Here’s my writeup about the power workout from the previous bootcamp. It includes the video I mentioned last week on power poses from Amy Cuddy:
http://changemakerbootcamp.com/2013/07/02/observations-on-power-dynamics/
It’s interesting to compare the reactions to 12 Angry Men of the last set of bootcampers to the current set. Fodder for a future conversation (and blog post)!
This isn’t the favorite thing I’ve read by Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert), but there’s a section of the article that sort of reminds me of @eugenechan’s personal project of going from a task-orientation to a process-orientation:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626104579121813075903866
Throughout my career I’ve had my antennae up, looking for examples of people who use systems as opposed to goals. In most cases, as far as I can tell, the people who use systems do better. The systems-driven people have found a way to look at the familiar in new and more useful ways.
To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. That’s literally true most of the time. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goal—if you reach it at all—feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary.
If you achieve your goal, you celebrate and feel terrific, but only until you realize that you just lost the thing that gave you purpose and direction. Your options are to feel empty and useless, perhaps enjoying the spoils of your success until they bore you, or to set new goals and re-enter the cycle of permanent presuccess failure.
I’d love to have a conversation about this. I heard him on NPR, and was intrigued. It’s also challenging, as I find goals really helpful for me in succeeding using a process (systems) orientation. I’m trying to be open-minded, while recognizing that by some interpretations this could challenge some core assumptions of how I do my work. I recognize he’s talking about individuals, not groups…
Next time I see you, I’ll bring the current Rockwood Leadership Institute strategy (which unfortunately is not available from their website). They’ve declared a “nature-driven” approach to strategy. I think it’s a bit overstated — it’s very similar to how we do strategy —but I think it’s a nice piece of work and worthy of examination.
On a related note, you should think seriously about doing Rockwood! You could talk more with @renee about this, but I think the timing would be really good for you. @lauren did Rockwood on @renee’s recommendation, and I think she had a great experience.
Eugene Eric Kim and 
Rebecca are discussing.
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