According
to Google, the word “enlighten means to give (someone) greater knowledge and
understanding about a subject or situation" (Google Dictionary, n.d.).
Therefore, in my opinion, when the word enlightenment is used it is the action
of enlightening someone on a subject or situation. In other words, it is the
emphasis of using reason to closely inspect previously accepted laws, rules,
guidelines, tradition, and principles to gain greater knowledge and
understanding of the new laws, rules, etc. that may have evolved from these previous
accepted doctrines.
So, why
do I think the talk of the video is titled 21st Century
Enlightenment? I believe the reason for this is because in the past we used to
believe on only one-way of doing things and one reason of why things had to be
done the way they were done. Basically, it just seems like as humans we just
had this one-track mind and there was no thinking outside of the box. So, now
that we are on the 21st century it is time for us to open our minds
to new behaviors, meanings, traditions, rules, and guidelines. We must breakaway
from the old one-track mindset and start thinking on multiple tracks and outside
the box. In other words, it is time for us to see the new beginnings and breakaway
from the old, bad habits of the past.
What do
you think Matthew Taylor meant when he said: “to live differently, you have to
think differently”? I think Taylor meant that in order for us to think
differently we must breakaway from past judgment and from the old way of doing
and thinking about things. We must open up our minds to new beginnings, accept,
and respect the new way others do things and when possible learn and gain new
experiences. It’s like saying rather than judging a book by its cover, read the
book, learn from it and then draw your own conclusions. So, if you want to make
a difference or just want to live differently, then open up your mind and heart
and begin by thinking differently or different from those around you by drawing
your own conclusions from your own findings.
Less
than half way through the video, Taylor agues that we need “to resist our
tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or
false that which is only strange.” I think by this Taylor means that we should
not accept something (either guidelines, principles, judgments) just because it
has always been accepted, it is familiar to us, others have accepted it that
way, and/or it is what we were taught growing up. We should not regret, make
false or wrong what it is unfamiliar or strange to us. We should actually
embrace the fact that it is something new and take the opportunity to learn
from this new experience. Basically, we should not shut down an idea just
because the thought of it is strange to us (outside the box thinking vs. inside
the box thinking). Instead we should give the new idea a chance and then draw
our own conclusions from the results of following this new idea. For example,
in my workplace I found an easier, effective, and more efficient way of
completing a task. Since I thought the idea was brilliant and it would cut down
the amount needed to complete the task, I passed on the idea to my supervisor.
It didn’t go as planned. She basically shut me down and told me that things
have always been done the same way and that it shouldn’t be changed. It took me
by surprise but even though she had shut me down, I continued to complete the
task the way I found more efficient.
In the
video, Taylor argues that our society should avoid elements of pop culture that
degrade people and that we should spend more time looking into what develops
empathetic citizens. In my opinion, I believe it is possible to change our
culture to one that does not degrade or judge people. But, this is only
possible if we all begin to think differently. Rather than emphasizing on the
negativity, we should spend more time embracing the positive and the new
experiences. The same amount of time that we spend supporting, judging, and
degrading others should and can be spent more wisely learning and developing
better, empathetic citizens. The ending result of this new, possible cultural
era could be the development of more compassionate, understanding, and
intellectual citizens.
At the
end of the video, Taylor talks about the atomizing people from collaborative
environments and the destructive effect on their growth. I think what Taylor is
trying to say is that there has been a great reduction of people in the collaborative
environment and that this has had a very destructive effect to the personal
growth of people. It has basically shielded people from learning how to work
along with others and it has stopped them from gaining new experiences that may
help overall their personal growth. With each and every single new and old
experience people have learned how to grow and overcome obstacles. The
shielding of this has caused people to be stuck in front of those obstacles
wondering how they can overcome this new obstacle that stands on their way of
learning more and growing as individuals.
I
believe the implication of this comment for organizational change efforts means
that it is now harder for the organization to grow and succeed if the
individuals in the organization have not experienced new obstacles and have not
worked together to overcome them or learned new things. How is the organization
supposed to grow and stay ahead of the changing environment if the individuals
in the organization have not experienced something new? In my opinion, it seems
impossible for an organization to grow and succeed if it has not continuously
had employees learning and gaining new experiences. It just makes it harder and
close to impossible for the organizational change practitioner to bring
organizational change if it has to teach and encourage employees to work
together and to learn new things. As a result of this video, I take away as
knowledge and experience that I should open up my mind more to new things
because in order for me to overcome (not resist) change and grow as a person
and leader, I need to be able to try new things by not dismissing them as
strange. I need to breakaway from old habits, past judgment of ideas,
principles, and rules in order to make room and create new principles, ideas, and
rules as a way to be able to learn from them as well.
Reference:
Google
dictionary. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved September 1, 2013, from
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