Angel's Advocates and Creating New Social Norms

The Wired to Connect dialogues is a series of dialogues between Daniel Goleman and several leading thinkers. In the dialogue called The Inner Compass for Ethics and Excellence, Daniel Goleman and Naomi Wolf share their thoughts about how to create new social norms and cultures in which women develop their leadership.

Naomi Wolf explains how in order to be heard, women need to use their "true voice" and let go of old, overlearned responses such as, presenting a "false front of compliance" and "playing it safe" and "placate". For women who want to make change, there is a need to get over the aversion to criticism. In order to change this wiring, they need to live by the maxim, feel the fear and do it anyway.

Goleman speaks about how Neuroplasticity comes into play - the brain shapes itself through repeated experiences and it's only by putting women in a place where they are compelled to take risks, will these old, play-it-safe responses be overwritten.

Goleman explains this shift in terms of the amygdala, the part of the brain that receives direct inputs from the senses, to trigger a response even before these stimuli are registered by the neocortex or the thinking centre. The amygdala triggers an emotional response even before the cortical centres (or the thinking brain) have fully understood what is happening.

When women speak with their true voices, this shift resonates outwards, and is instantly and almost unconsciously, perceived by listeners (via the amygdala) and plays a significant role in building trust.

Goleman shares a story about an organisation that has developed the concept of the Angel's Advocate, a powerful and real way of creating a new culture and social norms. In this organisation, there is a tradition that whenever anyone advocates a new idea, the next person who speaks must support it. This allows breathing room for new ideas, and ensures that not every new idea is killed at the outset. This practice is now standard operating procedure in that organisation.

So for all of you who long for change - there's many routes - use your true voice, face up to and do not fear criticism, take risks often, and be an angel's advocate...in Gandhi's words, well, just go ahead and be the change!

Skepticism vs. The Need to Believe

We were recently watching the Paul Merton in India series on the tele and my ten year old son was amazed by what he didn't know about India. And more than a little disturbed as he watched with a new set of eyes, the land where a majority survive not on bread and water, but on belief alone. It made us a little sad really. I am a skeptic at heart, and feel that truth above all else must prevail. And though only ten, and unable to articulate why he felt so uncomfortable with the complex ritualism that seems to define a large part of India (and even the tech-savvy part of India), he does know that something's not quite right.

Is it sheer coincidence then (please let it be!), that The Guardian weekly science podcasts invited guest Prof Chris French - coordinator of the anomalistic psychology research unit at Goldsmiths, University of London - to share his ideas and the work being done on the subject of Anomalistic Psychology. You can listen to the Guardian podcast here. You can also get access to the audio and video presentations of the anomalistic psychology research unit at Goldsmiths here.

Anomalistic psychology seeks to provide non-paranormal explanations for a whole range of para-normal experiences. And to teach critical thinking. And to help people understand the nature of evidence and assess the worth of evidence, and why they should believe more in certain forms of evidence than in others. In other words, it seeks to teach people to adopt a scientific, skeptical approach to life and phenomena.

In a country where poverty, hunger and homelessness abound, there is no doubt that paranormal beliefs can play a positive role - that of a shock absorber that makes it possible to face each day of hardship. It's often a case of Believe or Go Mad with Frustration or Die from Despair. But where belief and blind faith take away from people their faith in themselves and their own power of decision making, it can do no good. Where belief is used to make puppets of people and disempower them and keep them from achieving their true potential, it can do no good.

Derren Brown, master conjurer and mindtrickster is also a promoter of skepticism and critical thinking. Read more about his views here.

I fear that change may be a long time coming in India. But please let it begin here and now. Surely there is more to science education and IT advances than merely a foothold to the world of material advancement? Surely above all else, it is about building questioning minds and evidence based thinking?

Changin Times and the Evolving Self

(Image courtesy: Paavan Karia)

"Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'..." Bob Dylan

Do you remember this Bob Dylan classic?

Classic because its still true and relevant today. Today I write about some eternal truths. Changing times and The Evolving Self (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). In this brilliant discourse, Csikszentmihalyi delves into the role played by evolutionary adaptation and wired in, genetic programmes in shaping our psychology. And how in order to survive and progress and adapt to changing times, we must remain flexibhle because "with each generation the conditions that affect human consciousness change in subtle but important ways "(p.42). He recognises that in order for the human race to thrive, there is a need to develop skills beyond logic and rational thought because:

"The future...is not constrained by rules and predictable outcomes. We need to cultivate more than logic if we want to thrive in it. We must foster intuition to anticipate changes before they occur; empathy to understand that which cannot be clearly expressed; wisdom to see the connection between apparently unrelated events and creativity to discover new ways of defining problems, new rules that will make it possible to adapt to the unexpected."

For providers of learning, there is much to chew upon. Let us awaken to the changing times and the need to change the way learning is dished out. Let us stop cultivating sheep (no offence to sheep!).

For more insight into changing paradigms and new perspectives into learning, listen to this podcast - Informal Learning – an interview with Brian Sutton.

Greatness, Contribution and Making a difference

It's been nearly two months.

Recently, a dear friend gifted me a copy of Stephen R. Covey's book, The 8th Habit.

Synchronicity seems to be at work. I was thrilled when on p. 27, I found another reference to Robert Frost's poem The Road Less Travelled that has been buzzing in my mind for quite a while now, and was discussed in my last post.

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I -
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference..."

I have talked in my last and other posts about the need to break away from old patterns and explore new paths. With a marvellous analogy about the practice of blood-letting used to heal people in the Middle ages, Stephen Covey writes on p.19,

"If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms."

Further on p. 20 he writes, " ...the problem is that paradigms, like traditions, die hard. Flawed paradigms go on for centuries after a better one is discovered..."

Seems to be that's where we are at really - trying to discard old paradigms and find new ones. Which comes first?

We must teach the new generations that mediocrity cannot walk hand in hand with "greatness and contribution". (p.28) And we must walk the talk.

In the same vein, a really fun and entertaining card game about change and transition that some friends in Cirencester introduced us to is Fluxx. Quite disconcerting at first, dealing with and adapting to rapidly changing rules. Quite too much like life really.