How do you know?

How do you know something's funny? A good sign is when it makes you laugh. However, I remember watching the Fast Show when it was first on and finding it very funny but not laughing - at least not until later. And funny is probably the easiest to know.

How do you know that you like a food? Obviously, if you enjoy eating it is a pretty good sign. But then why bother acquiring a taste if you don't immediately like it? How do you know it's a taste worth acquiring?

Reflecting on most things we think we know, it seems to me that paradoxically it all comes down not to the rational "knowing", but to the feeling of "knowing".

So how do you kinow whether somebody is good to do business with? How do you know whether you've spent your working day well or badly? How do you know whether your plans are giood or not?

Sooner or later, what we call "knowing" comes down to a feeling. Our evaluation of knowing and in fact of everything else ultimately comes down to how we feel about it.

My favourite model

Yesterday evening I had a long rich conversation with my friend Jeremy, covering (among many other things) models of interaction. In plain language, I mean the roles that are implicit or explicit in interactions between people

We were struggling to find a description of the model that I naturally use. The key elements are:
- Equal partners: no single party owns the high ground or runs the agenda
- Open agenda: exploratory, not instrumental towards achieving a specific improvement or outcome
- Creative: building on each others' inputs
- Unselfish: feeding the conversation, not the ego - no point-scoring
- Authentic: speaking from the heart, honestly

It's not small talk but it's not heavy talk either. It's definitely not coaching or therapy or motivational, although the effect can be any/all of those.

Professional Thinking and Writing

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