I found this TEDx talk by Roy Leighton a bit chaotic and incomplete, but it contained some excellent points to ponder…and act upon.  

Some of my notes…

Knowledge is like milk

College graduates today have knowledge but cannot apply it. They are incompetent because they cannot apply what they’ve learned. This is in part because we treat knowledge like gold, like something to collect and keep, for in the past knowledge could give you power and wealth.

Now knowledge is more like milk, “If you don’t get rid of it, it’s gonna be out-of-date.” You’ve got to use it or share it before it spoils. Knowledge is less like gold because most anyone can get knowledge, facts off off the internet.

The value of knowledge now is in how it it applied, how it is used. The application of knowledge.

Open vs. Closed

Being closed is easy, perhaps even an automatic, defensive reaction. But to evolved we need to open ourselves–there is no other way.

Our brains are designed to help us survive and evolve, not necessarily to learn. Learning is a by-product of  evolving.

So, if I see something in front of me and decide it’s not going to help my survival, my brain switches off. It’s like the Edward de Bono phase, “We think so we can stop thinking.” Once we have determined we are safe, not threatened, our brain switches off or goes into auto pilot–it closes. But to change, we must stay open.

How do we stay open?

What stops us from taking action? Fear.

FALSE

EXPECTATIONS

APPEARING

REAL

What we need is more chaos: order without predictability

Life is chaos, unpredictable, but we behave in business and other organizations as if we can predict what happens in life–we make plans. We make five-year plans when we can’t predict where we will be five days from now. Plans are rigid. Life is unpredictably changing.

Have a vision, have a goal, but don’t stick to your plan because chaos and/or shit happens.

Three R’s of Education

  • RESULTS (need WELLBEING, MIND BODY HEART SOUL)
  • through RESILIENCE, teach to manage change
  • RELATIONSHIPS
Value, create, educate…But talk didn’t get into what this is, at least to my satisfaction. Need to find other talks or writings by Leighton.

Decaf

Curator of whatever tickles my neurons. "Most problems are created not by circumstances but by a particular perception of them." ~ Edward de Bono "Play is the highest form of research." ~ Albert Einstein "All models are wrong; some models are useful." ~ George Box