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On Passing Through
On a daily basis, social networking websites remind us of the birthday and wedding anniversaries of friends and family members. Every day, add 24 hours. Every week, another 7 days. To quote Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Time waits for no one, and he won't wait for me." Time goes on, continuously! Yet, to ask someone their age is to ask time to stop, if only momentarily. Legally, we think in terms of aging in increments of years, remaining at a given age for 365 days. Birthday parties remind us when to shift to our next age, in step-like fashion. Somewhere along the line, we discover fractions and half ages appear in a child's answers to "How old are you?" But, if time waits for no one, these apparent steps disappear, and we enter the realm of "passing through," realizing the difference between thinking of aging continuously
and thinking of aging incrementally
.
In 1999, Russell Ackoff shared his thoughts on aging, as well as having fun when "denying the obvious and exploring the consequences," in his classic article,
On Passing Through 80
. Russ lived another 10 years, determined every day to find "the obvious to be wrong." We had the good fortune of hosting Russ for our 2005 and 2006 Forums, never letting us down with his wit and wisdom. "The obvious," he asserted, "is not what needs no proof, but what people do not want to prove." He admitted he was heavily influenced by Ambrose Bierce's definition of self-evident: "Evident to one's self and to nobody else."
In reference to the ever popular concepts of eliminating waste
and non-value added
work, what is evident, but, what people do not want to prove? What is "evident to one's self and nobody else?" Furthermore, can there be an end to the continuous reduction of waste and non-value added work? And, for those who define quality as "meeting requirements," are all conforming parts absolutely interchangeable, without variation? If so, what can be said of the continuous improvement of their quality, once the level of defect-free parts is achieved? Is there a hidden avenue to pass through to find further improvement? Or, does one pass through the achievement of zero waste, zero non-value added work, and zero defects to realize negative values of each? If one could relate organizational waste to body fat, what can be said of organizations, as well as whales, with zero fat? While whales would freeze, what would happen to organizations without some excess resources? In a rapidly changing world, now connected by the internet, is there room for excellence in exploring context in a way that allows for moderation? In the spirit of Russ Ackoff's ambition to have fun "denying the obvious," might there be a fundamental limitation with the model of zero waste, zero non-value added efforts, and zero defects, not to mention the use of top-down metrics to divide organizations?
If you are interested in passing through your current understanding of
matriarchies,
leadership, continuous improvement, variation reduction, collaboration, and
mental models,
through thinking together about thinking, we invite you to join with peers at the In2:InThinking Network's 2016 Forum in Los Angeles, California, from June 8th through 12th, on the campus of
Woodbury University. This year, our ever timely focus will be;
"Know
" Less - "Learn" More - INNOVATE!
Expand Your Future
Following a change we instituted for the first time in 2015, we are charging a daily fee ($25) to participate in the Pre-Conference sessions. This fee will help us to offset expenses for meals (Continental Breakfast and Lunch) and handouts associated with these sessions. As for incidental expenses, note that
Woodbury University does not charge a parking fee.
Registration Deadlines
Register by Sunday, May 15th to reserve our discounted room rates at the
Hampton Inn
Register by Monday, June 6th to attend any of our Pre-Conference sessions
Register by Saturday, June 11th to attend our Weekend Conference
For a glimpse of the excitement we offer, link
here for a photo montage from our 2012 Forum. Link
here for a complete list of our previous 2016 Forum UPDATES.
In2:InThinking Network 2016 Forum Team
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NEW - Forum Video Subscription Service
Through the services of
Vimeo on Demand, we now offer a
Forum Video subscription series. Select videos from our Forum catalog are available for online viewing for a low monthly fee (launching at $5 per month), with new videos from our 15-year library added quarterly. Eventually, our entire Forum video library will be viewable through this subscription series, with monthly rates maintained at the level at which subscribers join. This will be a great way to revisit some of your favorite presentations or see speakers you missed.
Link
here to learn more
.
Coming Next
Through a partnership with CC-M Productions, we are proud to announce that our Vimeo on Demand library will soon expend to include the videos such as CC-M's 7-volume "Better Management for a Changing World." Our
CC-M subscription series will include Russ Ackoff on The New World View, The Big Picture, The New Leadership, and Doing the Right Thing Right. It also includes Gerald Suarez on Managing Fear; Change, Improvement, and Fear; and Managing Fear: How to Begin.
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Deming Institute Workshop, May 23-25, New York
The
W. Edwards Deming Institute, a 15-year "Forum Partner InThinking," is excited to announce a 2.5-day workshop on Effective & Efficient Leadership.
At this seminar you will learn to look at your organization through a new lens: a lens of how to make your system better - and thus get better results. You will gain new knowledge to remove barriers, increase efficiencies, reduce wasted time, boost motivation, and provide better insight into what's
really going on in your organization.
Link here to learn more.
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Dutch Association of Research Quality Assurance
Jubilee Conference, May 26, Amersvoort, NL
DARQA, the Dutch Association of Research Quality Assurance, a new "Forum Partner InThinking," is celebrating 35 years of activity with a Jubiliee event, featuring a conference on May 27th, preceded by a pre-conference on May 26th.
Quality thinking and systems thinking is
universally applicable, therefore the pre-conference and conference events welcome delegates from
ALL quality driven sectors including; chemical & energy industry, ICT, aviation/aeronautics, aerospace, automotive, lithography, education, agriculture and financial institutions.
Take full advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from the experts and ask your questions during the panel discussions by preparing questions and sending cases with your registration.
Link here to learn more about these events.
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