Think "Design" - Think "Tools" - Buckminster Fuller

Another follow-up by Joo Hock to Dr. DeBono's Talk on thinking posted on OIA.

De Bono talked about Design thinking.

In parallel with this idea, Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller, who called himself a CADS, (Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist) talked about "redesigning" our environment in order to change human behavior in preferred ways, for the betterment of total humanity. In other words, instead of trying to reform man, Bucky preferred to "new" form the environment through Design Science Revolution (DSR), rather than watch mankind resort to bloody revolutions.

And DSR is Tools or Artefact Invention, doing more with less, via technology, thus upping the performance of our resources, creating real life-support Wealth.

DSR requires creativity and innovation.

So if you want to learn how to think like Buckminster Fuller?
Think Tools,
Think Artifact Invention.

What can you invent?
Or re-invent? (many years ago I had a friend who say "don't try to re-invent the wheel"? Good thing I didn't take him seriously) Go ahead re-invent the wheel. You might come out with a better wheel, and if not, you would have re-invented yourself, while trying.

So what IS Experience?

I'd like to share a Poem from my book, "What I feel like saying?"

Because I often asked myself, "so what am I experiencing?" as our lives, who we are may be perceived as a Bundle of Experiences. And Buckminster Fuller linked being in Integrity to speaking, from Experience. He had also defined Universe in terms of Humanity's Experiences.

My poem is entitled:

"What is Experience?"

A nerve-wrecking
roller-coaster ride
getting goose-bumps
listening to ghost stories
in a dark and stromy night
Dunking yourself
in the waterfall's icy bite
Being bruised and battered
in an ego fight
raindrops drumming loudly
on Moonriver Lodge's tin roof
with all their might
(and I might add)
You'll be listened to
as you are in Integrity tonight!

composed by Joo Hock

Joo Hock on Perspectives can be very empowering

Wow! Edward de Bono posted on OIA's blog. Wonderful. DeBono's is one of those authors whose books I've been reading and recommending to my friends, but some of them tell me that DeBono put them to sleep, hmmm... I'm surprised and I wonder why? Perhaps his style is "dry," but he's substance.

Because I do find that he's really good. What he shares make good sense, especially in the field of creative thinking, lateral thinking, in fact DeBono coined the term lateral thinking, brilliant guy.

De Bono shared that perception is more important than logic.

Nicholas Negroponte (of MIT) said: Most engineering deadlocks are not solve by engineers. Why? Because Perception is more important than IQ!!

I found that his thoughts on thinking parallels Buckminster Fullers practices on thinking.

How so?

Well, Buckminster Fuller (Bucky) saw "things' at many level of perspectives, or put in another way, he has many ways of perceiving a thing.

Take a human being. He described us as a 28 Jointed Biped. Then an Astronaut on Board Spaceship Earth, then subsequently a Unique Behavioral Pattern Integrity.

Now how many other ways can you perceive or describe yourself?

1. A human be....
2. A Spir.... be....
3. A bundle of prog....
4. A bundle of exper.......
5. A cybo...
6. A transcei....
7. A Ver...
8. An Evolut...... Pro....
9. A Func.... of Uni.......
10. As Syntr......
11. As Min..
12. An ener.... eve...
More? What could you add?

Now all these newer ways of seeing ourselves is lateral thinking, for me at least.

But so what?
Well it's very empowering. When we see ourselves differently, we will think differently, and we can do differently.

Otherwise if we keep seeing the same way, well we continue doing the same things. Talk about insanity Ha Ha!

Reminds me of Eliyahu M. Goldratt's TOC (Theory of Constraints) In order to remove the bottleneck, sometimes it's not the physical contraints, it's the policies, the mindset, or the perception, the perspective that has to change.

Edward de Bono on creative thinking and perceptual thinking vs judgemtat and design thinking

Judgment is concerned about the truth (ref the gang of 3 )

Design thinking is constructive not judgemental, it creates values

It is about making things work

Are you a Verb?

Some thoughts from Joo Hock to share:

Buckminster Fuller said:
"I know I live on Earth at present, I don't know what I am. I know I'm not a category, a thing, a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process, an integral function of Universe."

I have often shared this quote of Bucky, in our Bucky Group sessions, because I've found that it make sense.

Hmmm...what do I mean?

Well, who we are truly, is that we are not the physical! We are metaphysical, or as some have realized, we are "spiritual". We're not THINGS!

In the exploration of Universe, when we go from the macro realm to the micro realm, we discover that 99.99999....% of atoms is really empty space. What seemed solid, like our tables and chairs, including ourselves, are actually NOT solid after all. Electromagnetic waves, like X-rays can pass through our bodies simply because our bodies are not solid. The atoms and molecules of which we're comprised of are 99.99% empty space. These atoms and molecules behave according to certain behavioral patterns, which these patterns of behavior may be described as Principles, and the "solids" that we're made up, are Pure Principles operating and interacting in orderliness. Buckminster Fuller termed them as Generalized Principles operating in Universe.

But so what? What's the big deal?
For me it is a reminder not to be too attached to material things. And this is something most spiritual people talked about.

So?
What we really want in this day and age is to Experience.
With "artificial intelligence" power evolving and growing exponentially, we are certainly moving into this Age of Experience, with the realization of the Virtual Reality and Avatars that we can create.
We experience Creating. thus we are evolving and experiencing ourselves as gods.

So?
Future generations of human will be moving away from ownership of "things" to just needing to use "things" because what they really want is to live life to the fullest, and not wanting to be tied "down" to "material things" which they could not take with them when they have to say "bye-bye."

We are truly verb/gods.

