter the question aloud, we're met with, "Well, there's a lot you don't understand." Clearly.
This is a primary reason why organizations invite outsiders inside to offer advice and even pay them for it. We call them consultants, but, really, they are observers who ask the question, "Isn't there a better way?" Because we invited them in, and because they are experts, and because we are paying them, we usually try to find one.
We often expect people who've spent long years developing expertise in a certain field to be able to raise our awareness and help us solve the problems we face in that field. But, we seldom approach those folks about problems in other areas because, well, there's a lot they don't understand.
That's unfortunate. The experts didn't become smart because they were experts. They became experts because they were smart. And, smart folks have something to offer in a variety of areas. Besides, why would we want to limit our resources at the exact time when we need the best and brightest we can muster?
If you need any further encouragement to seek out good people wherever you find them to help change your awareness, perhaps it would help to know which great observer of human psychological behavior provided the quote
Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.
None other than Albert Einstein, a smart guy known more for physics and forgetting his phone number than for his grasp of human behavior; but, he certainly had insight about that, too.
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- Sometimes you think I'm daydreaming, but I'm actually thinking about something. No, really. Honestly. Sometimes.
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