Reflections on a life spent wondering, “What’s it All About?”

Introduction

Seventy-five years ago, I asked myself a question that would accompany me for the rest of my life: “What’s it all about?”.  At the time, I was a lonely, confused 7-year-old who felt equally out of place at boarding school and at home.  I recall being on my own in a secluded corner of the playground, playing with my diecast model cars feeling alienated from my fellow boarders, who all seemed to belong in the surroundings of a minor public school, with their middle- or upper-class parents and their more privileged backgrounds than mine.  The question felt essential to me for reasons I didn’t understand then or now.

Since then, however, it has never been far away from my mind.  And although I don’t claim to have any better answer than Douglas Adams’ “42”, as I reflect on my life experiences, several implications stand out.  In this paper, I mention five and, based on them, suggest a course of action.

In the interests of brevity, I have not provided evidence supporting each of the five assertions, although there is plenty of peer-reviewed evidence from diverse fields that provides such confirmation.  That can wait for further iterations of the paper if it generates sufficient interest to pursue further.

Facilitation

In 1978 my employer, Letraset International, sent me on a leadership development course run by the Coverdale Institute (now Coverdale OD), which introduced me to the practice of “interpersonal process” management and facilitation.  That programme changed the course of my life.  I started facilitating Letraset’s internal Board Meetings and hired a firm specializing in the facilitation of creativity, Synectics (now Synecticsworld), to assist with new product development.  They trained me in the craft of facilitation, which remained a core capability throughout my subsequent management consulting and academic careers.  It also proved helpful in the context of church groups and charitable organizations.

I do not doubt that guiding any team, network, or community’s “interpersonal process” and “group dynamics” leads to a more thorough alignment of purpose and shared narratives.

Learning from (other’s) experience

In 1994 my company, Human Systems, created a method for organizations in diverse industries to learn from each other how to improve the way they managed projects.  After the Project Management Institute (PMI) acquired the company in 2013, I participated in developing the process of inter-organizational learning first through PMI’s Global Corporate Council and subsequently through the activities that resulted in the Brightline initiative.

Learning of this sort led to substantially new insights, some of which I could incorporate into my PhD thesis.  This approach to learning also underpinned the “Rethinking Project Management” network, led by Dr Mark Winter from 2004 to 2006, and later, on a much more ambitious scale, Project X, which was initiated by the UK Government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority in 2016, with the involvement and support of the professions, academia, and industry.

Learning through the involvement of diverse groups with a shared interest, if appropriately facilitated and supported, is a powerful means of generating new knowledge and insights.

Different worldviews

My academic background includes engineering and Christian theology at the undergraduate level and social science at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels.  I have worked as a managing director, management consultant, academic, and lay preacher.  This practical and theoretical experience of diverse worldviews has taught me both personally and theoretically the central role of narratives and narrative identity in shaping and maintaining the cultural identity and worldview of any group and its members.

The WEIRD worldview

I came across the acronym “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) in Joseph Henrich’s book, “The Weirdest People in the World”.  During the past eight months, I have been preparing and delivering a twelve-part course on “Science, Philosophy, and Spirituality” for the local u3a.  During it, my studies have validated Henrich’s findings and expanded his conclusions.

An article by William Hague in the Times of 21^st March entitled “The West can stop falling for Xi and Putin” highlighted the fact that as far as the war in Ukraine is concerned, most of the world doesn’t see things the way we in the West do.  He calls for the West to “step up both communication and genuine partnership” with what he calls “the global South”. 

Like many others, I am concerned about the current state of humanity’s relationship with our planet.  I cannot see how global threats to the planet’s ecology can be deliberately mitigated other than by international action.  And since the 16% of the world that sees things the West’s way controls over 60% of the world’s wealth, we have both a responsibility and the means to do as William Hague suggests.

If this is to become a reality, it will be necessary to find activities that are “low risk” politically but can obtain funding and support and have a tangible impact on International Relations.

Empirical research

I have been involved in empirical research for nearly thirty years and have seen for myself how project management practice during that time has slowly evolved in directions suggested by empirical studies.  Research programmes with more intensive practitioner involvement seem to have a greater impact than those whose only output is academic papers.

So What?

It’s all very well to reflect on one’s lessons from experience, but they are of very little value if they cannot be put to practical use. David Hume famously argued that it is not straightforward to argue from “what is” to what “ought to be”, so the idea of a research programme is not a direct logical consequence of these five reflections.  It is, however, consistent with them, since there is ample evidence from diverse academic disciplines to support the following assertions:

1. The historical development of a group of nations (The West) has led to a psychological and social worldview (Weird) that is not shared by most of the world’s population.
2. Worldviews sustained by shared narratives (groups) and narrative identity (individuals) contribute to the phenomenon of “tribalism”.
3. A series of threats to our species’ future well-being (“the human predicament”) require urgent international cooperation if they are to be mitigated.
4. Diverse worldviews are hindering humanity’s efforts to mitigate these threats.
5. Thinking together helps diverse groups learn from each other.
6. Facilitation improves groups’ ability to “think together”.
7. Empirical research changes narratives and influences practice.
8. It follows that empirical research through an inter-disciplinary, international, facilitated network thinking together about the role of narrative, narrative identity, and tribalism can contribute to better international cooperation, thereby improving the human predicament.

My initial reaction to this conclusion was to draft a report through interactions with ChatGPT using GPT-4, as a starting point to assemble a group of academics interested in supporting such research.  An early draft can be viewed at “Narrative, Narrative Identity and Tribalism“.

It is evident, however, from initial discussions with knowledgeable colleagues, that what is required is more likely to be served by innovative research methods involving governments, practitioners involved in actual negotiations among international partners, organizations actively working to solve elements of the human predicament, and academics from multiple disciplines.

Three programmes that I am familiar with may offer some clues to the form of research required:

1. The “Rethinking Project Management” research is mentioned above.  A reflection on the nature of the research can be viewed or downloaded here.
2. Project X is also referred to above.  An award-winning blog post describes its unique features and outputs during the first three years: By focusing on outputs, rather than people, we misunderstand the real impact of research. | Impact of Social Sciences (lse.ac.uk)
3. “The Smart Mission” by Ed Hoffman, Matt Kohut, and Larry Prusak describes the lessons learned from NASA’s involvement in the International Space Station project.

Further development of these thoughts, along with references to supporting material, is set out in a new paper:  “From Division to Cooperation“

 Terry Cooke-Davies

terry@insearchofwisdom.online

April 2023