day 1159: IBNO Status - Part 3 (Redux)

"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

"Let's just take a shortcut and we'll be done with this". To anyone who wants to get anything done, that sounds like a fine alternative and when we have been working really, really hard, this alternative could come as such a relief. Unless, that shortcut undermines the quality and/or credibility of the work. Seldom does anyone come right out and use the word "shortcut" but it shows up as the result when the extra quality check is ignored or the preventative maintenance schedule is not followed, or the details on the expense report are too complicated to fill out. They aren't stark and visible shortcuts, but they are things that when not fully completed, cut short ourselves and our potential to be as good as we can be. Many of the cues for these actions come from the world around us. I marvel at how when there is some very egregious crime committed in the corporate world that there will be people who say, "I never imagined he would do that". Any major infraction started a long time ago with a little of this and a little of that going on. The erosion of character, values and disciplines are always evident if we just pay attention and look hard enough for them. But, as a people, we don't. We allow the curve to shift and the standards to slip and before long, "everyone is doing it". 

This is the world doing this to us and unless we have a strict and strong standard we will find ourselves moving along the curve. We all are in, but we do not need to be of this world, this is why in Romans 12:2 we are given the boundary lines. Our IBNO (in but not of) Status is constantly challenged by the crowds. Books are written about the the wisdom of the crowd. In the technology world we are asked over and over, "are you crowd-sourcing?" When it comes to values, principles and disciplines, may we never allow the crowd to source any of us. Today, if there is an area at work or in your life where you feel that the crowd and the world has pushed you in a direction that makes you not happy with you are, then today is the time to step away from the crowd and start back to being you.

Reference: Romans 12:2 (New Living Testament)

 

day 470: CrowdSourcing

Every since the book, "Wisdom of the Crowds" was written, there has been a steady push to try and "crowd source" everything. Technology allows for us to put a problem, a product, a service, an idea, or a concept, in front of large samples of people who have a common interest and then see what they come up with, as a crowd. Sounds a little like democracy that actually works. There are many good things that come from the wisdom of crowds, but the crowd does not make the decision on a product or a service, it still comes down to people who have a point of view and take a stand. The crowds can provide a direction, but a person must make the decision. I see it all the time in the workplace where consensus falls short and someone has to step forward, but for one reason or another, no one wants to do so. It takes a person with conviction and belief to take a stand. It takes even more than that to run counter to the crowd and refute the "wisdom". When we were growing up, I am sure each of us heard from our parents, "well, would you jump off a bridge just because everyone else was doing it?" The sad part is that too many people do proverbially follow others off the bridge, just because it is harder to take the stand against the crowd. I am reminded of this when I read the account of what the crowd did once after Jesus had cast out demons in a place called Gadarenes. After he had performed His miracle, we read in Matthew 8:24; "The entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone." Think about this. The "entire" town means everyone. Was there not at least one person who wanted to run counter to the crowd and spend more time and hear what Jesus had to say? I suspect there was and there was probably more than one, but instead of fighting the crowd, they succumbed and fell into the lack of wisdom of this crowd. Today, are you in or out of the crowd on some issue, problem, challenge? Are you going to stand firm with your own point of view or run the risk of missing out on something extraordinary because the crowd has a different perspective? Each of us have our own crowd to deal with and it is up to us to go with them or go against them; to be "crowded" or not.

Reference: Matthew 8:34 (New Living Testament)

day 331: IBNO Status (part 3)

"Let's just take a shortcut and we'll be done with this". To anyone who wants to get anything done, that sounds like a fine alternative and when we have been working really, really hard, this alternative could come as such a relief. Unless, that shortcut undermines the quality and/or credibility of the work. Seldom does anyone come right out and use the word "shortcut" but it shows up as the result when the extra quality check is ignored or the preventative maintenance schedule is not followed, or the details on the expense report are too complicated to fill out. They aren't stark and visible shortcuts, but they are things that when not fully completed, cut short ourselves and our potential to be as good as we can be. Many of the cues for these actions come from the world around us. I marvel at how when there is some very egregious crime committed in the corporate world that there will be people who say, "I never imagined he would do that". Any major infraction started a long time ago with a little of this and a little of that going on. The erosion of character, values and disciplines are always evident if we just pay attention and look hard enough for them. But, as a people, we don't. We allow the curve to shift and the standards to slip and before long, "everyone is doing it". This is the world doing this to us and unless we have a strict and strong standard we will find ourselves moving along the curve. We all are in, but we do not need to be of this world, this is why in Romans 12:2 we are given the boundary lines. Our IBNO (in but not of) Status is constantly challenged by the crowds. Books are written about the the wisdom of the crowd. In the technology world we are asked over and over, "are you crowd-sourcing?" When it comes to values, principles and disciplines, may we never allow the crowd to source any of us. Today, if there is an area at work or in your life where you feel that the crowd and the world has pushed you in a direction that makes you not happy with you are, then today is the time to step away from the crowd and start back to being you.

Reference: Romans 12:2 (New Living Testament)