Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Issue 267 – September 2022
World Values Day is an annual campaign to increase the awareness and practice of values around the world. It provides an opportunity to think about our most deeply held values and explore and act on them with others.
For the last six years, Charles Fowler and I have run a Knowledge Café as part of World Values Day. Charles helps coordinate World Values Day. He is part of the Steering Group of the UK Values Alliance and is Chair of the Human Values Foundation.
Charles and I are delighted to have Henry Mintzberg join us this year as the speaker. Well, not quite as a speaker. Given the conversational nature of the Café, I plan to have a short conversation with Henry to trigger the Café conversation itself.
In my introductory conversation with Henry, I will ask him to describe communityship and how he sees the role of values in nurturing communityship.
After our conversation, we will go into Café mode, where you will have the opportunity to discuss how you see communityship and the role values play.
You will find more information about both Cafés and can register here.
Contents
- Construct steel arguments not straw ones
We need to learn to argue more effectively - Take responsibility
There are several ways in which to take more responsibility for our lives - Certified Knowledge Specialist in Conversational Leadership
KMI - KM Institute - In Search of the Third Attractor
Daniel Schmachtenberger - Request for help with my discourse project
Genres of discourse - Help Keep My Work Alive
- Unsubscribe
- Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Construct steel arguments not straw ones
We need to learn to argue more effectively
I am working on a post on so-called steelmanning for my blook.
You may be familiar with the concept of a strawman argument, often referred to as a straw man.
In such arguments, we are more concerned with winning the fight than getting at the truth, and we construct a weak or erroneous version of the other person's view that is easy to pull apart.
On the other hand, a steel man argument is when we construct the most potent form of our opponent's argument against which to debate.
This form of argument is a critical Conversational Leadership skill.
To be gender neutral, I am starting to call these statements straw and steel arguments.
Take responsibility
There are several ways in which to take more responsibility for our lives
When I first started to think about Conversational Leadership, one of the foundational principles I wrote about was the need for us all to take responsibility for the changes we wish to see in the world.
But that was six years ago, and I have since read and reflected more on the subject of responsibility and realized that there is more than one way to take responsibility and make a difference in the world.
We can choose to take responsibility in several ways:
- Responsibility for our life
- Responsibility for what happens to us in life
- Responsibility for our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions
- Responsibility for one another
- Responsibility for the changes we wish to see in the world
It has turned out to be one of my more lengthy posts — though only a five-minute read, not including the videos — take a look and see what you think.
Certified Knowledge Specialist in Conversational Leadership
KMI - KM Institute
I am delighted to announce that John Hovell, Donita Volkwijn, Saule Menane, and I will be running a Certified Knowledge Specialist in Conversational Leadership class in partnership with the KM Insitute (KMI) next year from February 27th to March 3rd, 2023.
It's a 5-day virtual class, delivered live over Zoom from 10:00 to 16:00 ET (15:00 to 20:00 UK time).
It is based on our highly praised "Conversational Leadership Workshop" that we have delivered annually for the past four years.
Take a look - you can find complete information and register here.
In Search of the Third Attractor
Daniel Schmachtenberger
I am a massive fan of the work of Daniel Smachtenberger, and you may recall I wrote about his four-part War on Sensemaking videos in 2019. If you want to understand why our information ecology is so badly damaged and what it would take to make it healthy - these talks are a must-watch.
But now, Daniel has done it again with a two-part video series, In Search of the Third Attractor.
This is what Rebel Wisdom — the creator of both series — says about the talks:
Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe?
Once again, not to be missed! Daniel is addressing the most critical existential issues in the world today.
Request for help with my discourse project
Genres of discourse
I have recently started a little project, and I could do with a little help.
I am pulling together a selection of videos and podcasts that exemplify various discourse genres and compare their pros and cons. This is very early material, and it will change as I develop it
I need some good video or podcast examples of genuine group dialogue (Bohm Dialogue) and small groups of people in conversation without a controlling host. The Al Jazeera Cafés were a step in this direction, but the hosts were too controlling.
I also need to add other genres, such as panel discussions, etc., and I need to think through my nomenclature — words such as confrontational, aggressive, friendly, etc.
The primary thrust of the post is to demonstrate that although we still need adversarial (though civil) forms of discourse, we need more dialogue.
I would love your feedback and suggestions.
Help Keep My Work Alive
For almost 25 years, I’ve been sharing the Gurteen Knowledge Letter each month, and many of you have been reading it for five years or more. My Knowledge Café also reached a milestone, celebrating its 20th anniversary in September 2022.
If my work has made a difference to you, I’d be grateful if you could consider supporting it. A small monthly donation or any one-off contribution would greatly help cover some of my website hosting costs.
Thank you to the 50+ patrons who already support me – your generosity means a lot.
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Gurteen Knowledge Letter
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a free monthly email newsletter designed to inspire thinking around Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management. You can explore the archive of past issues here.
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David Gurteen
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom
