I’m not that motivated about competing and measuring so will avoid events for the most part and just go “free running”. I was thinking about the London marathon for when I retire….

There isn’t much else to do in a swimming pool except count the lengths.

I am quite interested in triathlon and have a few time done a swim followed by a run. I bike to work most days – it should be my best discipline but has become a mode of transport – the motivation isn’t much there now.

I see you do a bit of swimming too – are you thinking about triathlon? They seem very popular nowadays.

Do you aim towards any running events?

I’ve been running about a year now and understand what you’ve said about the pleasures of measuring and also finding freedom in the unplanned route.

Luke

I agree with your analysis of the problems with “organic organisations” as I’ve described them. Organic organisations are non deterministic and can, like human brains, become dysfunctional. If approached wrongly I am sure that organic porganisations will end up dysfunctional and even “insane”. Organic organisations would need to be nutured like people – like bringing up a child. It will be a whole new management approach.

I’m very sympathetic to these ideas. But there are some difficult areas, too. The observation that a large, organic organization could adapt and change according to necessity raises some interesting questions. How does structure and strategy ensure that the changes don’t inadvertently screw things up? Two groups come up with the same product idea and waste time and money, for instance. Or marketing comes up with a great idea that conflicts with product development?

Also, a plastic system can create negative change as well as positive change. This brings to mind Enron. The organization was so malleable and susceptible to change from within that a few change agents screwed it up for everyone else.

(Despite these cautions, I think that organizations far too often stifle creativity and positive change.)

Best wishes,
Martin Walker
http://www.mindsparke.com
Effective, Affordable Brain Fitness Software

When writing the blog it was in the back of my mind that I’m only talking about “us” in “post industrial” societies – wake up call that our world is changing rapidly as we move into an information and knowledge economies.

The situation is different in other cultures and there is a huge area for anthropological discussion along the lines
that social networking models are more natural – we are moving back to a more natural style.

When I was doing my Master’s in Applied Linguistics I remember reading an interesting article by Kaikonnen (sp?) discussing ‘intercultural competence’. The theory is that language cannot be separated from the culture in which it is spoken/used. Language is a representation of that culture and therefore to be truly competent in speaking a new language you must also become culturally competent. I guess this is why there are some words in certain languages that are not representated by equivalent words in another – they simply don’t have the same words or ideas because they are different cultures.

Anyhoo – something about your blurb made me think of this, and how it is so relevant nowadays with different cultures connecting instantly via the web. Indeed, web users themselves are part of their own culture and have their own accepted netiquette that is quite foreign to non web users or new web users learning to find their way around.

And how does this impact on education? What about distance learning via the web? You could have someone from China studying on a UK based course and thus involve not only the difference in language, but the difference in the cultures of learning, and use of the internet…

Points to ponder, eh?