The Invisible Mentor

Archive for the ‘Innovative Thinkers’ Category

I am reading The Nature of Economiesby Jane Jacobs as background research for a paper that I am writing for Infed.org. Jacobs was an urban philosopher and visionary.

I have pulled five ideas from the book, and attempt to show how readers might apply the information to their work and life. I am sure that you could come up with better applications for these ideas.

The “Knowledge Age” is going to become the Lost-Age unless preserving specimens of work is taken as seriously as preserving apples and beans




Thousands of years ago, people were combining materials and devices that were radically different to form something new




People are naturally creative




People do not need to be geniuses or even extraordinarily talented to develop their work, they only need to be resourceful and show initiative




Know thyself…We learn about ourselves by learning about others and how we relate to them

Idea 1

How do you preserve your family’s history and stories? Have you been recording them for your children? Within the organization, what are you doing to record the knowledge that is in the older worker’s head?

Idea 2

How might you combine two good products that are very different, to create an extraordinary one? How might you combine a very different process in another industry with one in yours to create an entirely new way of doing things?

Idea 3

 In what ways can you exercise your natural creativity to positively impact your financial situation? How might you use your creativity to develop a new process, model or product to contribute to your organization’s bottom line

Idea 4

 In what ways could you develop the work you do by simply giving it some serious thought. What resources available to you could you use? If you systematically thought through your work process, how might you improve it? What inefficiencies could you remove or how could you expand your work?

Idea 5

When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation with someone who was very different from yourself? If you have, what insights did you glean, and what did you learn about yourself?

These are five ways that you can connect new information to what you already know. What other ways could you connect these ideas?

As was the case with all the posts so far in the series 10 People Who Would Have Been Great Bloggers, based on research, I attempted to get into the head of these great thinkers and project what I thought they would say. But this time, for Plato, I decided to stick to the research. I like Plato because he loved to ask good questions, and I am quite fascinated by his notion of Atlantis.  Though, I did not try to write in his voice, Plato would have been an excellent educational blogger, and he would ask us the tough questions forcing us to think. Here is a short 7-minute video about Plato and his life.

Plato – Encyclopedia channel

Mentor: Socrates

Protege: Aristotle

Written Works: The Apology (of Socrates), Crito, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Euthyphro, Hippias Minor and Major, Meno, Euthydemus, Menexenus, Cratylus, Repuglic, Phaedrus, Syposium, Phaedo, Republic, Parmenides, Theatetus, Sophist,Statesmas,Timaeus,Critias,Philebus, and Laws

Platonics

1. Plato’s birth name was Aristocles and was given the nickname Platon because of his broad shoulders
2. Founder of the the philosophical school, Academy in Athens in 387 B.C - named after a legendary Greek called Academus - the first institution of higher learning in the Western world
3. The way in which Plato operated the Academy, his ideas on what constitutes an educated “man” greatly influenced educational theory
4. Plato served as tutor to the new king Dionysius II
5. Studied the doctrines of Cratylus, and the work of Pythagoras and Parmenides before he met Socrates
6. Writings mostly take the form of question and answer dialogues
7. Mastered the art of asking good questions
8. Well traveled, had a career in the military and politic,s and studied music and poetry when he was young
9. During his 12-year travel after Socrates’ death, Plato studied with the Pythagoreans in Italy, and then studied the philosophy of his contemporaries, geometry, geology, astronomy and religion

Plato was a diligent learner, and loved to dialogue, though he was shy. What can you learn from him? Would he make an ideal Invisible Mentor?

Further Reading

Plato Biography

Plato

Video Credit: Encyclopedia channel

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This is a very lighthearted look at Benjamin Franklin who offered so much to the world. Franklin established the first public lending library and the first fire department in Pennsylvania, a university and a hospital. I had fun creating the tweets. At the end of the tweets is a 29-minute YouTube video, which is worth watching if you want to learn more about the man. I also recommend The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which isn’t an easy read since it is written in old English. But take the time to slog through the book because it will inspire you. Here are the 10 tweets.

