Football: Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals has just changed is name (legally) to Chad Ocho Cinqo. His jersey number is 85, and fans have called him Ocho Cinqo for a while now. However, I think there is a certain level at which some level of mental illness is involved here. I have heard of him and questionable decision making in the past. But I think this is the case of a lot of money, lot of ego and people around them that will not say ‘No’.
I’m not sure how we could do it, but it seems to me that some level of accountability and responsibility should be involved here. I suppose that we as a society are largely to blame. We give these guys a lot of money to entertain us, and then do not put in place needed elements to make sure that they can understand the context of what they have.
People are telling them that they are great for most of their lives, and then give them money and the keys to the kingdom. So if there is mental illness involved it can get exaggerated and unchecked. I am not sure if Chad “Ocho Cinqo” has any mental illness but the fact remains that this behavior is exaggerated. Mike Tyson is probably one of the biggest examples of this out of control. Also, one of the saddest.
Is there a way to help this situation without denying civil rights?
This article from Knowledge@Wharton: Leadership and Change talks about the need for 4-way integration of Work, Home, Community and Self. Stewart Friedman talking about his book, Total Change argues for this integration. I really believe that this is crucial — I have tended to argue that one should integrate their personal or home with their institution of greatest influence (work, church, politics, etc.) But the integration of these four areas resonates with me. Given my work in values, the personal is essentially implied here. And I have kind of merged Work and Community.
I think the key issue here is integration. While you may have some different “preferences” many of the common values will be the same just the order may change. The danger that I see people getting themselves is that they believe that the values and the institutions in which they interact are somehow separate. The priorities will can and often change but the core values stat the same.
First, it is very difficult to separate or compartmentalize like this. And if one is able to do it, it will likely create a high level of internal conflict. It creates a kind of institutionally enforced schizophrenia. Moving between these compartments can create tension and conflict. This frustration can, of course, come out in ways that do not create the best environment for those areas.
Recently I observed that I have seen a few times. It is or seems to be a tendency for women to be tough on one another. It is like trying to ‘undo’ or remove someone that might otherwise be an ally. I find it interesting and disturbing at the same time.
Women are often the more relational, yet this type of behavior seems to be the antithesis. In this particular case, these were some of the supervisors discussing the potential of a new manager. Only one of the supervisors is male (not in on the discussion). What struck me as odd, is that of the two candidates they were discussing — I believe the woman was more qualified. But they were suggesting that they should not hire her unless she had worked there a while. They were creating a ‘higher’ bar for the woman, and making excuses as to why the other candidate would likely be fine even though the experience was not as good of a fit.
It seems looking into the past can give us some perspective on the future. I guess I might be writing this more for myself than for others. Anyway, might as well get some of the facts and figures out of the way. Born in London, Ontario, Canada, November 4, 1963 (6 weeks premature) to British parents (dad: English, mom: Welsh). Age: 42 (now, not then). Nearly did not make it, etc.
With parents and younger sister in the Anglican mission field (Father was/is ordained Anglican/Episcopal Priest) in Mexico and Central America until about 4 years old. Came to the US (Los Angeles), moved to Indiana (God only knows why). Lived in Indiana from about 6 years old to 15 years old. Moved quite a bit until I was in my 20s. Moved to Santa Clara while in high school. I have been in SF Bay Area ever since (Santa Clara, San Jose, and then Napa, CA since 2001).
When we moved to Santa Clara, I ended up going to all boy Bellarmine Prep (High School) in San Jose from 10th to 12th grade (1982). I went to Santa Clara University (where my father taught) — While I was not very thrilled with Bellarmine, both Bellarmine and SCU were outstanding Jesuit schools. While I started at SCU to get a Computer Science degree, I ended up getting a BA in History degree with a lot of computer science courses (1986). After a few years, I ended up going to San Jose State University (1988) for my MS in Cybernetic Systems (1992) (ironically from the Anthropology and Cybernetic Systems department). About 2 years later, I started a Ph.D. at University of Hull in the UK while living in Napa. In retrospect, maybe not the brightest thing I ever did. I defended in November of 1997, and graduated February of 1998 from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. Lincoln School of Management for short. My PhD was essentially in Systems Thinking and Human Values.
I got married in September of 1986 (for an update on this, see here). Worked in the tech industry in various roles for a long while (largely until I started on the PhD). Some of the places were: Olivetti ATC, Sun Microsystems, Frame Technology, Verity, Autodesk, IDG (technology writer). I was also starting to do a little OD (organizational development) and that eventually led to me doing the doctorate. My father is an expert in human values, and I worked with him at various times over the years. In 1994, we started Values Technology which has been seriously up and down over the last twelve years (I am not currently working for VT). Since I was technology savvy, and a growing expert in the area of values, I consulted and also steered the technology development. When I was not working on the technology I designed large scale interventions for values-based OD. The last time I left I was considered chief architect (bridging technology and values). I still advise my dad and company. Other than this stuff, I have taught at the post graduate level — mostly in the area of leadership development.
Systems thinking and values, two areas, that other than history and technology, have fascinated me. I might add document analysis, but that really is an offshoot of the others. Since high school I had been fascinated by the ways in which values and meaning could be pulled from documents. Metaxio is a current attempt to make this more accessible to others.
In 1999 and 2001, my wife and I had a boy and twin girls — as with most fathers, they are my pride and joy.
Well, that is probably enough for this entry. It sets up the entries to follow ;-). I am hoping there is a point to all of this!
