I have come to a bit of a turning point in my philosophical history. Or perhaps turning point is wrong. Mountain? Bridge? Brick wall? Anyhow, I have come to a stage where I need to think deeply about certain things, and try to determine my position. Or at least have some vague position to reach for.
Unfortunately the cause of this philosophical crossroads (?) is terribly un-romantic. I am not pondering existence or being. I am not exploring religion or belief. I am not contemplating aesthetics or beauty or art.
My soul-searching is originating from becoming a line-manager.
Bleugh.
Somehow it is both romantic and easy to be philosophical on the grander scale. Politics. Left or Right? Economics. Keynesiasm/Neo-liberalism. etc etc etc.
In the confines of an organisation, I am finding that being philosophical is tricky. And yet, in my life right now, this is where I need it the most.
I am new to this whole managing game. Or rather, the managing of people (I guess we are all managers in some way from an early age). But being a manager of people, a “line-manager”, is a lot harder and a lot more complicated than I ever imagined. You are given power and responsibility. But you are given power OVER other people and responsibility FOR other people. Suddenly I am part of a structure, a hierarchy, a system and I don’t really know how I want to be. In a sense I am in a different “class” in the organisation. And if I am practising power, what values am I exerting on those I am managing?
Hegemony.
It also seems that by being a manager you are opening yourself up for criticism and dissection. Your actions and decisions directly affect people, and therefore they are open to scrutiny. I feel like I am constantly being judged.
When I was sitting at the bottom of a chain it was quite easy to isolated, independent, and individual. I could get on with what I needed to do and not be too bothered with what others were doing. As long as I was doing what I needed to do, I could be content in thinking that I was doing my bit. Contributing what I needed to contribute.
Now I am a team. I am leading a team. I am defending a team. I am controlling a team.
How do I want to do this?
How do I want to be perceived?
What do I want to achieve?
What are the different ways of achieving this?
What are the real priorities?
How do I get the balance between achieving the goals and objectives and making sure that my team are happy and satisfied and motivated etc etc etc…..
Speculation. Dispute. Conflict. Motivation. Leadership.
But of course, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here. I am not the first to have these thoughts. But how can I learn from the great philosophers before me? When I explore the great philosophers, how do I apply their ideas to day to day work in the office?
Is there some way of relating Nietzsche and existentialism to targets and motivation, Descartes to my weekly management meeting? And can Kant input into my performance appraisals? I guess Foucault can help me with understanding power?
It’s just that the last thing I want is some cheesy self-help book which has made millions for some charismatic, touchy-feely MBA graduate who will fill me with buzz-words and make me vomit.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Tuesday 6 October 2009
back to blogging
why do i blog? and why do i stop blogging? and what do i get from blogging and what should i get out of it?
anyway, i am back. once again searching for some meaning.
If there is some end of the things we do...will not knowledge of it, have a great influence on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what we should? If so, we must try, in outline at least, to determine what it is. —Aristotle
anyway, i am back. once again searching for some meaning.
If there is some end of the things we do...will not knowledge of it, have a great influence on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what we should? If so, we must try, in outline at least, to determine what it is. —Aristotle
Friday 20 February 2009
Thursday 19 February 2009
Submerged
Today I tried to upload a very cool photo.
The site doesn't want to upload photos today.
I will post it tomorrrow.
If you want to replicate the photo, take the following steps.
1. Go to Mozambique.
2. Take your sister and two boys who like to dig holes.
3. Take the aforementioned to the beach.
4. Wait a few hours.
5. Put sister in the hole.
6. Take the snap.
The site doesn't want to upload photos today.
I will post it tomorrrow.
If you want to replicate the photo, take the following steps.
1. Go to Mozambique.
2. Take your sister and two boys who like to dig holes.
3. Take the aforementioned to the beach.
4. Wait a few hours.
5. Put sister in the hole.
6. Take the snap.
Wednesday 18 February 2009
Out and about
I have an excuse for not posting - I have been away from my computer, away from Lilongwe, on field trips. I have been to Kasungu in the Central region, Mangochi and Machinga in the Southern region, and Mzimba in the North.
Hers is a picture of the field which won the prize for best view.
