#WorkingOutLoud on Kindness
? Julian Stodd

#WorkingOutLoud on Kindness

I am working on the design of the second week of the Quiet Leadership journey, which considers ‘kindness’. I have written about kindness quite frequently before, but this is my first attempt to consider it in a deliberately developmental way: to consider the frame or lens through which we may be mindful our our impact, and deliberate in our action.

No alt text provided for this image

My initial thoughts are unstructured: perhaps ‘kindness’ is the friction we exert upon the system. If we are kind, we generate less friction? Perhaps ‘kindness’ is about intent, although that leaves us with the challenge that people who act unfairly may believe they are being kind. Or perhaps ‘kindness’ is a judgement rather than an intent: this is a question of who validates kindness, and how? It’s about whether kindness is the intent of action, or the result of it: could you be judged to be kind even if you had not intended to be?

So questions may be:

  1. Is kindness the friction we exert upon the system?
  2. Is kindness about intent or impact?
  3. How is kindness validated? And by whom?
  4. Can you be accidentally kind?
  5. How are you kind?
  6. Are you kind equally, or does kindness track closeness?
  7. Does kindness make connections or strengthen them?#
Megan Torrance

TorranceLearning CEO, Author of Data & Analytics for Instructional Designers, xAPI Cohort founder

4 年

As always, you spark amazing insights. Just musing here on one of the questions that spoke to me: Is kindness the friction we exert upon the system? Is kindness the FRICTION we exert upon the system? I first came to this question with a thought of kindness as a LACK of friction - a space of inclusion, acceptance, ease, psychological safety and empathy ... from which we can take appropriate empathetic and person-centered actions. As such, it is easy to flow to a space of kindness because there is less friction there. Is kindness the friction we exert upon THE SYSTEM? Oooohhh... given that THE SYSTEM(s) is(are) inherently rigid, stuck, un-welcoming, exclusive spaces moving with incredible momentum toward greater isolation and inequity, then kindness could be the friction we impose on THE SYSTEM to slow it down, stop it, change it's direction. In that sense is kindness then somewhat subversive? And I think I am all for this then. And with that, my friend Julian, I probably won't sleep tonight!

Andrea Schaerer

Customer Support Manager

4 年

kindness and respect always win ...

Christiane Hyvert

People, Culture & Operations: Crafting Psychological Safety for Breakthroughs

4 年

A couple of years ago, I was turned down a job as I was too kind and therefore not able to face up to senior leadership.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Julian Stodd的更多文章

  • #WorkingOutLoud on the Planetary Philosophy

    #WorkingOutLoud on the Planetary Philosophy

    I’ve been immersed in this work today, and will be till the end of the week. Sae has carved out some time, and has…

  • Strategic AI: Domains of Disruption

    Strategic AI: Domains of Disruption

    I’m building out the materials for my new ‘Strategic AI’ workshop, based on the book ‘Engines of Engagement: a curious…

    1 条评论
  • Spaces of Safety

    Spaces of Safety

    Our Organisations must hold a somewhat unusual space, when stacked up against what we see in our broader society. As…

    2 条评论
  • Social Leadership Fragments: Permeability

    Social Leadership Fragments: Permeability

    The impact of social and collaborative technologies has been to make many boundariesmore permeable, with a range of…

  • Social Leadership: Organisation as Ecosystem

    Social Leadership: Organisation as Ecosystem

    Today I’ve been working on the new Social Leadership material, and specifically the notion of the ‘Organisation as…

    2 条评论
  • Fragments: Metacognition, Transdisciplinarity, Sense Making

    Fragments: Metacognition, Transdisciplinarity, Sense Making

    Some of the most exciting areas of learning research are considering features such as the ‘expert generalist’, aspects…

    1 条评论
  • #WorkingOutLoud on the Socially Dynamic Organisation: Disaggregation

    #WorkingOutLoud on the Socially Dynamic Organisation: Disaggregation

    The shift from the Domain based Organisation, through to the Socially Dynamic one, is essentially a disaggregation of…

    2 条评论
  • Writing

    Writing

    I spent last week completely focussed on a longer piece of writing and today am simply sharing some fragments of…

  • London Dereliction Walk: the Edge of Practice

    London Dereliction Walk: the Edge of Practice

    This is the third time I’ve guided the experimental London Dereliction Walk, which is a day of exploration and small…

    5 条评论
  • The Social Context of Generative AI

    The Social Context of Generative AI

    ‘Engines of Engagement: a curious book about Generative AI’ was published a year ago, and my thinking has continued to…

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了