There are no shortcuts to meaningfulness. The MW Newsletter aims to bring substance and insight to your life. Enjoy the long-form content over a nice cup of tea or coffee! If you're not subscribed to our mailing list, you can do so below. You can also join the conversation in our dedicated LinkedIn group and use the Archive to check out past newsletters on perennial topics, such as wellbeing, distraction, courage, and happiness. Dr Todd Mei Editor & Founder of Philosophy2u |
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Content for November 2023 Our focus this month is Language in Work. What Is Language? Practice: Navigating the Mind with NLP and Its Magic Ideation: Getting Critical through Creativity Guest Column: When the Dream Job Is Actually a Nightmare by Joseph Edelheit, PhD
~ “The scientific studies that have been done during the past 25 years have confirmed the link between stress and heart disease. We now have additional data that proves stress, especially mental illness, related to our work directly exacerbates heart disease.” |
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What Is Language? “One basic feature of [natural] language is polysemy, the fact that for one word there is more than one meaning. So there is not a one-to-one relationship between word and meaning. And so it’s a source of misunderstanding, but it’s also a source of all the richness in language, because you may play with this range of meanings which accompanies one word.”
Paul Ricoeur, A Ricoeur Reader * * * * *
While most of our attention on the role of language in work might revolve around policy, regulations, and branding, it’s important not to lose sight of its essential nature.
Language is essentially creative. And from its creativity flows at least three essential functions for an organization – connection, cultivation, and critical thinking. Connection. A basic function of language is the association between things in the world and our ideas, beliefs, and stories. Giving names to things not only allows for social cooperation so that we can easily engage and act with little to no misunderstanding, but it more importantly enables us to share a common world. Cultivation. Common connections between ideas and things, conventional meanings, and familiar ideas actually allow for innovation. Because we share a common world and a variety of common spoken and unspoken languages, we can use those shared resources to cultivate new ideas. Fertile grounds make for new and surprising actions. Metaphor epitomizes this cultivation aspect of language. By juxtaposing two familiar words and their familiar meanings together, I can create (or predicate) a new sense. Take the words “sea”, “singing”, and “genius”. Their respective senses should be familiar enough. Now see how Wallace Stevens deploys them in his poem The Idea of Order at Key West: She sang beyond the genius of the sea. The verse leaves one to contemplate who “she” is and what the “genius of the sea” might be. The French philosopher Paul Ricoeur referred to this creative synergy of words in sentences as “the infinite use of finite means”. As for critical thinking, we’ll cover that in the Ideation section of the newsletter where I'll discuss how the basic functions of language matter for your business or organization. |
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Practice: Navigating the Mind with NLP and Its Magic Neurolinguistic Programming, or NLP, is more than just an acronym. It's a journey into the intricate workings of the human mind, a study of excellence initiated by the inquisitive minds of Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970s. It goes beyond observing what people do; it delves into the nuances of how they do it, unraveling the language of the mind. Key Learning Point 1: Anchors One of the standout techniques within NLP is the concept of “Anchors”. Take Novak Djokovic, the tennis maestro, as an example. Amidst a challenging match, he expertly resets himself, anchored to a positive state. In my world, anchoring has proven to be a game-changer, especially when faced with the task of inducting a large group or navigating high-pressure situations. My personal anchor involves a simple routine of deep breaths, a fist-punch for an energetic jolt, and a confident smile. This ritual serves as my anchor to a state of unwavering assurance. Key Learning Point 2: Reframing The second intriguing technique is “Reframing”. Imagine encountering a situation, perhaps missing the bus. One frame might cast it as a cascade of negativity, a bad start to the day. However, through reframing, that same situation transforms into an opportunity for exercise, a chance to listen to a podcast, and an overall positive start. The power of reframing lies not in changing the situation itself but in altering one's perspective. This magic of reframing proves particularly potent in the realm of organizational development, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. |
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Key Learning Point 3: Disney Creativity Strategy Lastly, let's delve into the “Disney Creativity Strategy”. Walt Disney himself employed this method, using three chairs in his office to represent different roles: the Dreamer, the Critic, and the Realist.
