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Book
Summary/Review: The Power Of Wisdom
This
article is based on the following book:
The Power Of Wisdom
by Aman Motwane
Printed
with permission from: 
Aman
Motwane hints that when you have the power of wisdom you
possess the magic of seeing what others can't. He claims
that successful people don't know different things…they
just see things differently. I believe the Power of Wisdom
is a book well worth reading. It's 150 pages long and can
be absorbed in a couple hours time. However, as you will
see by this summary, you will have spend considerably more
time going back and reviewing your mark ups of the text.
Motwane
breaks down the power of wisdom into seven compartments.
They are:
" The wisdom of duality
" The wisdom of resonance
" The wisdom of ecology
" The wisdom of aggregation
" The wisdom of magnanimity
" The wisdom of stratification
" The wisdom of enlightenment
Rather
than go into a summary of each chapter, I will share with
you 10 or so points I found most enlightening and my comments
about them.
The
basic theme of the book is not unlike that of other personal
growth material I have read over the last few years. In
fact, it is greatly in alignment with my own philosophies.
To sum it up, it is this: Our joy and self-worth in life
is directly related to how we view our circumstances and
ourselves. We can either chose to be victims and blame others
for our circumstances. Or villains and seek to justify why
we find ourselves hurting others. Or, we could remove ourselves
from the circumstance completely and come from a place of
complete personal responsibility. That responsibility includes
thinking for ourselves, knowing our personal feelings, and
being attuned to the thinking and feelings of others. Motwane
points out that becoming responsible is not about taking
in more information. The fact is, we already know enough.
It is not about education and experience. It is more about
seeing and knowing.
This
philosophy has had a profound impact on the way I view the
workplace. It effects how I give advice when it comes to
legal compliance and employee productivity. It applies to
the way in which I help manage conflict and mediate claims.
Interestingly, Motwane uses a dozen or more examples from
the workplace applying his philosophy, which alone would
make for a great report. (Perhaps I can get him to summarize
his workplace insights for us).
"Information gets quickly outdated; but wisdom is timeless
I
couldn't agree more. That is why when putting together the
LAWSUIT FREE! Program I chose not to focus on the legal
trend of the moment, but rather those that have had the
greatest impact over the longest period of time. I want
clients and customers to master the essentials and not worry
about the rest.
The
wisdom of duality is something that I have been working
on in recent months. It is true acceptance of the fact that
you are not, and cannot be in control. Tension and insecurity
are insurmountable. The quest for security is a pipe dream.
Motwane said that life is like flipping a coin. There are
two sides to every equation. A black and white, yin and
yang, good and evil. Rather than accepting this duality,
many of us make it a life long goal to eliminate it - at
great expense to ourselves and those around us. We construct
tight-knit policies in the workplace to control employee
behavior and instead generate resentment and mental gravity.
When
we understand duality we understand there will always be
pains in our life and that life is not designed to be "fair",
but that it is designed to supply us with a never ending
string of lessons to learn.
"With
the wisdom of duality…you know to never assign any
MEANING to success and failure, to winning or loosing. Success
is random. It's like flipping the coin. However, the more
frequently you toss that coin, the more likely you are to
experience success."
That
is one reason why you must allow employees to make mistakes.
Motwane tells us that we must view our outcomes and ourselves
without judgement. That is sooo hard to do. The fact is,
it's not about success, it's about acceptance. Long-term
success is always proceeded by acceptance.
"As
the other person feels understood and accepted, he almost
automatically gets into an opened frame of mind, ready to
make any reasonable changes."
This
is the first step Motwane gives us for change. It's about
feeling safe. It's about knowing that change will happen,
but not at personal expense. The second thing that he tells
us about change is to make it big and do it quickly. He
tells us that we must burn the bridges so that there is
not going back. He explains that even in periods of great
change the coexistence between old and new remains. If we
want to effectuate big change we literally have to destroy
the old and eliminate that coexistence.
The
wisdom of duality is about wisdom and empowerment. Motwane
explains how the swing from leadership in the 80's to empowerment
in the 90's has left many companies confused. He points
out that companies have to embrace the duality of leadership
and empowerment. One won't work without the other. (Much
in the same way, there is a lot written about finding good
employees. But the fact is, what comes to you comes from
you. More should be written about being a good employer.
Why should somebody want to work with you? What's in it
for them?)
"With the wisdom of duality, you know that prejudges
and biases are inherent in nature…The need to draw
lines and distinguishes inherent in human nature. Social
intervention or government regulations may eradicate on
set of lines. But it will soon be replaced by another set
of new lines"
How
true, how true. How has it that we find ourselves trapped
in such litigious culture? Does an elaborate claims resolution
process reduce the casual factors behind the filing of claims?
The answer based on universal experience has to be "no".
(For example, as soon as we created the ADA we created a
line between persons who are "disabled" and those
who are "non-disabled". The culture line that
exists in amorphous form now on has become a bright line.
We then find ourselves trying to define the bright lines
in confusing terms at best. For example, it takes the EEOC
56 pages to define the term "mental disability".
And look at the results. The latest statistics I have seen
show 80% of all mental disability claimants have their cases
dismissed. What a dupe. Rather than getting people to rely
on their own wisdom, we have duped them into becoming victims.
We are getting better and better at particularly describing
their unique brand of victim-hood. Unfortunately, we are
getting more of what we are focusing on. More lines, more
divisions and more confusion.)
