Over the last two years, management by wandering around has been curtailed with the pandemic and lockdown and everything associated with it. In the midst of the transformation, there is the possibility for me, and maybe for you, to change how this works. I will refer to it as LBLA, or Learning by Looking around. We live in a time where we have more information and opinions available to us than ever before. At times it is difficult to dig out what is truth and what is just opinion, but the amount available to us is simply amazing. On a minute-by-minute feed, we have available, commentary, humor, pets, virtually any information desired. All we need to do is listen or read. Although physically isolated from the important people in our lives, we have more ways to communicate with them than ever before. Everything from Zoom to US Postal Service is available to move information and opinions from one person and place to another.
The big trick is to decide what sources you can believe and what people you can trust. There was a time you could generally trust the printed news, or television broadcasts. That time is long gone, with part of the belief today being if you say something with enough bravado and volume, you can convince a certain portion of the population to believe you. This isn't good. It creates a slippery slope where people soon believe nothing. We have all seen examples of this in the last three to five years. What do you do about this?
My suggestion takes me right back to Darrell Bridges. Take time to look, listen, and remember. Take in information around you. Listen to as much as you can. But stop reacting and don't simply move it forward in social media. Think about it for a long time, and hold it up to the situations you are in and which you see. Talk to people you trust and who you've found reliable over the years. Listen to their thoughts about the matter. Finally, be cautious about those who have an economic or profit motive around a particular issue. Money and influence does funny things to people and can cause a truth to be told as a partial truth with the goal being to influence you. After you have practiced LBLA, circle back to the beginning and do the whole thing again. Take what you have learned, and use that information to be smarter the next time.
I believe we have seen a time when many believe they are thinking on their own. The only problem is at the same time we have people and organizations which have gotten really good at the art of propaganda. They have gotten masterful at getting people to see things in a specific way. Do what you were taught in elementary school. Do the hard work, look at things through your own eyes and with the information you have developed over a lifetime, and be a lifetime learner. Today, our world needs people who can look at situations and people and think their way through what is truth and what is nothing more than an attempt to manipulate. Learn by Looking Around. Trust the accuracy and believability of what you think to nobody but you. Be a healthy skeptic, but do it by looking and listening to the things around you and making up your own mind.
Thank you for reading my thoughts today.