Moving amongst these chairs, he could envision, critique, and execute ideas. Trying this approach internally, or even within a team, can unveil a spectrum of perspectives and elevate the process of problem-solving. It's not just about embracing creativity; it's about embracing a holistic view of any given situation. ~ Whether you're a newcomer to NLP or a seasoned practitioner, take a moment to appreciate its depth. It's not merely a toolkit; it's a lens through which you can perceive and navigate the intricacies of human experience. The journey into NLP, as highlighted by anchors, reframing, and the Disney Creativity Strategy, is a continual exploration of the mind's potential. If you have questions or thoughts on NLP or any other topic we've discussed, don't hesitate to reach out. Joseph Smart OD&D Consultant, Smart Joseph Consulting joe@smartjoseph.com |
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Ideation: Getting Critical through Creativity The connective nature of language, where we name things, is key to a shared understanding about the world. But it can also be limiting. Just because we can name something by a word or words does not necessarily mean we capture what it’s all about. A classic example is that of light. Is it a wave or a particle? As you know, light can behave like either, depending on the circumstances. The point is that if we think of something solely in terms of the name, it may limit how we see it. And we might miss a lot about its nature or, as one German philosopher puts it, how things reveal themselves to us. One way to think about this constraint is to consider a name as creating an anchoring bias, where our view is significantly determined by the first conceptual or linguistic experience. For example, retailers use anchoring bias to motivate consumer spending when they use a price tag that has an original price and its markdown. The original price acts as the anchor that subsequently makes us feel the markdown is a bargain. If you came across the markdown by itself, you might not notice whether the price is a bargain. When the exercise of naming is applied to business, it asks us to wonder how what we’re calling a thing, objective, mission, process, person, or role might be constraining how the business and people might grow and develop. Take for instance the use of the word “customer”. One of its earlier meanings is “a person with whom one has dealings” (1540s). Its modern meaning involves the idea of a person who purchases goods and services. Following on from this, there are certain conventions that apply to customers, as in ensuring satisfaction for a purchase. The use of the term seems pretty uncontroversial. |
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However, when applied to education, the term is not only awkward-fitting but actually inimical to the practice of the institution. Why? The simplest way is to see the reversal of standards and expectations. With retail sales, the focus is on customer satisfaction. With education, the focus falls on learning. As most of us know, learning is often quite difficult and takes time. Satisfaction tends not to rely on instant gratification, but on an extended (and often long) process in which the student has to demonstrate competence in any given field of study. The idea of the customer and customer satisfaction really doesn’t fit the educational process well since expectations of instant gratification can fail to fully grasp how learning requires engagement and work. What confuses the issue is that because tuition is an exchange of money for a service (education), it’s assumed that getting a degree is really like going to a store and picking out what you want. But not all forms of exchange are retail in nature. As with education, tuition is more about investing in the present and future of oneself and society . . . under the assumption that a better-educated society is a more capable one. And this is why most philosophers aptly describe education as a public good. It enables individuals and societies to achieve more than otherwise possible. Perhaps also of Interest: What are public goods? More specific to businesses, the ways it or its roles and processes are described can be limiting. In Joe Smart’s column on NLP (above), he referred to changing perspectives as a way to see things anew and find ways to make a product or service better. Role-playing offers a similar refreshing perspective. Think of it as changing names so that you can see how things work in a different part of the business. Being able to walk in another’s shoes relies on a creative feat which can really only be nurtured by language. Speaking, thinking, and interacting under the new name helps to really situate oneself in the different role. What comes out of it, at the very least, is an empathetic understanding of co-workers; at the very most, changing names and roles can lead to discovering new connections, better processes, and the ever-elusive solution to a probem. Hey, it’s what essentially underwrites the 4-day workweek process. Put yourself in this role: Imagine if you could only work 4 days a week for a total of 32 hours. How would you get all your work done? If you can create the process, you’ve got the 4-day workweek!
