The Next Next Common Sense
(And as part of that community, Lisa told Mark stop whining and keep Harvey entertained while she put Josh to bed.) In contemporary organizations, this holonic perspective manifests in the growing prevalence of team-based and project-based work struc- tures. Individuals simultaneously belong to functional departments, cross-functional teams, project groups, and communities of practice— each with its own norms, expectations, and success criteria. Managing these multiple memberships requires sophisticated role awareness and management capabilities. What we draw from the story of holons is the importance of recog- nizing and respecting multiple roles. The context we find ourselves in determines which facet gets the focus of attention. This is no different than trying to take the perfect photo while on your vacation in paradise. There is the beautiful landscape and there is your spouse. Where do you focus? Who is the picture for? The in-laws? That’s one photo. The kids? Another. Joe, your neighbor who always shows you his 1000 perfect slides from his picture-perfect trip (of which he takes three a year)? Or perhaps the guys you play basketball with at the gym? Maybe for them, you forget the spouse and get the cute blonde on the beach. (If you do this, try to keep in mind which one of you is picking up the photos from the photo shop. No need for an argument, the guys at the gym aren’t worth it.) It’s the same trip, despite the awesome variety of photos that could be taken. Just as you are the same person, despite the many roles you find yourself in. The opposite of recognizing and respecting multiple roles is to syn- thesize them into one. The very word synthesis has the same root as syn- thetic - fake and artificial. There is a time for fakes and reproductions. It is much safer to walk down the street with a 10-carat cubic zirconium ring than a diamond of similar size - but don’t wear the fake to an auction of Impressionist paintings, the folk at Christie’s may choose not to let you in. The joy of a reproduction, a fake, a synthesis is its simplicity. No longer do you need to be concerned with many things (neither folded, i.e. compli- cated, nor woven, i.e. complex) but just with the essence, the simple truth. But truth is rarely simple and life seldom still. Unless you are confronted
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