A500.5.3.RB - Blog - Critical Thinking about Critical Thinking

I would have to say that assumptions are my major shortcoming when it comes to critical thinking.  I always dig for additional information about a subject, but the problem is that the information usually supports my views or assumptions.  I like to call assumptions my truisms; these are things that I hold to be true and that would take a hand shake with divinity to change them.  I am aware of this though and am consciously analyzing why I am unable to be swayed from my initial impulses and emotional ties to a subject.

It is a strange time for humanity, more information is readily available then any other time in history; subjects are fully covered by all points of view and the supporting arguments are increasingly more convincing.  Message points can be skewed to entice the audience and when they are seen as a credible source such as NEWS organizations, the masses who are not willing to pose questions fall in line behind completely spurious information.  Politics in America and around the world!

I feel that I have become more aware of implicit information and look for motive in every message.  I like to think that I evaluate information with a little less bias, especially when I haven't been influenced by a side, and I diligently compare and contrast to find the merit and pitfalls within a message.  I trip myself up on the application process and question which way I am supposed to lean, which makes it hard for me to effectively make decisions and take action.  I am a work in progress and I know that within my occupation I would do exceptionally well for myself and my organization if I could disseminate truths and stop looking for the low hanging fruit; but I guess that could be said about anyone in an position. 

A500.4.3.RB - Blog - Ballet Slippers or Adorable?

"a rose by any other name might smell and look different,"  I feel that this is so true in American culture;  people want a choice in quality yet this is generally based on the perceived quality and not on consumer reports.  You can have two products side by side and if one is significantly more expensive it is perceived as being of higher quality, even if in reality they are identical in functionality and reliability.  I found Sheena's talk very interesting; I haven't ever really stopped and thought that too many choices could lead to bad ones, but it makes sense.  This, to me, reinforces the idea that choices that are not properly made when multiple choices are involved is a simple percentage of odds.  In a business scenario you would hope that a choice would be highly scrutinized as to ensure that the decision that is made fits it's desired purpose the best. Too many choices in the business environment, or even governmental environment, lets say for tooling, would lead those companies that have money to incentivize the consumer to choose their product.  This lobbying leads to an unfair practice of pushing the weak competition out of the running, even though the smaller manufacturer tends to have more to loose by offering an inferior product. 
This goes back to what I spoke about in an earlier assignment of picking the low hanging fruit, the things that have been tested and show positive results and are easier to get others to sign off on with the availability of "concrete" results.  They will work for the interim but will not allow an organization to stand out in one way or another for future investment concessions.
We need choices, but should choices be based solely on affordability, like the difference between Apple and PCs,  I agree that the Apple operating system is superior to Windows but the price to replace a windows computer is so much lower that Apple will never be a standard in the larger organizational environment.  A choice like this is fairly easy to make based solely on cost analysis, and this will generally trump any ambiguous efficiency metrics, because Apple will not give deals like a PC manufacturer can.

A500.3.4.RB - Blog - Explore the Hunt Library

From what I can tell, you will always be able to find a citation when you use the Hunt Library, this would be my first acknowledged difference between sponsored Google sites and the Library.  People always go to the first site that magically appears on Google because they feel that it must be the best, when in reality it is the most expensive site that relates to your search history.  It is true that you will have to do a little digging to find a document in the Library that fits your needs effectively, but you will not have to weed through wiki sites and the eight sites that would like you to know what Leadership is defined as. 
Within the Hunt Library, I will find an abundance of journal articles from individuals posing the questions that I am currently pondering; so it will allow for additional insight into issues I have not began to understand from persons thinking along similar lines as myself.

A500.2.3.RB - Blog - Tell Your Story

What are some standards that are most important in your life? Consistent truisms!  I find that in these times of US political chaos, no one group of people have your interests covered. You have to get informed and become a critical thinker to come to some conclusions that are well researched and free from bias.  So... standards wise I have a strong standard of not letting any one person or group sway my decision.  Take it all in and spend some time with it on your own.  Another standard that is important to me is directed ambiguity; I know that you can't always have the clearest picture moving forward with projects or programs, but an achievable goal needs to be established for what ever you are doing.  Even if the goal is one that takes you through the day or the week, there needs to be a way to measure accomplishment and achieve something tangible. So what I am saying is that ambiguity makes work interesting but too much of it will make you CRAZY! Another standard that has become so important to me as of late is being a good father.  I feel that I have always been trying to achieve something that will allow me to better provide for my family, but by doing so it has taken it's toll with the amount of engagement I have had with my children and wife.   Now that I have a new job that requires me to take my work home with me, at least mentally, I am spending less time with my family and am not sure how to correct this.  I was doing this masters program prior to starting this job and would like to finish on the schedule that was already in place, but I have no time.  I can't give my all to both school and work, and in fact I have not been able to give anything to school for three weeks now.In short, a work-life balance where you lean more towards the life side is one of my standards. I of course am talking of my latest string of standards, I have been a waiver-er for most of my life and jump on board with what my friends, family, and/or work colleagues are pushing.  I feel that I have not been one to really think things through, although, if you didn't know me and were to bare witness to my accomplishments you would think I have it all planned out and that I am on track to take over Mars where we decide to inhabit it.  I have made some good decisions, but most of them were slapping me in the face.  The rest were emotional drive towards something that sounded interesting, like a masters in leadership.  I know that I will be able to do amazing things with my schooling, but will it out way the things I will achieve with my new skill sets and experience.  As stated before I have gone through many standards over my short lifetime and continue to develop new ones, but I feel that my future standards will have a lot more of me in them, and that is exciting.

