Drinking with the Lads (and John)

Are You Really An Adult Underachiever?

Forrest ChristianCoaching, Underachievers 7 Comments

Too many good people think they are “adult underachievers” but aren’t. What they really are is folks who have chosen a different lifepath than the one that is accepted as the best way to live in our society. (I’m in America, but probably still true in Australia and the UK. It’s less true in Europe. If you’re somewhere else, you’ll …

Prom rejection (2009) by Mjt16. Public domain.

Why Requisite Organization Fails: People Don’t Like the Implications

Forrest Christianrequisite organization 10 Comments

Let’s face facts: Requisite Organization (RO) means that a lot of people (1) aren’t as “smart” as they think they are, and (2) the system in which they have succeeded is built on sand. And that’s a big reason why RO doesn’t succeed. When people read about work levels and Requisite Organization — especially Bioss’s Career Path Appreciation (CPA) and …

When You Aren't Really Agreeing: The Dangers of Universal Language

Forrest ChristianOrganizations Leave a Comment

Last month, Michael Spencer posted a list of what he, as a religious person, wanted in a church. His readers, from a variety of denominations, all agreed whole-heartedly with his vision. And that’s the problem. Take a look at how using vague Universal Language (as opposed to even Universal Values) can lead to agreement where there probably isn’t any, whether in churches, companies or associations.

If Training is Lipstick on a Pig, At Least Make Sure They Aren't Hogs

Forrest ChristianLearning Leave a Comment

Michelle Malay Carter over at Mission Minded Management recently wrote a post asking “Is Training Anything More Than Putting Lipstick on a Pig?” She raises some good points there’s more to the problem than she admits. Although the solution may be similar. Training class content matters. As does the student body. You gotta make sure you don’t mix your hogs …

Space Shuttle Atlantis is seen as it launches from pad 39A on Friday, July 8, 2011, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Growth Trajectories of Underachievers (or “Hidden High Potentials”)

Forrest ChristianCoaching, Underachievers 1 Comment

Hidden High Potentials (2HiPo’s) and other “underachievers” can learn a great deal from work done on extremely high IQ children. Although Elliott Jaques & Katherine Cason describe these things in a more systematical way in Human Capability, these Gifted Children researchers provide a much needed human face. Stephanie S. Tolan, an “advocate for extremely bright children”, talks about the growth …

Notice: New Boss, Same As The Old Boss…

Forrest ChristianAdmin, Warren Kinston Leave a Comment

Warren Kinston needed to take the company in a direction that, at least for the next year or so, would preclude the work I had joined with him to do. We have therefore parted ways, and I wish him the best in getting his taxonomy into online products. Any questions about the future of the taxonomy should be directed to …

Contemplative Work

Forrest ChristianTheory, Warren Kinston Leave a Comment

From Kinston, Warren. 1988. “A total framework for inquiry”. Systems Research, 5(1): 9-25. The inherent dangers in the Level VII' [the contemplative] inquiry include fixation on an incorrect idea and inappropriate messianism. Speculative ideas are not practically usable until they have been socially shared with the relevant community…. Scientific process occurs at this level through holistic syntheses which reframe or …

Dome of the Belgian royal greenhouses in Laeken (external). (c) E. Forrest Christian

Time Span of Discretion and Naturalistic Decision Making

Forrest ChristianDecision-making, Reviews - Books 1 Comment

Klein, Gary. 1997. Making Decisions in Natural Environments. Alexandria, VA: Research and Advanced Concepts Office, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. I’ve been reading up on Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM). Klein and his colleagues studied how experts such as fire commanders actually make decisions. In turns out that they don’t, if you think of formal decision …