Tipping Points
I’ve long been fascinated with the question of how change happens. We’ve talked, in prior sessions of Living Between Worlds, about theories of change from people as diverse as Varoufakis, Spinosa/Flores/Dreyfus, Meadows, and Sunstein, who observes that social change is “frequent, abrupt, and unpredictable.” But why? And how?
Bill Baue of R3.0 joined us on our March call to shine some light into that mystery, kicking off our conversation with a look at how network structures influence the dynamics of change, and some recent research of “tipping points” and the magic percentages that, some claim, tip them.
Ihave my concerns about the research—my permanent questions about sample size and diversity, and my more pointed questions in this case about the “emotional” content—or lack thereof—of the positions being tipped.
Watch or re-watch the video for yourself, and see what you think. And be sure to register for our upcoming sessions, on the third Wednesday of every month.
Chat me Up!
There’s a big difference between treating ChatGPT and the like as oracles (and even as search engines) and treating them as really bright students and research assistants in a graduate seminar. Or tango partners. In “conversation.” (In quotes, of course, because these things don’t care, and can’t care, as conversation partners—and dance partners—do.)
Generating good prompts will become an important—and distinguishing—skill in the era that is upon us. “Promptcraft,” Pete Kaminski cals it. (I still marvel at the many who still aren’t skillful with their basic search engine queries.) So will learning to not believe everything these beasts tel us.
Breaking: More than 1,100 tech leaders have called for slowing down AI deployment—as leading biologists previously did nearly 50 years ago in the early days of recombinant DNA technology. But this thing is moving fast; Schrödinger’s cat may already be out of the bag. (Or not.)
What connects these stories? And connects them to the sustainability / regeneration / “reinventing everything” story?
Listening. And care.
What we care about affects how we listen and to whom we listen. Our listening and our moods affect each other, and the interpretations we form about what we see and hear. And in turn our interpretations affect our moods, and the possibilities we consider available to us.
I recently spoke with a client about a pending business decision, and found (as is so often the case among humans) a set of interpretations that upon further exploration had little grounding in either experience or data, but more of an impression/assumption/bit of common knowledge. My client’s interpretation (as is so often the case among humans) was tied to their mood—in this case one of limitation and resignation—a mood that constricted the offer they were preparing to make to the market, that could have not only left money on the table but brand and relationship value as well.
These matters are common currency in my coaching conversations—the interplay of mood, assessments, and the offers and commitments we make and don’t make in the world. (As well as of course the more tactical matters of being effective, being at peace in the face of uncertainty, and fulfilling the promises we make to others—and to ourselves.)
I’m finding that this matter of mood has enormous emotional and practical potency, and unlocks powerful ways of being in the world. Learn more about why one coaching client called this work “one of the best business decisions I’ve made, ever.”
Meanwhile, as always, thank you for who you are and what you do.