Dr Todd Mei
Founder and Consultant for Philosophy2u tsmei@philosophy2u.com |
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When the Dream Job Is Actually a Nightmare When you are working in your ‘dream’ position, not yet 50 years old, you don’t expect to be told that you need emergency heart surgery because of silent-asymptomatic ischemia. The next day, I had a four-way by-pass surgery which changed my life, family, and career forever. I now realize how little I understood about my health and its relationship to work. During my recovery, I learned about the changes that my heart disease would demand of me in my daily life: diet, exercise, and stress were all now factors in how I chose to live with a disease that could still be terminal. I have always considered ambition as one of my strongest and most positive values and qualities. I was conscious of the adrenaline ‘rush’ I felt during some of the most stressful challenges of my profession, the congregational clergy. During my weeks of recuperation, I was given medical studies that linked that adrenaline with another human enzyme, cortisol. Medical data proves that cortisol attracts the plague that filled four of my arteries which required emergency grafts. The scientific studies that have been done during the past 25 years have confirmed the link between stress and heart disease. We now have additional data that proves stress, especially mental illness related to our work, directly exacerbates heart disease. |
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“Despite the extolled virtues of maximum work, the costs will almost certainly outrun the benefits, as they usually do in self-medicating addictions. The burnout, depression, job stress, and work-life conflict will get worse, not better. And as Lembke also told me, workaholism can lead to secondary addictions, such as drugs, alcohol, or pornography, which people use to self-medicate for the problems caused by the primary addiction, often with catastrophic personal consequences.” (Arthur Brooks, “The Hidden Link Between Workaholism and Mental Health,” The Atlantic, February 2, 2023) I would eventually learn that my success, ambition, and unconditional communal and public work ethic was actually an addiction that was directly related to the threat of my heart disease. I chose to retire from my prestigious position as Senior Rabbi of a very large Reform synagogue because I admitted that my engagement with ‘work’ had no limits and had become self-destructive. One of the lay-leaders once noted: Do you know that 90% of what you offer us, we have not asked for! I still remember being shocked by this statement. Was it a compliment or complaint?! This same statement can be made to anyone in any professional capacity: Do you realize that you are doing MORE than we require? I thought this was the standard of excellence for which anyone should aspire. My own journey required painful but transformative reflection after years of denial about my family of origin: A mother who was a physically and verbally abusive alcoholic and a silent father who simply wanted to keep the peace. I would learn that my work addiction was a common trait among adults who had grown up in homes like mine! Everyone has their own story, their own memories, and finally their own painful decision-making process. It took me far too long to admit the links between my home and family and my unbridled drive for success in everything I did. My ambition permitted me to use my painful past as a source of powerful ambition which in turn kept me climbing and climbing without any time to look back! |
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My therapist challenged me to consider that I was most like a pole vaulter. It was a strange image since I am not an athlete and had no experience with the analogy. During the next several sessions, I came to appreciate the profound reality of the comparison; the pole-vaulting competition is completed only when the last person fails to clear the bar at its highest position. In other words, the winner is not determined until the last person has lost! So, too, in my uncontrolled passion to achieve, to be the best rabbi, adjunct university professor, communal inter-faith clergy dialogue partner, husband, father, and anything else anyone ever asked me to do; I ran down my professional life-track and pushed the pole into the ground to lift me to higher and higher levels of success. Never thinking about that there would be no winner until there was a loser; and with my heart condition that could mean death. I got a photo of an award-winning pole-vaulter, an athlete hanging in the air, all his limbs akimbo, would he win or lose? I decided to write this personal reflection in the hope it might offer support to another person in silent pain, because like my heart condition described as ‘silent’ ischemia, work addiction is hidden but very dangerous. There is far too little understanding of ‘process’ addictions for which one cannot simply abstain totally as with alcohol and drugs. I know that ambition and success remain the dominant values and standards of every profession and anyone who attempts to advocate for themselves about a serious medical threat linked to mental health and stress risks being stigmatized. I wrote this piece because work is an essential value of being human and is also a dark and painful curse for many who suffer from the nightmares alone. My name is Joseph Edelheit, and I remain a recovering Work Addict. ~ If you wish to contact Joseph, please reach out to Todd Mei for more information. |
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