Motwane
makes another good point that I share with my groups. It
is that consensus decision making can be dangerous. Not
only is it slow, but it tends to gravity to the lowest common
denominator. But, with the wisdom of duality, you know that
consensus decision making must coexist with individual decision
making. Our employees must be able to think for themselves
and you leaders must step up to the task.
I
like the metaphor that Motwane uses for dealing with the
concept of vision. He said it is like a balloon that you
are holding onto by way of a string. There is a natural
tension. If you let up the slightest, your vision could
float away. It also implies that your vision is something
that will always be out of grasp. It's not about looking
forward to the day your life is perfect. Rather it is about
accepting your life as it is today while continuing to live
for your dreams.
"We
all want freedom…but what we really NEED is self-discipline."
"You fully expect that every problem you solve will
inevitably lead to a new problem."
This
sounds like Bruckminister Fuller to me. Bucky used to say
that the reward for solving one set of problems is an even
greater set of problems. Either way you say it, obtaining
your vision is not about finding a safe place. It is about
getting more out of life.
Motwane
explains that too many people and companies get caught up
in living up to the latest expectation. Instead they ought
to be setting the expectations. (For example, first the
expectation was a decent wage, then it was health benefits,
then it was full benefits, then it became a retirement plan
and what's now is stock options. The question is "what
next?" Are you busy living up to existing expectations
or are you setting the mark? Any company still stuck in
the age old mindset of paying employees as little as they
can, finds in return that employees will work as little
as they can… to ensure they don't get fired.
Today's enlightened companies are paying as much as they
possibly can and in exchange are receiving today's new loyalties.
It's not about what do we have to do. It's about what we
can do.
What
Motwane says in this book and I have been learning over
the past year is that all of us feel unsafe some place.
I grew up in the South Bronx and it isn't hard to consider
yourself a tough character after that experience. To me,
fear didn't exist in workplace environments; it was out
on the streets. I figured I wasn't afraid of anything. But
I was ready Dr. Spencer Johnson's book, "Who Moved
My Cheese." (Another book summary that I did.) Which
contained a question, "What would you do if I weren't
afraid?" And the question began to eat at me. I began
to ask myself, what if I was afraid of something? What would
that be? Surprisingly, I have been getting hit with those
answers left and right in recent months. I realized that
I, like many others, am afraid of giving up control. Sometimes
I fear change in my heart. I am realizing that you can't
just read about what other people have to say, you have
to do a lot of independent thinking and ask yourself, "What
does all of this mean?" Simply asking yourself these
questions, answers will flow to you naturally.
"You
are not interested in the details. You are interested in
how the detail are connected."
Today's
focus must be on connections, relationships, networks, etc.
and we must go beyond the surface. We must help others to
tap into their own wisdom. We must produce an environment
that will help them to "think outside the box".
Motwane chronicles a number of breakthroughs including everything
from America's Funniest Home Videos to Southwest Airlines
and Starbucks, and attributes these breakthroughs to his
wisdoms. And he is correct. While I don't know if there
is anything magical about this wisdom, I do know that it
is indeed rare.
Motwane
readily encourages us to focus on not so much on the "why,
why, why," but on "what are we going to do about
it." Again, I couldn't agree more. Again, my LAWSUIT
FREE! program was built less on an understanding of what
the law is and more on what strategies and tools you need
to address it.
You
ALWAYS look for ways to leverage your efforts through OTHER
PEOPLE'S RESOURCES so that, with this combined muscle you
can become the 10-ton gorilla who sits anywhere he pleases."
I
could not agree more. That's why I am working with associations,
employers groups, insurance companies and others to leverage
the distribution of my materials. Which association, competitor,
non-competitor, vendor or customer can you leverage? What
could you offer their clients and customers that would benefit
all parties involved?
We think we are hiding our innermost fears from others.
But the only thing we are successful in hiding is the truth
from ourselves."
Amen
to that. I am continually learning that it is less about
what I want other people to do and more about who it is
that I am. It is the fear of exposing yourself, even to
yourself, that can be paralyzing.
Motwane
reminds us that finding career success doesn't mean searching
for the right employer. It means becoming a great employee.
We have to be what we want. To have love we must be love.
To have great relationships, we have to become great at
relating. As a friend Marshall Thurber states, "It's
all about becoming."
A
message that I have been getting pounded with lately is
that real heroes don't try to change other people, they
empower them to change themselves. This is a difficult concept
to follow, especially, "when you care so much."
According to Motwane and my friend Loy Young, a real hero
helps people to rise above their insecurities to reach their
unrealized potential. This can never be done by controlling
the other person. It can only be done through leadership
and example.
Motwane
explains that success is not about getting connected to
a lot of people, it's about connecting with people in your
life. For example, it's less about getting connected with
new employees than it is about being connected with the
ones you already have.
"As
you have seen, wisdom is no about doing things differently.
It is about seeing things differently. And by seeing things
differently, you end up doing things differently…which
ultimately leads to sense of abiding joy in life."
This
pretty much summarizes the greatest insight that can be
derived from this book. It is one that we have heard in
different forms and quite frankly can't hear enough. Personal
and corporate growth is a delicate balance between taking
in new information, thinking for yourself, and then doing
something.
(c)
Copyright Donald A. Phin
http://www.donphin.com
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