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| The Gurteen Knowledge Website |
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Quotation
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On prejudice by Peter Senge |
 
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Consider prejudice. Once a person begins to accept a stereotype of a particular group, that "thought" becomes an active agent, "participating" in shaping how he or she interacts with another person who falls in that stereotyped class. In turn, the tone of their interaction influences the other person's behaviour. The prejudiced person can't see how his prejudice shapes what he "sees" and how he acts. In some sense, if he did, he would no longer be prejudiced. To operate, the "thought" of prejudice must remain hidden to its holder
Peter Senge MIT-based author, researcher & educator
David Gurteen's comments: I feel this is a powerful example of how the hidden influence of our paradigms determines how we perceive the world - "our thoughts shape our reality".
Quotations from Peter Senge:  Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it ... This then, is the basic meaning of a 'learning organization' -an organization that is continuously expanding its capacity to create its future. 'Survival learning' or what is more often called 'adaptive learning' is important - indeed it is necessary. But for a learning organization, 'adaptive learning' must be joined by 'generative learning', learning that enhances our capacity to create.Peter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator People don't resist change; they resist being changed.Peter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator Consider prejudice. Once a person begins to accept a stereotype of a particular group, that "thought" becomes an active agent, "participating" in shaping how he or she interacts with another person who falls in that stereotyped class. In turn, the tone of their interaction influences the other person's behaviour. The prejudiced person can't see how his prejudice shapes what he "sees" and how he acts. In some sense, if he did, he would no longer be prejudiced. To operate, the "thought" of prejudice must remain hidden to its holderPeter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning.Peter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.Peter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator Our traditional views of leaders - as special people who set the direction, make the key decisions, and energize the troops - are deeply rooted in an individualistic and non-systemic worldview. Especially in the West, leaders are heroes -great men (and occasionally women) who rise to the fore in times of crises. Our prevailing leadership myths are still captured by the image of the captain of the cavalry leading the charge to rescue the settlers from the attacking Indians. So long as such myths prevail, they reinforce a focus on short-term events and charismatic heroes rather than on systemic forces and collective learning. At its heart, the traditional view of leadership is based on assumptions of people's powerlessness, their lack of personal vision and inability to master the forces of change, deficits which can be remedied only by a few great leaders. Peter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator The unhealthiness in our world today is in direct proportion to our inability to see it as a whole.Peter Senge, MIT-based author, researcher & educator
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12:29 PM GDT |
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