Stories, Success & You An Interactive Session in the iFoundry Series Emergent Student Leaders Workshops
David E. Goldberg ThreeJoy Associates, Inc. & University of Illinois Champaign, IL 61821 USA [email protected]
Check in
What does it mean to be “centered?”
Exercise: Pause Practice
• Close eyes. • Take 3 deep
breaths. • Notice your
emotional-mental state.
7 Missing Basics of Engineering
1. Asking questions (Socrates 101)
2. Labeling patterns in data (Aristotle 101)
3. Modeling conceptually (Hume 101)
4. Decomposing (Descartes 101)
5. Experimenting (Locke 101) 6. Visualizing/ideating (Da
Vinci 101) 7. Communicating (Newman
101)
Socrates
2 Questions
• What do engineers actually do during the day?
• What artifacts do engineers actually produce themselves?
Language Central to Engineering Work!
• Engineers do math occasionally. • Engineers draw or sketch occasionally. • Engineers build or construct
(themselves) very rarely • Engineers use language constantly (in
person, on paper, on computer or other electronic device).
• Takes many forms & purposes. • Familiar with language as describing. • Focus on language in creation and
action.
John R. Searle (b. 1932)
What is language?
Conventional vs. New View
Conventional • We are thinking beings. • Language separate
tool we use from time to time.
• Language is descriptive and large passive.
• Language is merely an extension of thought.
New View • We are linguistic
beings. • We are in language all
the time. • Language is
generative & creative (not merely passive & descriptive).
• Language is action. To speak is to act.
What is a distinction?
Distinctions
• Making a distinction is the use of a term or terms to discriminate between things as di!erent.
• A conceptual separation or demarcation.
• Intuitively, the way we dimensionalize stories.
• Neil Stroul: “Distinctions are the horse your stories ride in on.”
Distinction Listening Exercise
• Form listener-storyteller pair. • Storyteller tells a recent story about experience. • Listeners listen at level-two (level-one you relate
story to own experience, level-two you listen to story from other person’s perspective).
• Listeners make a list of distinctions the storyteller makes in her/his story.
• If the listener is unsure what is meant by term, ask “What do you mean by <term>?”
Level-One vs. Level-Two Listening
Level One • Listen from ego. • Interrupt to tell your
story. • Relate how story
reminds you of similar experience you had.
• Ask few questions, mainly info gathering.
• Important thing is your being understood.
Level Two • Listen to other. • Interrupt to get
clarification from other. • Relate how one part of
story relates to other things person said.
• Ask many questions, mainly open-ended.
• Important thing is understanding the other.
Secret Shortcut to Open-Ended Questions
• Begin question with the word “what.” – What do you mean by the term “X.” – What is possible? – What else did you see/do/think/feel? – What would a successful outcome be?
• Open-ended questions invite the other to continue, reflect, and articulate their thoughts.
Distinction Listening Exercise
• Form listener-storyteller pair. • Storyteller tells a recent story about experience. • Listeners listen at level-two (level-one you relate
story to own experience, level-two you listen to story from other person’s perspective).
• Listeners make a list of distinctions the storyteller makes in her/his story.
• If the listener is unsure what is meant by term, ask “What do you mean by <term>?”
Debrief
Speech Act Theory: How Language Works
• Speech acts: 5 di!erent types. • Can describe, promise, command, etc. • Austin defined “illocutionary act:”
– Speaker says something. – Means something by it. – Tries to communicate what he means to
hearer. • Distinction between propositional content
and force or type of the speech act. • Examples:
– Please leave the room. – Will you leave the room? – You will leave the room.
J. L. Aus(n (1911-‐1960)
Speech Acts in Practice
• Speech Act: Speaker says something, means something, tries to communicate to another.
• 5 “illocutionary” acts: – Assertions: commit to truth – Assessments: give opinion – Requests: ask or direct to do – Commitments: commit to do – Declarations: cause to exist
• Consider confusion of assertions and assessments.
Assertions versus Assessments
• Assertions committed to the truth. • Assessments committed to expressing an
opinion. • Contrast
– It’s 60 degrees C outside (assertion). – It’s very hot (assessment). – If in doubt, it’s probably an assessment.
• Examples from audience.
Why is it useful to distinguish between assertions and assessments?
From Data Judgment in 25 ms
• Set of things happen in an event. • Our minds immediately interpret
the facts and jump to conclusions. • Lightening quick process. • 2 things:
– Conclusion drawn quickly: “He is an idiot.”
– Said with “certainty.” An assessment masquerades as an assertion.
• Distinguishing assessments & assertions critical to open discourse.
Ladder of Inference
4 Ways to Invite Communication
• Real data is not the problem: Just the facts ma’am. • 4 tactics with assessments:
– Label. – Support (grounded assessment). – Lighten. – Explicitly separate assertions & assessments. – Hold assessments lightly (or get permission to give).
• 4 examples – “He is tall.” “I believe he is tall” or “My assessment is that he is tall.”
label – “He is tall.” “He is relatively tall for men in this town.” support – “He is tall.” “He is tall, and I hold this assessment lightly.” label &
lighten – “He is tall.” “May I o!er you my assessment of his height?” request
permission
Stories that Serve, Stories that Don’t
• All stories a combination of assertions and assessments: – Assertions (if true) don’t
change. – Assessments subject to
reframing, reevaluation, deletion, addition.
• Metaphor of underspecified data. How many lines can we fit through a straight line?
• Why not choose lines with good slopes?
What stories serve us? What stories don’t?
Common Stories That Hold Back
• 2 stories: – Mommy/daddy story. If I get <X>, my
mommy/daddy will love/appreciate me, and I will love myself.
– Mr/Ms Perfect story. If got a bad <X> I am a failure.
Enlarging Stories That Enhance/Advance
• Many ways to enhance stories and visual di!erent future.
• One way is the impossibility framing. • 2 questions:
– What impossible thing could we do that would make this awesome?
– How do make the impossible possible?
Two Takeaways
For Presence
Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses. Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon. Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path. Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity. May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame. May anxiety never linger about you. May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul. Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention. Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul. May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart
of wonder.
O'Donohue, John (2008-‐03-‐04). To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (p. 42). Harmony. Kindle Edi(on.
Stories, Success & You An Interactive Session in the Series Mastering the Missing Basics of Engineering
David E. Goldberg ThreeJoy Associates, Inc., University of Illinois & NUS Champaign, IL 61821 USA [email protected]
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