Rather than seeing a couple of hundred unanswered email as a sign of bad karma, and/or immense popularity, here’s a perspective that might be just a tad more sensible. Simply put, I believe it’s all about making sense. To begin with, most of us have experiences. When trying to make sense out of them, we look for, and consequently apply, signs, triggers, cues, hints, patterns, knobs, handles and levers, anything we can wrap our hands and minds around, so as to make sense out of it all, or rather, select portions of it.

This is where all the trouble begins. Others have this annoying predilection of selecting other bits, and call them the significant one’s. Our bits are tested and true, valid and relevant knowledge, often highly valuable, if not downright essential and seminal. Others select bits are opinion, and needs to be resisted, and the holders of such gently nudged towards letting go of their wayward ramblings. All this usually goes on in something we usually refer to as a meeting, or a series of meetings. When we really want to have serious fun, we package all of the above into a big pile, and call it a project.

Here, I believe I’ve actually found somewhat of a solution. Rather than trying to bludgeon everyone else into seeing things your way, all the existing differences of opinion, as well as all the asymmetries wrt to what information the participants have access to, can be seen as the creative tension out of which a valuble meeting can unfold. As for how, that is a bit more complex. There’s usually a more or less unique path for each single meeting, depending on such things as participants, issue and desired outcome. This unique path, and how to optimally leverage these asymmetries, is at the heart of what we at here, do.

Tags: bad karma, experiences, relevant knowledge, serious fun

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