Hers is a picture of the field which won the prize for best view.
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Money
How is money created?
It is created from debt.
In the US, the government gives government bonds to the Federal Reserve (which, by the way is not part of the government) in exchange for money. The bonds are like IOUs - the first step of debt.
This money is put in the bank. The bank then creates more money to lend out with this original deposit as a guarantee. More debt.
People are charged interest (which used to be a crime called usury). This is creating more money into the system.
The amount of money in the system goes up, therefore there is inflation and people get less for their dollar (pound, euro, yen). they are bound/obliged to paying back their loan plus interest and therefore must pay this off with their labour. they are slaves. they are controlled by those who control the money (who are NOT elected).
Following a couple of documentaries "Money Masters" and "Zeitgeist 2" (and someone speaking about not much else for 2 months) this is slowly sinking into my head.
Think about it.
It is created from debt.
In the US, the government gives government bonds to the Federal Reserve (which, by the way is not part of the government) in exchange for money. The bonds are like IOUs - the first step of debt.
This money is put in the bank. The bank then creates more money to lend out with this original deposit as a guarantee. More debt.
People are charged interest (which used to be a crime called usury). This is creating more money into the system.
The amount of money in the system goes up, therefore there is inflation and people get less for their dollar (pound, euro, yen). they are bound/obliged to paying back their loan plus interest and therefore must pay this off with their labour. they are slaves. they are controlled by those who control the money (who are NOT elected).
Following a couple of documentaries "Money Masters" and "Zeitgeist 2" (and someone speaking about not much else for 2 months) this is slowly sinking into my head.
Think about it.
Friday 30 January 2009
If at first you don’t succeed
I didn’t post anything yesterday.
But there is an explanation for this lack of a post.
This explanation will take the form of a limerick.
A blogger’s experimentation,
Sought brilliance through proliferation,
What came as a shock
Was enhanced writers block,
So instead she took up meditation.
So yesterday I had abandoned blogging for meditation (of course it had nothing to do with completely forgetting).
However, following some reassurance (in the comment on “Luscious Words”) that other artists have tried this sort of thing before, and have found it to be successful, I will continue!
BTW if anyone feels like reading about someone who has had a VERY interesting life, look up Christopher Isherwood on Wikipedia. I look forward to reading some of his stuff.
Word of the day – PERSISTENCE
But there is an explanation for this lack of a post.
This explanation will take the form of a limerick.
A blogger’s experimentation,
Sought brilliance through proliferation,
What came as a shock
Was enhanced writers block,
So instead she took up meditation.
So yesterday I had abandoned blogging for meditation (of course it had nothing to do with completely forgetting).
However, following some reassurance (in the comment on “Luscious Words”) that other artists have tried this sort of thing before, and have found it to be successful, I will continue!
BTW if anyone feels like reading about someone who has had a VERY interesting life, look up Christopher Isherwood on Wikipedia. I look forward to reading some of his stuff.
Word of the day – PERSISTENCE
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Luscious Words
So this New Year’s Resolution is very difficult.
It’s not difficult to write a few mindless sentences. But it is difficult to put a few mindless sentences on my blog. I was always very self-conscious and this ended up making me post only ever few months.
But I was inspired by a friend (it was your Adam, Shela) who said that his friend posted every day. And I feel as if it is a learning curve. To begin with there will be some mindless posts, you will be bored and I will be embarrassed. But this embarrassment will make me be more observant in day to day life, and be more inspired.
So until I am there, please be patient. It will take a while but someday, maybe I will post something interesting every day.
Here are a few luscious words/phrases that I heard in a song on my way to work today. I love them. I love words and I want to be more observant when it comes to words too.
Devilishly gorgeous temptress
Elegantly wasted
And eloquently said
Word of the day: WORDS
It’s not difficult to write a few mindless sentences. But it is difficult to put a few mindless sentences on my blog. I was always very self-conscious and this ended up making me post only ever few months.
But I was inspired by a friend (it was your Adam, Shela) who said that his friend posted every day. And I feel as if it is a learning curve. To begin with there will be some mindless posts, you will be bored and I will be embarrassed. But this embarrassment will make me be more observant in day to day life, and be more inspired.