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A500.1.5.RB_Intellectual Perseverance

      Intellectual perseverance is the drive within an individual and/or group to overcome difficult questions, situations, and/or problems. The right answers come from extensive investigation, pondering, and usually multiple failures.  For one to intellectually persevere in a scenario like this, they would need to possess additional attributes such as patience, humility, and courage in order to arrive at a definitive long term solution that feels right.   

      When I am tasked at work and I can tell that the right solution to an issue could take weeks or months to resolve I attempt to find a solution that would bridge across the immediate future as to not have to deal with the real underlying problem.  I find quick answers to the issue within my available resources: people’s knowledge/insight and/or data mining. Valuable information comes from this, but a lot of the time I gain an understanding that the given information is not going to be the fix that mitigates future occurrences by the simple fact that the information given doesn’t encompasses the full scope of my issue.  I sell the fix to the appropriate people to get the aircraft flying again (NOT SAFETY ISSUES, reliability issues) but I keep it on my to-dos and revisit it at my convenience. 

     This works for what I am doing, but one thing I have noticed is that if you don’t get to the root, the issue will be overgrown by the time you get back around to it and an additional level of perseverance will be needed to overcome.  This is the real test of will; if you have the ability to gather information, analyze said information, break it down into understandable arguments for each decision,  and then MAKE THE DECISION based upon your bias of right and wrong, you exhibit a great level of intellectual perseverance

A520.9.5.RB - Power

At this point in my new career I feel that I am on the "inadequate" end of the spectrum in regards to power.  I have only been there for two months and have not identified all players and their roles in the power pull.  I have been developing processes that will lay more power in my lap with regards to the aircraft I support, but this won't be apparent in the hierarchy for at least a year.  Being a manager of aircraft systems, I am unable to effectively gauge the influence I have over technicians on the floor.  They take my suggestions as rule and not as an effort to make everyone stronger at their jobs; this is achievable but is a delicate process.  I have only been with the company for six years and an giving suggestion to thirty year technicians who are a little apprehensive to hand over control.  I feel that this will come in time with the continuation of good rapport and open dialog.
Up word influence is where my position is really effective, I do the leg work to solve issues on system and programs issues and sell those to my director and the VP.  In this scenario I have unlimited influence and power as long as I identify all contingencies and alternative solutions.
I, in my business career, have been becoming more of an introvert for some reason. I have supportive relationships with many people at work but not enough.  I use to be the guy who could go up to anyone and have a meaningful conversation; but now I find myself on my heals a lot of the time.  I think that this is because I am not comfortable with the ambiguity of the power holders within my new career.  I other words I am not sure who and when to broach lasting relationships with.  I do feel that I cover the most of the fundamental characteristics of likable people, but am having trouble putting it out there for others to see.
   

A520.7.3.RB - Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

Inspiration would be the term I would use to describe the the ultimate result of mentoring and coaching.  To get to this point you have to start with a lack of communication combined with a group of individuals who consider themselves subject matter experts.  The crucial step for leaders within an organization is to ensure that they understand the skills and abilities of their teams and utilize their own people skills effectively.  This means that they need to have a basic map of their departments, and the skills to motivate and connect individuals.  From this point the business cogs intertwine and begin turning together.  Information sharing becomes a medium for productivity and inspiration.  Co-workers gain satisfaction from this new family unit within their organization.  They begin to look to each other for emotional as well professional support.  This essentially turns the organization in to collective brain which every member is plugged into on or off work.  Problem solving even becomes common place during leisure time, and members enjoy their jobs.
There does come a point when fresh ideas and tools are needed to prevent stagnation. Coaching is a tool that is used quite often to prevent this productivity lull.  A good coach will be in possession of fresh techniques and focused insight which can be instructed and introduced to certain leaders.  These leaders will take this information and try to integrate some aspects of it into their organization.  A good leader will be open to suggestion but also able to effectively analyze the given information for merit.  Somethings might not work within every organizational structure and need to be identified prior to implementation; but on the "open to suggestion" side of that line the leaders need to posses the humility to allow uncomfortable ideas to take their course when the research has been done and proven.