after a couple of ugly days of work, I’m baaaack…
when last seen, I was advocating a new understanding of
our actions, our way of doing things…
transactional vs transformational…
usually they are described as leadership styles but, but I believe they
can be used to understand a new way of thinking about our
beliefs and actions in regard to this transactional and transformational
thinking…
we exist in a multiple number of systems… from our own little personal
system to great, large almost unseen systems that connect us from ourselves
to distant galaxies…and the question is, what is our place in this large scheme
of things? our place, as it were is really different for everyone because
we each of us, exists in a different place in regards to each other and the
multitude of different systems we all exist in…
even in a small system like husband and wife… my wife and I exist
in different places in our system because we are in different places…
we have different viewpoints and even by virtue of being male and female,
we are in different places and with different viewpoints in regards to
how we see our little system…it is far easier to see one’s
place in a system if the system is small or not very complicated…
so, we must understand how our actions affect the various systems
we each belong to and our actions can be transactional or transformational…
and to understand our actions in regards to a system and transactional or
transformational actions or behavior… we must begin to understand
the system we exist in…take my own little personal relationship or
system with my wife… if we engage in transactional behavior with each
other, for example, we work at the basic level of needs satisfaction,
we focus on the lower levels of the needs hierarchy… we simple take
care of our lower level needs of food, water, shelter, clothing, education…
our relationship cannot grow or become something different if we all we
do is focus on established routines and procedures and our reward for
simple emphasizing settings of goals and the efficiency of our operation
and increase of productivity…in other words, if we act corporate in
our relationship with each other…we establish goals and try to maximize
efficiency… a relationship is far more then just trying to be efficient…
or reaching goals…you have to look at the system and then understand the
the actions or behavior needed… if we based our relationship on simple
meeting goals or established routines and the efficiency of those routines,
our marriage would have ended a long time ago… it would have died of boredom…
and complacency…a marriage is not just about the goals and efficiency of our
marriage, but about the motivation and sense of identity and our self worth
and taking ownership of who we are and what we are trying to achieve…
a marriage is more then the nuts and bolts of achieving some goal…
I have my strengths and she has her strengths and we are stronger together
then individually because her strengths are my weaknesses and my strengths are
her weaknesses…every single system has it goals and efficiency… but what
we are trying to do with a system is not just reach goals and become more efficient,
but to go beyond that… to create a vision of who we might be within
that system…we might make achieving greatness as a goal within a
system… but if the goal is simply to increase efficiency of established
routines and procedures and become more concerned with following the
existing rules… then we are just doing nothing more then just existing…
why not strive to become something more then just reaching some modest
goal or to become more efficient… why not become something more?
that is transformational thinking… what would it take to achieve something
more then just increasing efficiency and following procedures…
and it is not just about me, but about all of us…
it is not enough to reach some modest goal and call it a day…
part of the failure of America today has been its attempt to just
become more efficient and just following the rules and established
procedures… we must rise above these mundane goals and
strive to become something greater…
it is not enough to just achieve the goal of basic survival…
to only be concerned with reaching the basic goals of the lower level
of survival like eating and water and clothing and shelter…
we must strive to achieve something beyond just the basic
level of survival…there is more then enough money and resources
to achieve that basic level of having enough food and water and resources
for everyone on planet earth… but the vast extra money and resources
are going to the 1%… instead of going to all the people… remember, 500
people have the same wealth as half the planet, 3.5 billion people…
dream big and use that extra money that those 500 people have
and use that for the basic necessities of those 3.5 billion people…
we have the resources to take care of the planet and all its people…
we don’t because we are following some outdated and dangerous
ism’s and ideologies…all of this is connected…
transactional and transformational actions and behavior
and our current situation… if we understood
that we can change our current situation if we think beyond
the transactional thinking that is current in America today
and begin to think transformational and begin to think of how
we can change who we are and who we can become and create
the society we need, not the society we have… to become
the people we can be… only if we escape our thinking, will this
be possible…if we think within the box, we will simple continue
as is… if we think outside of the box and engage, we can become
something more…
so what will it be?
the past or the future?
Kropotkin