Henry Blodget spotted this image. I think it captures very succinctly the perils of retrospective coherence – the myriad ways we tidy up history to make things seem more linear.
I think the delusion of linearity accounts for a lot of not-very-effective training and even-less-effective bureaucracy. Processes and skills are reduced to simple steps and a kind of mindless consistency is championed.
I think learning needs to be messier; amid all those twists and turns are the discoveries and surprises that satisfy the participant and help new things stick. We have to embrace a certain degree of edginess and discomfort but in return we get aliveness and engagement.
With some friends I’ve put up a website which elaborates a little on this kind of edge thinking.
Hat tip: Viv’s tweet
