Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Issue 249 – March 2021
Introduction
This is the fourth issue of my Knowledge Letter in its new format and location. I hope you are enjoying it and the close integration with my blook on Conversational Leadership.
In February, I ran an online Knowledge Café workshop for 23 people that went so well I am rerunning it in May. Take a look here for more details and some tremendous feedback from the past participants.
And check out the third annual Conversational Leadership workshop that is coming up very soon now in April. John Hovell, Donita Volkwijn, Saule Menane, and I are the facilitators and look forward to the event. Hopefully, next year we can run it in person again.
Contents
- Together • Ensemble: Dream big for Europe
David Gurteen, Obhi Chatterjee & Julie Guégan - A flaw in the scientific method?
Edward de Bono - Most of our knowledge is a delusion
We know far less than we think we do - Using the concept of signal-to-noise ratio as a metaphor
The ratio of useful or true information to false or irrelevant information - Excellence in University Leadership & Management
A call for case histories - Becoming Agile: An International Festival of Learning (26 – 29 April)
Henley Forum - Please support my work
- Unsubscribe
- Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Together • Ensemble: Dream big for Europe
David Gurteen, Obhi Chatterjee & Julie Guégan
I recently gave a conversational talk with Obhi Chatterjee (Head of Learning Technologies at the European Commission) and Julie Guégan (author and expert in collaboration and systems innovation) as part of the Together-Ensemble workshop with the staff of the European Institutions.
The session was wide-ranging, and we talked about the Knowledge Café, listening and curiosity, impossible conversations, the need for a conversation covenant, and even a conversation referee. Also, the difference between having respect and showing respect, and whether it would be possible to have a conversation with Donald Trump or Hitler. We also talked about polarization and a little about filter bubbles, epistemic bubbles, and echo chambers.
You can view the video recording here. I have taken the time to index it so you can easily jump to the sections of interest to you.
Together - Ensemble is a series of online Zoom sessions presented by Julie Guégan and Obhi Chatterjee for EU staff to reflect on topical issues. The aim is to open the discussion to the common problems we all face everywhere. Possible topics include life and society, work and economics, science and health, or the world in general.
Dream big for Europe is a strand of Together - Ensemble sessions. Individuals (authors, politicians, artists, young leaders, etc.) worldwide are invited to challenge EU staff to be even more ambitious for the European project.
A flaw in the scientific method?
Edward de Bono
I recently posted this quotation from Edward de Bono in my LinkedIn feed.
If you are setting out to work in a new field you should thoroughly research that field. Right?
Wrong!
The traditional view is that you should read all that you can in order to get the base of existing knowledge and then move forward from this.
There is a flaw in this argument and it is a flaw in the scientific method.
We do not just get knowledge, we get knowledge packaged up as concepts and perceptions.
I'm afraid I have to disagree that it is a flaw in the scientific method. Still, it's an interesting thought and has had a mixture of comments on LinkedIn, some supporting the view, others disagreeing.
Take a look — what do you think?
When I originally designed the Knowledge Café, I deliberately did not look at the World Café as I did want to be biased by their process — I wished to think things through from scratch.
It was only later that I reviewed their method and discovered the Knowledge Café had some key differences that I felt were an improvement on the World Café. I very much doubt I would have come up with those differences if I had studied the World Café process first.
So in some circumstances, I think it makes good sense not to look at what has gone before but of course always to look at it afterward.
Most of our knowledge is a delusion
We know far less than we think we do
As individuals, we know far less than we think we do.
Our education system teaches us to accept and memorize so-called facts based on our teachers' authority. We trust our teachers not to lie to us knowingly.
We are not encouraged to question these facts, or at least not too deeply. It is hardly surprising then that we think we understand things when all we have done is blindly accept and memorize them.
The problem is not people being uneducated.
The problem is that people are educated just enough to believe what they have been taught, and not educated enough to question anything from what they have been taught.
Accepting (knowing) something to be a fact is not the same as understanding it.
Most of us believe the earth circles the sun, contrary to what our senses tell us, but we could not explain how we know that other than we were taught it in school.
This acceptance of facts from a source we trust comes to haunt us in our adult lives when we think we understand things that we don't.
We accept far too much of what we read in the media, especially social media, without question. We blindly trust the source, particularly if it's from a member of a tribe to which we belong.
We then get into arguments over issues which we know precious little - one ignorant person arguing with another.
Some cognitive scientists consider our knowledge to be an illusion, but if we reflect on it for one moment, it is obvious we don't know.
An illusion is sensing that something exists but misinterpreting it, for instance, a mirage in a desert.
On the other hand, a delusion is a belief that we hold despite contradictory information or evidence, for instance, believing we are immortal.
Most of what we consider to be our personal knowledge is more than an illusion. It a delusion. Knowledge is communal.
Using the concept of signal-to-noise ratio as a metaphor
The ratio of useful or true information to false or irrelevant information
Daniel Smachtenberger, when discussing the pollution of the information ecosystem with misinformation and disinformation in his talks on the War on Sensemaking, says things like:
I'm trying to make sense of things because I have to be able to parse signal from noise.
We would hope, though, that there are some sources of high signal, low noise true information like maybe scientific journals.
There is always some signal.
He is using the term signal-to-noise ratio as a metaphor. It's a useful one that I write more about in my blook.
Excellence in University Leadership & Management
A call for case histories
Academic Publishing plans to publish a book that addresses some the achievements of some universities in their attempts to transform themselves to better cope with the challenging future ahead of them.
They have recently issued a call for case histories and invite submissions from anyone interested in writing about a university that they believe has achieved some level of excellence.
A collection of these case histories will be published in the form of an anthology. It is anticipated that the final work will be available in the third quarter of 2021.
You can find more information on the ACI website.
Becoming Agile: An International Festival of Learning (26 – 29 April)
Henley Forum
The Henley Forum 21st Annual Conference — Becoming Agile: An international festival of learning — is coming up in April. Although it is virtual once again this year, this is a carefully curated conference, not a series of webinars.
The organizers are planning a stimulating 4 half-days of thought, idea sharing, and connections, celebrating innovative practice, sharing learnings and looking ahead to the future of work.
This year’s conference will feature international speakers, interactive workshops, informal networking sessions, and fringe activities.
You can learn more on the conference webpage.
Please help support my work.
I have been publishing the Gurteen Knowledge Letter every month for over 20 years, and most of you have received it for five years or more. My Knowledge Café also recently had its 20thth birthday in September 2022.
If you find my work valuable, please consider supporting me by donating $1 (or more) a month to become a Patron or making a small one-off contribution. Your assistance will help cover some of my website hosting expenses.
I have over 50 patrons so far. Thank you all.
Unsubscribe
If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please reply to this email with "no newsletter" in the subject line.
Gurteen Knowledge Letter
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a free monthly e-mail-based newsletter. Its purpose is to stimulate thought about Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management. You can find back issues here.
If you don't already receive this newsletter, you can register to receive it by email each month.
It is sponsored by the Henley Forum of the Henley Business School, Oxfordshire, England.
You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues, or customers, so long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed. If you have any queries, please get in touch with me.
David GURTEEN
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom