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Leading With Operating Metaphors

I was scared and the team was concerned. I stood in front of fifty expectant and dubious faces–the newly combined sales and order processing team. Within a few months, we had to:

  • Eliminate a nasty conflict that divided the team
  • Move half the team to a combined space
  • Remove two order processing and tracking systems
  • Re-engineer the entire sales and order process
  • Double the size of the team

I knew the physics of change: to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The more we tried to do the greater the resistance from the team and the organization would be. I started up my PowerPoint and hoped my unorthodox approach worked. Continue reading Leading With Operating Metaphors

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Conceptual Frameworks and Mental Models: An Introduction

It seems that every sight, sound and idea we experience is processed through a conceptual framework in our mind.

As you read this, the shape, colors, and contrasting black squiggles on white are being converted, via frameworks you and I share, into images, words, sentences, and connected ideas in your mind.

Imagine how confusing life would be if we had to categorize, name and evaluate the ideas of the letter S,  smartphone, windows, tree, and sunlight afresh every time we encountered them?  It is no wonder to me that babies are awake so little when they are first born, free of frameworks; all that uncategorized input to process!

Continue reading Conceptual Frameworks and Mental Models: An Introduction