You're right — the beginner's mind is key. This is particularly the case when law firm KM staff find themselves speaking disdainfully of “the lawyers” and how they behave. Keeping that beginner's mind will stop our prejudices from blinding us and should allow us to see more of the possibilities before us.

Thanks so much for pointing out these helpful resources.

- Mary

Dave Snowden recently wrote a thought-provoking piece on ritual dissent. It's a way of institutionalizing “a bit of disagreement” in order to refine ideas and eliminate the dross. I saw the piece in KMWorld Magazine and would recommend it to you.

- Mary

You're right — the beginner's mind is key. This is particularly the case when law firm KM staff find themselves speaking disdainfully of “the lawyers” and how they behave. Keeping that beginner's mind will stop our prejudices from blinding us and should allow us to see more of the possibilities before us.

Thanks so much for pointing out these helpful resources.

- Mary

Dave Snowden recently wrote a thought-provoking piece on ritual dissent. It's a way of institutionalizing “a bit of disagreement” in order to refine ideas and eliminate the dross. I saw the piece in KMWorld Magazine and would recommend it to you.

- Mary

I noted this posting today entitled What PowerPoint Taught Me About Martial Arts <http://www.ikigaiway.com/2009/what-powerpoint-t…> that is about one of Garr's presentations. One of the quotes of Garr's that the author notes is “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, In the experts mind there are few.”

Maybe one of our challenges is to try to approach our “discipline” with a beginner's mind.

I like to think of good novels. If they're “too easy” they become boring and uninteresting (a bit like romantic comedies or sports movies). A bit of disagreement helps you to refine your ideas.

Of course, if people are unhelpful, rude or unpleasant they deserve to be ignored.