So until I am there, please be patient. It will take a while but someday, maybe I will post something interesting every day.
Here are a few luscious words/phrases that I heard in a song on my way to work today. I love them. I love words and I want to be more observant when it comes to words too.
Devilishly gorgeous temptress
Elegantly wasted
And eloquently said
Word of the day: WORDS
Tuesday 27 January 2009
house
So here’s a bit of news. I am moving house on Sunday.
For over a year I have been either staying in friend’s places in London, or staying with mum in Lilongwe. And as wonderful as this has been, I am SOOO excited to be moving into my own place.
I am moving in with another girl, and we have a spare room so please come and visit!!!! Photos coming soon.
Words of the day: HOUSE, HOME, RESIDENCE, DWELLING, ABODE, DOMICILE, ADDRESS, QUARTERS.
For over a year I have been either staying in friend’s places in London, or staying with mum in Lilongwe. And as wonderful as this has been, I am SOOO excited to be moving into my own place.
I am moving in with another girl, and we have a spare room so please come and visit!!!! Photos coming soon.
Words of the day: HOUSE, HOME, RESIDENCE, DWELLING, ABODE, DOMICILE, ADDRESS, QUARTERS.
Monday 26 January 2009
failed already!
I was in front of the computer on Friday and I didn't post :(
My New Year Resolution has been broken already! Oh well, I will try again!
Check this out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/26/usa-carbonemissions
My New Year Resolution has been broken already! Oh well, I will try again!
Check this out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/26/usa-carbonemissions
Thursday 22 January 2009
Features of a speech
Just a quick one. Am going to the lake this weekend (yay) and I plan to take a couple of the speech booklets. So I thought I should think about which features I should take note of while I read. This is what I came up with:
The speech theme
The audience
The opening and closing
Humour
Structure
The historical setting
For now the delivery is not really an issue as I am reading the speeches. The use of Youtube may come later.
I suspect that because of my past blog apathy, my readers have not noticed the new years resolution as there have been no comments. I wonder when they will (if ever). Please do comment if you visit
Word of the day: GUANTANAMO!!!!
The speech theme
The audience
The opening and closing
Humour
Structure
The historical setting
For now the delivery is not really an issue as I am reading the speeches. The use of Youtube may come later.
I suspect that because of my past blog apathy, my readers have not noticed the new years resolution as there have been no comments. I wonder when they will (if ever). Please do comment if you visit
Word of the day: GUANTANAMO!!!!
Wednesday 21 January 2009
Credit crunches can be romantic too
In the back of my head, I was sure that I had written something about speeches before, but I looked back on my blog and found that I hadn’t, and was a bit confused. Then I remembered that I had commented on one of Castles in the Sand’s posts. So I just want to give credit to CITS for inspiration for the theme “SPEECHES” – respect! (Although respect is diminishing as his last post was Monday, September 8th 2008).
So Obama’s speech.
It certainly wasn’t a Martin Luther King “Dream” speech, however I maintain the opinion (from the CITS comment) that it is more difficult to write a moving speech that will go down in history about climbing out of a credit crunch, than it is to write one about people coexisting in harmony. I believe he corrected the guy reading the oath – I love that!
I thought Naomi Wolf’s comments on the speech were pertinent:
“I thought Obama did three things impressively. Firstly, he sounded a note of our dire circumstances that was in line with a reality that many have been in denial about. That is technically brilliant, because he's inheriting a mess, and he's telling people, "We're not going to dig ourselves out of this easily." But also, "Don't blame me for it all."
The second was that he reasserted the primacy of the constitution and the rule of law. With Bush sitting behind him, that was like showtime at the OK Corral. I have written in the past that it is going to take a grassroots movement to support him in reasserting the rule of law, because there are so many vested interests that stand opposed to it. But that was a shot across the bows.
Thirdly, most amazingly, I feel that he dialled down the threat level of the US with just a few sentences. He reached out a hand to the Muslim world. For Obama to say, "I'm not going to demonise you" – that is extraordinarily stabilising.”
For the full article go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/21/obama-inauguration-no-more-fake-optimism (still haven’t worked out that whole URL thing).
