We are all in this together, are there really any strangers? With an interesting perspective, Kio Stark explains in her TED Presentation, “Why You Should Talk to Strangers“.

When I teach I explain I expect students to work hard, develop skills and increase their capacity so they can be the best they can be. I want them to be phenomenally successful. I then explain that I work hard to make them better because I am selfish because I know I can not do all the good the world needs.

I tell them if they go out and do great work and make the world a better place, I get to live in  a better world. Sure they do to, but I can really only hope to make the world better for myself, family and friends and the I try to tip the scales in favor of a better world by the work I do. I hope they will work to do the same.

It is for this reason I encourage Selfish, Selfless, Synergy (video below). Nobody is all one or the other. When people are said to be selfless, they do this because they perceive this is the most important work they can do – in other words, they help others because they are selfish. As George Bernard Shaw said,

I look forward to hearing about and enjoying the good you create for everyone and everything by generating comprehensive improvements by creating interactions so everyone and everything benefits. As Kio Stark explains, talking to strangers is a way to create a  better world for all of us to enjoy.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Sal Khan gives a great TED Presentation, “Let’s Teach for Mastery – Not Test Scores”. To explain this he compares learning to building a house. He explains if we only get 75% of the foundation of a house done right, and then build an 80% correct first floor, attempts to build the second floor are likely to cause a collapse. He explains that these gapes in education are causing kids and adults to collapse because of gaps that can be filled if we focus on mastery. I encourage you to listen to Sal’s excellent presentation.

This comparison is also applicable to health. To create a healthier life, we must do basic things – regularly eat nutritious food, engage in physical activity, have good interactions with others, and do things that facilitate personal growth. Gaps in these areas, or things we don’t do over the long term will mean we are not able to reach our potential. Health, like education, can focus on the concept of continuous and never ending improvement rather than on just avoiding problems. A key issue from this approach is its ability to change the focus toward what to do to cause health rather than what to avoid to lessen the chance of problems.

I describe this approach in the NWI White Paper, “Creating Positive Health: It’s More than Risk Reduction” accessible through these links..

NWIWhitePaper_Creating PH-More than risk reduction

I look forward to hearing how you engage in continuous and never ending improvements in your life so everyone and everything benefits.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Published on October 10, 201

A continuing theme through all my work is the independence of positive and negative. Most especially I emphasize that actions to decrease a negative do not create a positive – they are independent. It takes specific action to cause a positive. I cover this idea, Create More Good, Not Just less bad in multiple posts and presentations (linked here, here, here, here, here, here and many others here).

Although I have been writing about this concept for years, it seems Scott Adams captured this concept in his October 5, 2016 Dilbert Comic strip (above) about Wally, who never does any work, so never did anything wrong ended up getting a high ranking. He got the high ranking because the focus was on what was bad and not what was good. It seems he is emphasizing how even though nothing was done wrong, he also didn’t do anything good and this misleadingly led to a high evaluation.

The ideas or grounding philosophies used in the health field used are pathogenesis and salutogenesis. Umair Haque of Harvard also used these concepts to describe business practices in 2 great books: Betterness: Economics for Humans and The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business.

Pathogenesis, origins of health and salutogenesis, the origins of disease, demonstrate 2 complementary approaches. My work had demonstrated that while it is good not to be sick, it is better to have a fulfilling and productive life. In the video below I contrast these two in this video: Pathogenesis & Salutogenesis: Frameworks for Life. Please remember it is not an either or but a both and using these concepts in complementary fashion makes for better outcomes.

Pathogenesis & Salutogenesis: Frameworks for Life 

As I explain in this presentation, we must be FOR what we want to create. The article I refer you to at the end of the presentation is accessible on this link, not the one in the video anymore.

More about this concept is captured in presentation I did for our sustainability group, Create More Good, Not Just Less Bad.

I look forward to hearing about how you create more good to dissolve the bad.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

On September 5th, link to previous post, I shared the amazing story of how Costa Rica used what could be seen as the Paneugenesis Process to create a better future. It is not that the Paneugenesis process is the only way, there are many ways to create all good and this model can be used to develop YOUR way. This week I am sharing more examples of how people have used a similar process to create a better future. As Tepperman explains in his TED Presentation,”The Risky Politics of Progress“, courage is needed to start (see this post).

Although they did not use these words, each these fantastic examples Operationalized an Idealized Outcome, then Discovered Precursors necessary. They also had to Optimize their Process to create their new reality. To document their new reality was being realized, they Plotted Progress, or made clear with measures that progress was being made toward the needed precursors and thus their idealized outcome. 

The TED Presentation by Jonathan Tepperman, “The Risky Politics of Progress” explains, better is possible and gives specifics about how Canada, Mexico, and Indonesia followed their values and used the process to create a better tomorrow. Better was possible because they found a way to create pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic, interactions so everyone and everything benefits – at least some of the time.

In Canada they are now one of the most welcoming nations. Their immigration rate is four times other nations. Canadians now rank multiculturalism as the reason for being a great company. This is different because until the 1960’s, Canada followed a racist immigration policy. Tepperman explains how Pierre Trudeau changed Canada into a place that benefits everyone and everything with multiculturalism.

In Indonesia, a hot Muslim majority country, they also got better. They got rid of their tyrant and assumed their would be problems but now terrorism is rare. Tepperman explains how Indonesia is able to thrive while other Muslim states are having troubles. He explains instead of focusing on the countries problems, it focused on how to create the necessary precursors for future success.

In Mexico they also focused on major reforms that built the foundation for success in many areas of their country. They found answers by using what Stephen Covey promoted, the third alternative. In other words, it wasn’t about the governments way or businesses way but a better way as I discussed in: Honoring Justice Scalia – Dare to Disagree. Tepperman give a summary on how this happened in Mexico.

Tepperman admits that the same exact methods cannot work in all countries but suggested these common factors:

1. Embrace the extreme
2. There is power in promiscuous thinking
3. Please all of the people some of the time

To me this are great examples of how they were able to adapt and use the Paneugenesis Process to create their idealized outcome of a better country:

1. Operationalize an Idealized Outcome – make sure all involved parties know what is to be created and be sure that it is better than what can be now. The outcome should have pervasive and reciprocal effects that carry meaning and impact to and beyond the individual.

2. Discover Precursors – what must exist now to make the idealized outcome a reality. Discover what skills, abilities, traits, environments are necessary and or  must exist to realize the idealized outcome. These precursors are conditions that must be created and not currently present.

3. Optimize the Process – what must be done to create those precursors that will enable the idealized outcome to be realized – go do that now! Do what must be done to create and put in place the necessary precursors discovered.

4. Plot Progress – find measures that document and demonstrate progress is being made toward the creation of discovered precursors and or idealized outcomes. Progress measures that indicate movement is being made toward the creation of the new, desired reality are necessary to give meaning and purpose to the process and to help participants maintain motivation.

Please share your stories of how better than thought possible was created so progress becomes more well understood and becomes the default expectation.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!