Basic Skills/ Fast Company/ Journal Project, Will R. Yliniemi  July 21, 1999

Fast Company Article #6, The Art of Smart, Dee W. Hock Article, July/August Fast Company, Page 90

Summary

The article written by Dee W. Hock, is very critical of the modernistic organizational use of the jargon unlearn in todays professional and business world. Mr. Hock states that you cant unlearn anything, and that most of what organizations call unlearning is superficial  just slapping a new label on an old can of beans. What we learn makes us who we are and we cant unlearn that.

The learning process helps us gradually and usually unconsciously, compose an internal model of reality  our perspective. Perspective warps our perception and makes it difficult to view things accurately or conceive of them in new ways. When the world around us changes and no longer fits our model, we start to blunder. Rather than alter our perspective, we try to force others to conform to it.

We tend to fall in love with things we think are true. Even if these truths become old and shabby and lose their utility, we cant bear to part with them. We tend to clutter our mind with so much old stuff that there is no room for new stuff. Mr. Hock states that we should create a mental attic for stuff that is no longer useful, and dont try to get rid of it, just refuse to dwell within it any longer. This will free up your mind and create a whole new order, which will enhance creativity.

Mr. Hock feels that change is about seeing old things with new eyes from different perspectives, and that change is about re-conceiving. Change can be exhilarating and liberating, but also can be terrifying, because you are questioning your very identity and sense of value.

Reflection

This article by Mr. Hock was a very refreshing perspective on examining my perspectives on how to deal with the rapid dynamics of converting past experiences of work and life into present and future perspectives and models.

Change is everywhere in our professional and personal lives, and how we re-conceive past experiences to effect change is key to our level of satisfaction and success. The way we use to do it, must be re-examined with a new process which is free of all the non-productive past mental clutter. We still must rely on experiences to recreate a new order thought process to alter our perspective in seeing old things through new eyes.

In recent years, as we have gone through multiple reorganizations of the U of MN Extension Service, most educators have felt a sense of anxiety about change. This caused a questioning of identity and value, but each time every educator had to re-evaluate their work and professional identity. Though some of the changes have had negative outcomes, just the risk of going through self-examination of perspectives has been healthy and liberating.

Discussion

By sharing the article and my reflection with several colleagues, we found that the ideas generated by Mr. Hock are a very practical approach to allow one to evaluate how we view change. Also several colleagues felt that the term unlearning posed a threat, in that the term suggests that what we learned in the past was incorrect and not relevant.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 1999