Thinking or Doing?

Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore

I’m Johnnie Moore, and I help people work better together

I spend too much time thinking.

A friend revealed to me recently that he would describe me to acquaintances as a brain on a stick. He assures me that this was a compliment. I’m not so sure.

And much as I like blogging and all that goes with it the problem is that it takes me further into the world of the concept. Of course, in some ways I’m happy there but the truth is real human contact is a lot more fun. And I see that Tony has connected to the insight that blogging either makes you fat or makes you broke; or fat broke as he calls it.

Then Olaf’s blog leads me to comments by Lilia Efimova on the theme Communities Don’t Practice.

This in essence suggests that “Communities of Practice” aren’t much use because they are all talk. On the other hand, teams which do things are better at doing, but don’t spend enough time reflecting in order to improve their learning.

How true this is of people and groups. We either like to make stuff happen, and fail to learn; or we theorise and fail to do. The first types think they are practical and the others are nerds; the second think of themselves as rather clever and the others as simple.

Maybe a little more balance would be in order. Which in my case means getting off my butt and getting out a bit more. Most of all, my recent trip to Jersey reminded me that I really thrive on real human contact and engagement. And there’s only so much fun to be had thinking about stuff.

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