Here is a good weblog from Professor Larry Press of the Computer Information Systems group at California State University, Dominguez Hills. The university is in the Los Angeles area. CSUDH is an active university with a reputation for trying out innovations. The university is important to its region, especially as a beacon of light demonstrating the power of education in a changing and complex environment.
The information about the CSUDH weblog is courtesy two professionals from Ball State University's Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM) group--Professor Fred Kitchens and one of their graduate assistants, Geoff Ginther.
Geoff Ginther is also an active master's degree candidate at the Center for Information and Communication Sciences, Ball State University.
In the European renaissance in the birth of the modern period, scholars developed information links and networks by postal mail and books brought by couriers, carried by muscle power. Today's information renaissance scholars develop links using email and internetworks, forwarded by electrons.
The professionals here are information networking--which I define as the movement and use of information--so that people who are geographically distant can share ideas and perspectives.
It's how new eras are built--person by person, group by group, organization by organization. Like a building going up, you can see it happen, a little at a time. Construction projects are messy and complex--it takes imagination to remember how it was before, and to see what is to come.
Picture how it was; imagine how it will be. That's the unfolding history of today's information renaissance.
Tom Peters had a blog post "The Days of Our Lives," on 25 October 2005 that I found really helpful in "working on my 'attitude'"--something every professional knows is an issue. Nota Bene, I like "consciousness" or "awareness" better terms than "attitude," yet the three terms are all linked together--pick the one you relate to best.
Tom Peters said:
As you know, I've been rushing around like a true maniac: 45 days, 22 lectures ranging from 40 minutes to 9 hours, 10 countries, 5 continents, and about 76,000 miles.. . . . . .
Here's my conundrum. I'm exhausted. In the service, many of us deployed overseas kept what were called "short timers calendars." On these, which could be quite large and artistic and encompass hundreds of days, one crossed off the days to deployment's/tour's end. As officers, we weren't supposed to keep them as we were to act as if we could hardly wait for the sun to rise over Monkey Mountain outside of Danang.. . . . . .
So I've been consciously working on a new (for me) approach, with at least a smidgeon of success. Either at day's end or dawn's early light, I have a little meditation and self-counseling session on making the day count, rather than devoting the day to eager anticipation of the moment I can cross it off the calendar. Professionally, that first means looking anew and in depth at the forthcoming lecture to be sure that it clearly encompasses (as best I can) an ennobling purpose, challenges participants' minds and engages their souls.. . . . . .
Also professionally, I "work on" my attitude. This may be day 45 and mile 76,000 for me, but for the Client it is D-Day for an Important Event (often their year's #1 event, for God's sake); hence my exhaustion and accompanying short temper must be thrust aside ... and downright cheeriness and spirited engagement must become the invariant orders of the day. Besides, such cheeriness, even if feigned, cheers me up first and foremost! Next, and in a way most important, even though I have little trouble infusing my lecture with meaning, I must thoroughly convince myself that this is a day every hour of which is worth savoring! Hackneyed though it is to write, 25 October 2005 ain't gonna come around again and this 62-year-old is gonna be a day older and closer to checkout time when it's done.. . . . . .
Every professional gets tired. So does every worker, around the world, a world of backaches and headaches and fatigue.
Yet it's the consciousness of the good worker and great professional that raises them up.
Then they can overcome the obstacles to productivity and performance.
I'm reminded of the encouraging lyrics (I'll reprint the verse below) from a traditional American people's hymn--"There is a Balm in Gilead."
Some times I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.
May your own hardworking soul find revival at the end of the day.
JEG
I have been working on some ideas on shifting perspective from inward-focused to outward-focused.
I taught this in my Human Communication courses this week. Semi-seriously, I call our Human Communication course "organizational communication in disguise." That's because the master's degree produced by the Center for Information and Communication Sciences has a professional foundation.
This set of ideas on shifting perspective leads to growth and greater effectiveness for students, individuals, organizations, and societies.
Here are the categories:
Student Goal (from undergraduate Self-development to graduate Professional development)
Individual (from Self-centered to Other-centered)
Organization (from Internally-focused to Market/Environment Externally-focused)
Society (from Ethnocentric to Cosmopolitan)
I'd like to set this up in a table, in terms of its format, yet you get the idea of the movement, I reckon.
The idea is to move from an inward orientation toward an outward orientation. Truly this movement can be difficult, yet if those involved succeed in changing their perspectives or orientation, then the result is greater sophistication--greater knowledge, and more effectiveness.
[Thank you to my students, especially David Girard and the 2004-2005 221J staff group for your help on this topic. Comments on this work-in-progress are welcome.]
JEG