“Our enemy is adaptable, we must be, too.” Adaptability & Simplicity, Random Thoughts
March 17th, 2012 by J.ScottShipman
The best short book I’ve read on tacit knowledge is Michael Polanyi’s The Tacit Dimension, the best long book on the same topic is Personal Knowledge by the same author.
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Posted in 20th century, 21st century, Adaptability, Afghanistan, America, J. Scott Shipman, philosophy, strategy, Strategy and War, Uncategorized, warriors | 3 comments
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zen:
March 17th, 2012 at 3:41 am
Hi Scott,
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Sounds like your conference speech went very well – congrats!
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” He went on to characterized their adaptations as “simple.”
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This simplicity would seem to be a case of tweaking – not having any authority constraining him, the insurgent, especially a 4GW type guerrilla-entrepreneur experiments. Tries something. Sees if it works. If he survives, he refines it.
Larry Dunbar:
March 17th, 2012 at 5:52 am
Water is also bi-polar, but in a good way. While it can’t conduct electricity, it is a great medium for change, because it has both of the potentials and the ability to attract and repulse, within its matrix.
J. Scott Shipman:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Hi Zen,
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The talk went ok. We’re going to edit out clips and post. This was extraordinary group of people with very different perspectives on how best to be innovative. The twist of internal culture as a constraint and an enabler pleasantly surprised many of the attendees. I like your closing paragraph—the last sentence does a nice job of conceptualizing the dilemma on the other side.
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Hi Larry,
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What a great comment! I did not think of water as a medium of change—even though if I’d thought a little more deeply about the “results” of what Sun Tzu was describing I may have apprehended. And I like the “attract and repulse” notion; reminds of the videos of the tsunami wave making landfall in Japan—attracting and repulsing all at once. May have do another post. Thanks for sharing!