Universe as Experiences of Energy Events

Some (Joo Hock) thoughts to share

I just watched George Smoot (posted on OIA by Ludo) talked about how our Universe was designed, and he's referring to the physical Universe. Brilliant talk on TED, brilliant graphics, etc. However I'm more in tuned to Buckminster Fuller's (Bucky) perspectives of Universe, which I can connect with. He defined Universe in terms of experience. I quote him, "Universe is the aggregate of all of humanity's experience." (He has a longer version, but at the moment this suffice) I find this meaningful, to me. "Universe is comprised of complexes of energy events, and our experiences of these events. End of the day, everything boils down to our Experiences, nothing more, nothing less. Take away our experiences in life and we won't have a sense of what is Universe.

And I appreciate Bucky's definition even more, because when we see Universe from this perspective, as Experiences, then it is truly comprehensive, covering not just the Physical, but inclusive of the Metaphysical, of thoughts, ideas, feelings, the invisible, the relationship of energy events, Generalized Principles, etc.

Like it took me quite a while to come to share with you here on OIA Learning Hub - the Generalized Principle of Lag operating! Ha Ha

Perhaps you might want to pause here for a while and reflect.

And I like his (Buckminster Fuller's) Poem, "Cosmic Plurality" which I've committed to memory, and use as a "tool" to share some perspective with others when appropriate.

It goes like this:

"Environment to each must be
All there is that isn't me
Universe in turn must be
All that isn't me and me

Since I only see inside of me
What brains imagine outside of me
It seems to me you may be me
If that is so there's only we

Me and we
Two which love makes three
Universe perme-embracing
It Them You We"

David Cooperrider and appreciative inquiry

Richard Boyatzis and resonant leadership

Charles Handy on Qualities of Vision and Leadership

Writing about your life to learn about yourself

Listening, paying attention

Businesses who are not connected with a social mission are morally bankrupt and doomed

Businesses should be socially useful - too the world - and not just to themselves

Looking at the things beneath the stairs - things that may become relevant in 20 to 30 years

Creative workforce - what energize people working together?

When you ask people about what it is like being part of a great team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative. It become quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as singular periods of life lived to the fullest. Some spend the rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit. (Senge 1990: 13)

When the circuit is closed or on, every electron is polarised, energised and the current flows.

Is that the order or the connectivity we need to remember? the connectivity of course, because that is what generate electricity here. If not, electrons will be static or inert in a way...

What Peter Senge highlight here is:

- the meaningfulness of the experience

- the sense of being connected

- an experience described as being generative as individuals and as a group

That is very much like being a creative workforce: being generative

Feeling as one - not just a part of - or, even worst - having no clues about the rest and the others - even possibly no interest - indifference is the lowest level of being part of something. 

Could you feel connected if you do not feel part of a team? NO

Therefore feeling your part of a team, is an important aspect of building a creative workforce.

It needs to be felt and experienced and built upon.

Team learning need to be looked at: the ability to learn as a team

Team building: tapping on the right attributes: trust, openness, commitment, accountability, mission focus

Team maintenance: how to keep a team together? what are people made of? what keep them together? Appreciation, support, tolerance, patience

Is that all? Wonder :-)

Innovation & creative workshop

Innovation and creative workforce
What does it take to foster a creative workforce?
Quick brainstorming:
- Thinking: do we think? how do we think?
What do we allow ourselves to think?

Safe thinking is like following in the path of what has already be thought...
It may lure us into the idea of avoiding mistakes, ... give us a sense of (false?) confidence...
It leads to stereotype, repetition, boredom...
It may be linked with lack of initiative... and always looking for the leader so that I know what to think

A more open form of thinking allow for originality
The Spanish Chef who created the famous restaurant El Buli (now closed) had an epiphany when he heard a French Chef say: Creativity means "not to copy".
It takes courage and possibly some bold moves... you may feel lonely, unsupported...
You could be wrong... but you would not know until you try
You may have to change, adjust, correct, improve...

Creativity starts at the individual level.
A creative workforce is a workforce where creativity can be harnessed from most individual.
What does it take to achieve such a level of being in a group? A creative workforce would imply things like:
- courage to contribute ideas together with a supportive attitude towards such contribution
- willingness to deal with failure together with willingness to accept mistakes from our staff
- willingness and ability to learn from mistake and take action accordingly together with coaching ability to foster reviews and learning
- etc...

When such attitudes and attributes are in place - and maybe a few more - like goal alignment, vision, etc..., the context for innovation is getting in place. Such attitudes and attributes can be called "learning infra-structure". We could draw parallels with the attributes of learning organisations.

Practically I am listing below small steps towards being creative. These practical steps involve things like:
- brainstorming (idea generation)
- games to think out of the box (lateral thinking - inspired by Edward de Bono. For example the Six Hats methodology)
- ability to create consensus in a group using collaborative techniques: group discussion, dialogue, consultation.
- team learning
- appreciation, leading to appreciative inquiry
- and generally, any steps creating the right atmosphere for innovation to take place: developing emotional intelligence, using multiple intelligence

How does creativity comes into place for such aspects as making decision as a group or discussing options or seeking advise...? The point here is that without the ability to tap into each and every one resource, without seeking maximal contributions from each group member, the group is left to the power of a few few or maybe just one... the potential of the group is wasted.

In a positive way, it means that a creative workforce is a workforce where everyone is contributing and involved to the best of his/her ability. It is a fine balance to achieve that while being able to lead the group to success. A creative workforce is a workforce, which as shown in nature - is resilient while flexible, adaptative / adaptive and has the ability to nurture growth and evolution.

Some of the activities that correlate to building creative workforce could involve language, music and art and the ability to co-create. Such activities would involve creating together, listening, ...supporting each other, leading for creation.