Bloomport U

So, I was going through my notes (looking for something interesting to review) and I came across notes I took from Bob Johansen’s “Get There Early”.  Bob is a bigwig at Institute for the Future and has an uncanny knack for presenting the future in a systemic way. While he did not invent the term VUCA, I know that for those of us in P&G, he brought the term to life.

So, I heard about his future approach, I did some research on VUCA and read his book. From the book, here are the points I added to my learning journal.

Memorable notes from the book: 

In a meeting that Johansen was in with AG Lafley and Peter Drucker, A.G. said “Great managers help eccentric people produce”.  Wow, this coming from a colony of Proctoids

Obsessively implement the AAR (After action review). After action review:  learning comes from the discipline of learning; after each event, ask these questions.

1. What was our intent? 2. What happened?  3. What worked?  4. What could have been more effective?  5. What did we learn?  Reminds me of my WW-WDW exercise I used in my last team. (What worked, what didn’t work).  The name really never caught on.. AAR sounds somehow better.

“Every winning strategy is based on a compelling insight.” This is from the book “Strategic Learning” by Willie Petersen (Columbia Business School).  Wow, I like the quote, going to look for more from this guy.

“Sensing is listening to the world around you, listening to signals you think are important to your organization, and listening for your inner voice of innovation.  Sensing is listening for the future, hearing something others don’t hear yet.”  YES!!!  Once again the “weak signals” are the harbingers of change… seek them out!

Foresight: perception of the significance and nature of events before they have occurred. Immersion experiences help learners imagine provocative futures that might never have occurred to them before

 Insight: the act or outcome of grasping or perceiving the inward or hidden nature of things.  Immersion experiences encourage A-HA moments where learners see the world differently and imagine new strategies.  To me this means that you must seek out the insight…

Action: the state or process of action or doing.  Basically, get off the couch and have the courage to act on the insight you worked so hard to get!

Fundamentalism is characterized by listening narrowly, but generalizing broadly.  I thought this was interesting… an easy way to catalogue a person who is hell bent on raming thier perspective but not listening to a word you are saying.

Military strategic intent:

1. Purpose, what do you want to accomplish, how is this related to the larger mission or enterprise

2. Method or task, what needs to be done?

3. End state, what ends are we pursuing”

 Oh I love this one:

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.  As our case is new, we must think and act anew.”  Abraham Lincoln, 1862 annual message to Congress

 Determinants of health status:  (According to the CDC):   10% is access to health care, 20% is genetics, 20% is due to the environment and 50% is due to behavior”!!!!  Cut out the high fructose corn syrup instead of asking the government to do it for you?

Networking IQ:  networking skills and new media practices are dependent on three factors:

How you use networks to engage others in effective ways

Referral behavior, how you use networks to link other resources in your network

Online lifestyle; how the network fits into the context of the rest of your life.”

I guess I better get on with Dan Schwabel’s book “Me 2.0″