@franklin He that once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged

@avilbeckford RT @franklin After getting the first hundred £s, it’s easier to get the second. [I guess these days it would b 1st million]

@franklin Partnerships often end in quarrels, but I was happy in this, that mine carry’d on and ended amicably

@franklin I’m known as a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, a musician, and an economist

@franklin I wanted 2 write 4 my brother’s paper & knew he wouldn’t let me. Cr8ed a fictional widow “Silence Good” & wrote under that name

@franklin If u want to learn abt me watch the video Walter Isaacson: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, click here or see below

@franklin I invented bifocals, lightning rod, a simple odometer& furnace stove

@franklin Lack of formal education shouldn’t prevent success, look at what I’ve accomplished, respected over the world & I’m self-educated

@franklin Learn, Learn, Learn and when you are done learning Learn some more. Feed Your Mind!

@franklin Looking back on my life, today I would be considered a workaholic but I thrived on work and that’s why I accomplished so much

Walter Isaacson: “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” (YouTube Video)

Source:

The Autobiography and Other Writings Benjamin Franklin (I read both this and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)

Articles of Interest:

Benjamin Franklin and the “Wagon Affair” of 1755, William and Mary Quarterly, April 2009, Volume 66, Number 2 (Contains information on some long lost Franklin Letters, which we found recently)

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While I was writing an article about the importance of reading, Building Intellectual Power One Book at a Time, I wanted the perfect quote to sum up what I felt, and I found the perfect one by Francis Bacon, author, philosopher and the father of inductive reasoning.

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention” says Francis Bacon.

A Video of Creative Quotations from Francis Bacon

(CreativeQuotations.com)

From the quotes in the video, which one is your favourite, and why?

Note: As is the case with all the posts so far in the series 10 People Who Would Have Been Great Bloggers, based on research, I attempt to get into the head of these great thinkers and project what I think they would say. And, most importantly, I have fun with what I discover. I find the theory that Bacon was Shakespeare to be quite fascinating.

Baconisms

1. You may not know this, but I am the originator of the phrase “Knowledge is power.” I am so delighted that the phrase is so widespread
2. Reading gives me pleasure and gardening is one of life’s simple pleasures
3. Have planned procedures to investigate everything
4. I believe in practical knowledge so it is important to restructure traditional learning methods
5. Though I revered Aristotle, I hated his philosophy, what the heck is Aristotelianism anyway?
6. My life is the classic case of a Greek tragedy, read my next point and you will know why
7. Be weary of power and do not let it go to your head, operate with integrity, I know what I am talking about. I was on the fast track and lost my way, I was charged and arrested for bribery. Though the king later pardoned me, I was banished from public life
8. If you make a mistake, own up to it, and learn from it
9. Good can come from adversity: After I was charged and arrested, I focused on my writing
10. Am I, or Am I Not William Shakespeare? Now That’s the Question!

Sources:

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)
Biographies: Francis Bacon “The Secretary of Nature (1561 – 1626)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Francis Bacon

Of Francis Bacon by Max Patrick

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Interesting Information

Bacon is Shakespeare Slideshow
Baconian Theory

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WRITER, PHILOSOPHER, AND FEMINIST, Mary Wollstonecraft best known for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein . Born in 1759, she was truly ahead of her time, and during her short life (she died in 1797) she advocated and argued for the rights of women.  According to Wikipedia, in her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women “she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.” Wollstonecraft could be considered the “Mother of Feminism.”

Note: As is the case with all the posts so far in the series 10 People Who Would Have Been Great Bloggers, based on research, I attempt to get into the head of these great thinkers and project what I think they would say.

There are many troubling aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft’s life as you will discover while reading about her, but focus on the positives. Like us, she too was human.

Mentor: Fanny Blood

Pioneering Way: Became an author, though it was uncommon for women to support themselves by writing

Big Break: Publisher, Joseph Johnson commissioned Wollstonecraft to write Thoughts on the Education of Girls, which was published in 1786, and two years later they founded the journal Analytical Review

Circle of Influence: Tom Paine, John Cartwright, John Horne Tooke, William Godwin, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Blake

Works Studied: The Bible, Milton, Shakespeare

Wollstonecraftisms

1. Do not accept things because they have always been that way, challenge social norms
2. Read books and attend lectures to expand your intellectual universe
3. Seek intellectual stimulation from those around you
4. Do not be afraid to test your ideas
5. Teach your children how to reason
6. Well educated women make good wives and mothers while making contributions to society
7. Women deserve the same rights as men
8. We all have a social responsibility to the poor
9. Where you start out in life is not an indication of where you will end up
10. Invest in your mind to reap big rewards

Further Reading

The History Guide Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 – 1797

Mary Wollstonecraft Legacy

Spartacus Educational Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft on Education

Mary Wollstonecraft

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Photo credits: Wikipedia