If a manager falls in the forest...
I've gotten several questions - on the blog, in the forums, by email - about what a "koan" is, as in the "juggling koan" podcast. (By the way, it's pronounced "cone", like ice cream cone.)
A “koan†is usually a story, or a dialogue, usually leading to a question to be pondered. It is from Zen Buddhism, and they are designed to help those who would seek knowledge to understand things that cannot be achieved from rational or logical thought.
Perhaps the most important thing to know about them is that they have “right†answers. They are not just some mystical question.. they are, in a sense, a test. Most people don’t get that there is a right answer for them.
One of the more well known of these is, “if a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?†Usually, people are puzzled by the question - which a Buddhist Monk would consider good, as that lack of “understanding†would lead to enlightenment.
However, in the case of the “tree falling koanâ€, most people are puzzled because they think the question is ‘dumb’…because ‘of course a tree makes noise when it falls.’ And often people can be quite technical in their explanations, including sound waves and the like.
But, the answer is in fact, in the Zen way, NO, it doesn’t make a sound…because sound is actually perception, and if there is no one there to perceive it, there can be no perception… and thus no sound.
So, our juggling question was designed to show the value of delegation, to which we know many people are not attuned naturally. Thus, I made it a koan, to encourage, perhaps, creative and/or non-linear thinking.
We'll do it again - Mike and I enjoyed feeling Zen-like.
Tl- I gotta ask Apple for some
Tl-
I gotta ask Apple for some refererral remuneration!
Glad you're with us.
Mark
Thanks all for your feedback. Mike and
Thanks all for your feedback. Mike and I certainly didn't plan this format - it just came to me. But it seemed after nearly two years (though it took us a couple of months to get where we are now), something a little different wouldn't hurt.
We'll always be thinking of different things, and comparing them to what we already do.
Mark
Mark & Mike, Although I only learned
Mark & Mike,
Although I only learned of manager-tools in November 2006 through word-of-mouth, I was inspired to purchase an iPod exclusively for your podcast. Very helpful and keep up the great work. (Still catching up on all the podcasts)
I have just finished listening to the Juggling "ko-ahn" podcast.
In my view, there are good, valid reasons for exploring case studies in your podcasts. Each of you bring a wealth of managerial experience of your own PLUS the benefit of actively consulting for a broad array firms. Your experiences from the field would benefit us all.
When I write an answer like this, I
When I write an answer like this, I really question the validity of my DISC results (d=7, i=4,s=1, c=1)..
I studied Japanese for five years and passed a level 2 competency course in it. I have studied Japanese philosophy and martial arts since Jimmy Carter was president. I lived in Japan for two years and held down a job in which I was required to speak, read, and write Japanese daily.
公案 = Koh-ah-n = is a Zen Buddhist riddle that is given to a practitioner for them to meditate on because there is no possible right answer. The purpose of the riddle is to give a novice something to ponder which will occupy his thoughts while disallowing him to produce results. The goal is to occupy 100% of his "CPU cycles" as a beginner's tool for learning to concentrate and eventually learn to shut the conscious thought stream down completely.
The goal of such training is to render the mind fully under the control of the owner. Some sects of Buddhism believe that if this is ever really achieved, then the person will be "enlightened" and understand the true nature of the universe. Some do not believe that and think of it as push ups for the mind.
Technically, the MT question about what to do with a 6th ball does not qualify as a Koan. Ot is a problem to be solved that has a solution. A true Koan is a riddle to get you thinking yourself into a corner and from there find no retreat or escape.
Truly Buddhists do not really rely on Koans so much. It's considered silly by most Western practitioners because there is in fact usually an answer. The Japanese culture, with its strict adherence to obedience and conformity as positive virtues, can support such a practice because the student believes what he is told: that there is no answer.
The Westerner, raised on Greco-Roman logical thought and reasoning, usually attempts to solve the problem instead, and claps his hand against his legs or asks if he can place technology in the woods to record the sound of the tree falling. Thus, Koans are more of an archaic practice and are not so frequently used these days by Western Buddhists, because, as MT shows about many "we have always done things this way" practices, it is often found to not be effective for meditation.
More effective for Westerners are mind puzzles. "Do not think of a white bear" is very effective. Your brain will go crazy producing white bears like pop up windows on a virus-infected computer.
Do these techniques actually work? After spending some considerable time around so-called "masters" of various Japanese disciplines, I can report that I found no evidence that they were any more mature, reasonable, or calm than anyone else I have met.
Mark - NICE alliteration! I'll work on
Mark - NICE alliteration! I'll work on being more constructive (see my post in the "Welcome" forum).
Your Picky Plebeian Protege (aka "Swamp Al-ligator", aka Monotonous Maleficent Mentee) and fan,
Al ;-)
Mark - thanks for the explanation! I
Mark - thanks for the explanation! I must admit, though, that I'm disappointed to hear that people emailed you asking for the definition. Come on, folks! Do we really want Mark using his valuable time giving us definitions instead of just looking the word up in the dictionary ourselves? (Although Mark's explanation was much more informative.) I expected more from our wonderful MT community. :)
Mark- looks like 3 nights at the Feng
Mark- looks like 3 nights at the Feng Shui hotel inspired you ;-)
Great Podcast - I love it.
Thanks, Thomas.
My buddy clued me in on the definition
My buddy clued me in on the definition of Koan.
Koan is an appropriate word.
Plus, bonus! I learned a new word.
I'm not certain whether or not this was the first podcast with this format.
I am certain that the format was an entertaining way to learn.
It's fun to see the forums and M&M keep raising the MT bar.
Thanks,
- poncho_57
Hello Mark, thanks a lot for this
Hello Mark,
thanks a lot for this long explanation of the word "koan". It seems to be worth digging a bit more about the meaning of the word "Koan". So your koan has been one for beginners because we get the solution to it too. ;-)
Judith
Al- Some days it's hard to remember
Al-
Some days it's hard to remember we're here to drain the swamp when we're up to our pantaloons in plebian pronunciation problems from picky proteges.
I really thought I was right on serif.. thanks for that tip.
Mark
While we're being picky (actually, I
While we're being picky (actually, I personally would LOVE people to correct my mispronunciations rather than let me carry on in (not so) blissful ignorance, but very few do)...
I was relistening to the Powerpoint cast from September 2005. Regarding font faces, serif is pronounced 'ser-IF, not 'ser-EEF.
Lastly (I promise), I was listening to the mentoring casts from last June. Isn't the person being mentored called the "protege" (where do I find the acute accent key on this keyboard... ;-))? Mentee just sounds so plebeian (it shows up now in my company's mentoring brochures - used to say protege)...ugh.
Al
Indeed. MY error - please accept my
Indeed. MY error - please accept my apologies. I listened to a pronunciation, and I think they got it right and I heard what I wanted to!
Ko-ahn it is.
Thanks folks.
Mark
Yep, Webster's New Collegiate
Yep, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (which I purchased my freshman year of high school in 1976!) says 'ko - an (with an umlaut over the 'a' to be pronounced like the word cot (as in something on which one might sleep)).
Ah, how easy it is to be picky... ;-)
Al
Agreed with the pronunciation as
Agreed with the pronunciation as "koe-awn." www.m-w.com
Walt
If my memory serves me correctly, I
If my memory serves me correctly, I thought that "koan" is a Japanese word and pronounced "koe - awn".
Tony
Reminds me of the 'case solving' days
Reminds me of the 'case solving' days in B-school.