Self and Collaboration

The Do LEctures Blog - Which Wolf Will Win?

This weeks assignments have focused around socratic thought:

Socrates, more than any other before or since, models for us philosophy practiced - philosophy as deed, as way of living, as something that any of us can do. It is an open system of philosophical inquiry that allows one to interrogate from many vantage points. 

So when reading this excerpt from the side project I thought it aligned so well with internal and external questioning of one's self and all things:

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life.
‘A fight is going on inside me,’ he said to the boy.
‘It is a terrible fight and it is between 2 wolves.
‘One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt and ego.
‘The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
‘This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too.’
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
‘Which wolf will win?’
The old chief simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’

Feeding the correct wolf is a constant struggle in life, for most people I think. Personally, it has been a big theme lately. When balancing my wolves, it makes me question all actions in life. Even the good ones. However, by pushing through those harsh times of doubt, laziness, and vagueness, I've reached many goals.

Innovation Excellence - Solving the Innovation Learning Problem
 

This semester of Creative Leadership has focused on internal reflection and personal growth. In this blog about learning curves, it states: "what most of us are challenged by is how change impacts on, and disrupts four-core human structures: cognition, emotion, body and will." These four human structures take the brunt of all actions in life, good and bad. As a leader of a company, department, household or club these structures are constantly at play. Additionally, they all affect and influence each other. Learning how to balance and offset negatives on one structure could help equalize all of them.

Center for Creative Leadership - Fast Track: How Top Silicon Valley Companies Accelerate Leadership Development

Another theme of this week's assignments has been collaboration...and how some of us really struggle with it. In the design world collaboration is such a buzz word that seems to come to people so easily. I remember in undergrad hearing that term a lot and also internally snarking "what the F*** does that even mean." In Silicon Valley collaboration is a tool that without a lot of brainchilds wouldn't have come to fruition. These steps of development are interesting to analyze from an outsiders view and compare them to my previous work situations of collaboration and productivity:

7 Best Practices for Development in the Silicon Valley
Give leaders heat experiences.
Build ecosystems of peer-to-peer learning.
Company data + your culture = leadership hacks.
Develop leaders through 3 circles.
Design for time-poor leaders.
Build snackable and deep-dive solutions.
Protect your asset: Create a low stress, high energy culture.
Bonus: Become the world’s best plumbers.