As a follow up to my post on 20th October 2008, have a look at this http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/19/sources-obama-may-use-executive-order-reverse-abortion-policy/
Word of the day “OBAMA”.
So Obama’s speech.
It certainly wasn’t a Martin Luther King “Dream” speech, however I maintain the opinion (from the CITS comment) that it is more difficult to write a moving speech that will go down in history about climbing out of a credit crunch, than it is to write one about people coexisting in harmony. I believe he corrected the guy reading the oath – I love that!
I thought Naomi Wolf’s comments on the speech were pertinent:
“I thought Obama did three things impressively. Firstly, he sounded a note of our dire circumstances that was in line with a reality that many have been in denial about. That is technically brilliant, because he's inheriting a mess, and he's telling people, "We're not going to dig ourselves out of this easily." But also, "Don't blame me for it all."
The second was that he reasserted the primacy of the constitution and the rule of law. With Bush sitting behind him, that was like showtime at the OK Corral. I have written in the past that it is going to take a grassroots movement to support him in reasserting the rule of law, because there are so many vested interests that stand opposed to it. But that was a shot across the bows.
Thirdly, most amazingly, I feel that he dialled down the threat level of the US with just a few sentences. He reached out a hand to the Muslim world. For Obama to say, "I'm not going to demonise you" – that is extraordinarily stabilising.”
For the full article go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/21/obama-inauguration-no-more-fake-optimism (still haven’t worked out that whole URL thing).
As a follow up to my post on 20th October 2008, have a look at this http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/19/sources-obama-may-use-executive-order-reverse-abortion-policy/
Word of the day “OBAMA”.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
New Year’s Resolution
This post is intentionally written in a very rough form. I have a new year’s resolution. I am going to post on my blog every day from now on (well…. every day that I am in front of my computer with internet). It is allowed to be one line (hopefully it will normally be more).
The reason I am doing this is that I have been rubbish with my blog in the last few months and I have been meaning to write more. But then I start a post and get stuck on it and feel like it has to be perfect before I post it. And then it ends up taking a month to write. This way I will keep writing, and post more and hopefully be more productive even with the more polished posts.
I also want to try new ideas out. I think I will have themes that I will come back to. I might even have a work of the day.
Today’s word of the day is “SPEECH”. And “SPEECHES” is also my new theme.
A lot of us will be watching an important speech later today. It will be Obama’s first speech as POTUS (“President of the United States” for non-West Wing Watchers).
So what exactly is it that makes a good speech?
About a year ago (maybe two years ago) the Guardian did a special series where every day you got a free booklet inside the paper of a famous speech (Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela etc). I collected most of them, and have them sitting next to my bed. So I intend to read them, and one at a time I will make comments. Please make this interactive (all four and a half of you).
And for those of you who are West Wing fans, check out Obama’s Sam Seabourn http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech
(I have forgotten how to make that clever thing when you change the URL into a description, but I don’t have time today to look into it – this is my experiment of a speedy-typed post).
Anyway, Happy New Year dear fans! And go Obama! A new year, a new hope!
The reason I am doing this is that I have been rubbish with my blog in the last few months and I have been meaning to write more. But then I start a post and get stuck on it and feel like it has to be perfect before I post it. And then it ends up taking a month to write. This way I will keep writing, and post more and hopefully be more productive even with the more polished posts.
I also want to try new ideas out. I think I will have themes that I will come back to. I might even have a work of the day.
Today’s word of the day is “SPEECH”. And “SPEECHES” is also my new theme.
A lot of us will be watching an important speech later today. It will be Obama’s first speech as POTUS (“President of the United States” for non-West Wing Watchers).
So what exactly is it that makes a good speech?
About a year ago (maybe two years ago) the Guardian did a special series where every day you got a free booklet inside the paper of a famous speech (Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela etc). I collected most of them, and have them sitting next to my bed. So I intend to read them, and one at a time I will make comments. Please make this interactive (all four and a half of you).
And for those of you who are West Wing fans, check out Obama’s Sam Seabourn http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech
(I have forgotten how to make that clever thing when you change the URL into a description, but I don’t have time today to look into it – this is my experiment of a speedy-typed post).
Anyway, Happy New Year dear fans! And go Obama! A new year, a new hope!
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