Here is my report on the session I triggered off with Maik (Maik Pfingsten) on Saturday, the second day – which was practically the end – of the Berlin PM Camp #PPMCampBER.
It had been our intention to relate and discuss a few ideas to show how, even in a complex environment, you can manage to live content and successfully, both in your private and professional (business) life.
In order to show this, we developed a few theses:
Truth
As we see it, there is no absolute truth. To be sure, there are more “correct” and more “incorrect” ideas. But you should not use correct and incorrect as terms. Instead, you should see them metaphorical, meaning “goal-oriented”. Other than that, it seems to us that people often discuss certainties and totally forget that much they believe in is just a construct of their brains.
Complicated versus complex
I used to believe that all that is determined is also complicated. And that complexity starts where “determinedness” ends. Whenever the end was not predictable or describable as an algorithm, I used the term complexity. Others used the metaphors “dead” for the “complicated” and “alive” for “complex”. This means that organic chemistry can only always be complicated, whereas inorganic chemistry might well become complex.
Maik provided us with a very nice description of “complex” – from the viewpoint of a system engineer. He draws an axis of coordinates. The x-axis represents the complicatedness, the y-axis the change and dynamics. And the system will change more and more from complicated to complex as complicatedness and dynamics increase.
I find it quite easy to come to terms with this pragmatic definition. Here, too, the decision whether something is complex or complicated is in the eye of the beholder. Incidentally, this is something Nico Banz gave a very nice session about at the #MCampBER – just before us and in the same lecture hall. Using an example, he showed us that judging whether something is complex or complicated is, indeed, a very subjective process.
By now, I have come to believe that the academic discussion about complex versus complicated is not very useful. What actually counts is right decisions and projects.
Decision
The definition of the term “decision” is based on two requirements: it has to happen under uncertainty and it must have relevant consequences. Otherwise, it is not really a decision.
In the context of decisions, it is also exciting that neural science keeps proving that decisions only seem to be made by ratio (cerebral cortex). The truth is that they are made by our subconscious, which means involuntarily.
Incidentally, they found out at St. Gallen college that the huge majority of management decisions are wrong decisions.
Mind you, the distinction between “right and wrong” decisions is not at all easy. In fact, it gets even harder: if you analyse an enterprise or a project in retrospective, it often becomes “story telling”. Even if there is no doubt that the stories might be useful, precise scientific research (studying the protocols, etc.) will show that it is not at all easy to judge “à posterio“ what decision caused which event.
I always wanted to be a “good” manager and entrepreneur. And I wanted to make the right decisions. And today, I ask myself how any manager can decide correctly “à priori“ if, even in retrospect, he cannot say with certainty how the causality was.
Projects
As I see it, it is not a good idea for us to distinguish between our professional and private lives. Living a life is more joy if you live it integrated. That means I have to act in the same way in my private life as I would act in my professional life. There is no difference.
I like asking third parties the question: what do you think is my most important project? They are often surprised by my reply – but for me, it is absolutely clear: my life.
There is no doubt that my life is a project. It has a beginning and an end. I have a multi-dimensional budget – which consists of time, talent, knowledge, experience and much more. The goal of my life project is my path of life. Part of it is my death. I would like to have made my peace with everybody I ever met when I die.
My life consists of many projects. Some are mostly private, others mostly business. Consequently, I need to act in the right way.
Acting Right
So this is the central question: how to learn to act right?
After all, I know that there is no absolute truth. Also, I know that the future cannot be predicted. I also know that I live inside the constructs of my subconscious and that the competence to act according to reason and ratio is a mere chimera!
As I see it, the only thing that will help us is finding behaviour-oriented values and live according to them.
Recommendations:
I no longer believe in best practice, methods and complex tools. I do not like tips (tipping me on the shoulder is beating me on the shoulder). These days, all I believe in is simplicity and reducing life to the essentials. And I believe in craftsmanship. Practice. On my way towards mastering things, I need support by a master. In my life, mentors and wise persons helped me a lot both interactively and as an ideal.
Consequently, I gave a short description of what Hans Ulrich and John Izzo recommend during our Berlin session.
Hans Ulrich
Hans Ulrich died several years ago. He was the father of the St. Gallen Management Model and wrote a wonderful and short essay about change in management in 1982. I read this article on December, 8th, 2011, sitting in the train and preparing for a workshop in St. Gallen. And I was totally electrified by it. I regretted not having read it earlier.
Here is the concise form of the “8 theses on the change in management” by Hans Ulrich, along with short comments:
- Accept the uncertainty and unpredictability of the future as the normal state of affairs!
Well, the future simply cannot be predicted.… - Set a broader horizon for your limits of thinking!
Against the “but”… and for freedom of ideas. Share knowledge. - Apply the categories “both”, instead of “either-or”!
Black-and-white is out, colourful is in. - Think multi-dimensional!
Ethically responsible balance of values. Basically, humans can only deal with three ideas simultaneously. - Use self-organization and self-control as formative models for all your enterprises!
Responsibility, principle of subsidiarity. - Consider managing things a meaningful and important function!
New management image. - Focus on what is really important!
Work economy. - Make use of group dynamic!
Cultures, symbols, rites, rituals …
Of course, the theses developed by Hans Ulrich were intended primarily for modern management. Yet they are also very useful for your private life.
For more information on leadership and Hans Ulrich, see the IF Blog underWandel im Management and under another Session Report, as well as, of course, my “Enterpreneur’s Diary“.
John Izzo
The second wise counsellor I mentioned is John Izzo. He did some research on values shared by elderly persons conceived as successful, happy and prudent. And he discovered a common characteristic among those people, which he summarized as the “five secrets”
First Secret Remain true to yourself! This is about “destina”, a term originally from South America. Mind you, it does not mean destiny or even kismet, but your own call and vocation in life.
Second Secret
Live in such a way that you will have nothing to regret later!
Also try new things! Have courage to start something that, at first sight, seems rather unusual. This might actually help you when you have to make a decision.
Third Secret
Love yourself and enjoy it!
First and foremost, you must learn to love yourself! Because only those who love themselves can also love others. Ban enmity from your life. Choose humanity as your life’s principle. Make persons you are surrounded by bigger, instead of smaller.
Fourth Secret
Carpe Diem!
Enjoy, instead of thinking too much. Remove “yes, but” from your active vocabulary. Replace them by “yes, and”. Do not capitulate before “that is not what you want to do!“
Fifth Secret
Give more than you take!
Those who give get a lot more in return. Give trust. Open yourself up and show others something of yourself.
I discussed the book by John Izzo at great length in a separate article. I think it is well worth reading and you should certainly think about those recommendations for life. And perhaps you would like to adapt them for your own life.
If these recommendations do not reach far enough for you, then why don’t you read the Agile Manifesto? Or maybe you want to become theALO-man (see also my article leadership-values-principles) who is only agile, lean and open? And when you come to “lean”, you want to remember the importance of the “Why?“-question in Kanban.
If you do this, you will find the path through the world even easier, regardless of it being complicated or complex. And it will not matter if you are talking your private or your business life, either.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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