When we're getting high approval ratings from our conference presentations or instructor-led training sessions, there's no possibility of too many high ratings. When we are getting lots of subscribers and movement up in rankings while blogging, there's never too much of that success. When a corporation gets on a roll of increased revenue, profits and quarterly earnings for shareholders, more is always better.
When there's never too much, we cannot question how much is enough, when to stop and what to include as a counter-balance. We can only do more of the good thing we've got going.We don't realize it, but we are functioning as an addict. We cannot stop without going through a painful withdrawal process. We are acting compulsively in a downward spiral. We have no choice and are captivated by our confining premise. We are sabotaging our long term success by being so successful in a short sighted way. We are doing more harm than good to ourselves and those we serve.
Most content delivery is excessive for this reason. It cannot be stopped without a crisis. There's no way to consider pulling for the learners, democratizing the learning, or giving an incomplete. The feedback about increasing narcissism is dismissed as misleading, misinformed or mean-spirited. More of a good thing is called for without question.The context development of content discovery systems is full of questions. When should we switch to the opposite? What indicators tell us reliably of the learners' need for more freedom, self control and discovery processes? How much is too much of a good thing?
Sometimes less is more and we fail to see it in our quest for saturating the playground with our own toys. We fail to see that we may have more friends by having only a few of our best toys out there rather than our entire stack of toys. In so doing, we are doing the right things but we are not doing things right. Our ego becomes our guide and reason becomes an enemy. The landscape of our playground becomes littered with our toys and eventually all the other kids flee because there is no room for them. Our personal need for self-gratification trumps the corporate need for play. We become damaged learners trying to attract the neighborhood kids into a playground that has now become "ours". Without a good strategy for LEARNing, we are unable to make the changes that will propel us towards greater effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteThanks for jumping in here with your wonderful insights, Herman! Those questions to be asked that challenge "too many toys" and playing in isolation - will occur to minds that embrace their incompetence -- as your LEARN model starts off so wisely. I'm delighted you're helping us listen to reason instead of letting our egos be our guides.
ReplyDeleteTom