Yokoten, Meta-cognition and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

A lovely Japanese word, no?

It rolls off the tongue, and ends with a long, pleasing 'nnnn...'

What's it mean?

Here are some definitions:

Horizontal sharing, best practice sharing, lateral deployment, shared experiential learning...

I like the last one. Shared -- experiential -- learning.

Yokoten entails not just cognition (knowing), which tends to be shorter term, but also meta-cognition.

Meta-cognition entails 'knowing about knowing' and mean answering questions like:

How do I learn?

What do I know?

What do I not know very well?

Great leaders know themselves thereby, and can make conscious decisions.

(The Lean Business System is fundamentally about wakefulness.)

Leaders need to ask these questions of their organization:

How do we learn best?

What do we currently know, and not know, well?

Most important question for leaders:

How do I ensure that we'll continue to learn, after our current leaders retire or move on?

A tough one, to be sure.

The late, great Steve Jobs thought about it a great deal.

The result: Apple University.

Cheers,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Caffé Macaroni and Italian Design?
The Loneliness of the Small Business Owner
What is Courage & How does it relate to True North?
Lean, Leadership & Ethics, Part 1

Yokoten, Meta-cognition and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis

A lovely Japanese word, no?

It rolls off the tongue, and ends with a long, pleasing 'nnnn...'

What's it mean?

Here are some definitions:

Horizontal sharing, best practice sharing, lateral deployment, shared experiential learning...

I like the last one. Shared -- experiential -- learning.

Yokoten entails not just cognition (knowing), which tends to be shorter term, but also meta-cognition.

Meta-cognition entails 'knowing about knowing' and mean answering questions like:

How do I learn?

What do I know?

What do I not know very well?

Great leaders know themselves thereby, and can make conscious decisions.

(The Lean Business System is fundamentally about wakefulness.)

Leaders need to ask these questions of their organization:

How do we learn best?

What do we currently know, and not know, well?

Most important question for leaders:

How do I ensure that we'll continue to learn, after our current leaders retire or move on?

A tough one, to be sure.

The late, great Steve Jobs thought about it a great deal.

The result: Apple University.

Cheers,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Reprise: Apple University, Yokoten and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis

Yokoten is a lovely Japanese word which means shared, experiential learning.

The late Steve Jobs set up Apple University to support Yokoten after he was gone.

Apple University is dedicated to developing & sharing the "Apple Way", the set of practices and values, Mr. Jobs left behind.

Jobs was a great admirer of the "HP Way" developed by Dave Hewlett and Bill Packard.

In the last decade of his life, Jobs lamented the loss of Dave & Bill's brilliant, humane culture.

I have a number of HP friends and colleagues and am struck by how strongly Dave & Bill still influence HP Culture.

Sadly, given the organization's recent travails, that influence often entails, "Dave & Bill would never allow that to happen!"

In any event, wise leaders build "leadership pipelines" -- to ensure their organization adapt, survive & prospers for generation.

In difficult times, when it often seems we’re led by swine and psychos, let's honour leaders like Jobs, Hewlett, Packard et al.

Leadership is a game with endless innings. We've struck out badly the past decade, but we'll get to the plate again.

History suggests we'll learn and get better.

Indeed, I feel a growing sense of decency and service among the leaders I work with.

Hopefully, the reign of the toxic "expert" -- the disconnected brain who "manages by the numbers from a distance" -- is beginning to pass.

The continuing indictments of high profile executives of such firms will surely help.

Imagine one of these bozos doing a cost-benefit-analysis on Yokoten!

Stay young, stay foolish.

Cheers,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

How Does Lean Survive a Top Management Change?

By Pascal Dennis

Succession planning is indeed the key, but perhaps not in the conventional sense.

Lean thinking entails meta-cognition, which means 'knowing about knowing' and answering questions like:

How do I learn?

What do I know?

What do I know well?

What do I not know very well?

Great leaders tend to know themselves thereby, and can make conscious decisions.

Leaders need to ask these questions of their organization:

How do we learn best?

What do we currently know, and not know, well?

Most important question for leaders:

How do I ensure that we'll continue to learn, after our current leaders retire or move on?

A tough one, to be sure.

Rendering of the new Apple University campus in Cupertino California

The late, great Steve Jobs thought about it a great deal.

Sounds like Apple University is his posthumous attempt to perpetuate the Apple Way.

Cheers,

Pascal

Apple University, Yokoten and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis

Yokoten is a lovely Japanese word which means shared, experiential learning.

The late Steve Jobs set up Apple University to ensure yokoten after he was gone.

Apple University is dedicated to developing & sharing the "Apple Way", the set of practices and values, Mr. Jobs left behind.

"Thanks, Steve" by Jonathon Mak Long,
19 year old student at Hong Kong's Polytechnic University School of Design.

Jobs was a great admirer of the "HP Way" developed by Dave Hewlett and Bill Packard.

In the last decade of his life, Jobs lamented the loss of Dave & Bill's brilliant, humane culture.

I have a number of HP friends and colleagues and am struck by how strongly Dave & Bill still influence HP Culture.

Sadly, given the organization's recent travails, that influence often entails, "Dave & Bill would never allow that to happen!"

In any event, wise leaders build "leadership pipelines" -- to ensure their organization adapt, survive & prospers for generation.

In difficult times, when it often seems we’re led by swine and psychos, let's honour leaders like Jobs, Hewlett, Packard et al.

Leadership is a game with endless innings. We've struck out badly the past decade, but we'll get to the plate again.

History suggests we'll learn and get better.

Indeed, I feel a growing sense of decency and service among the leaders I work with.

Hopefully, the reign of the toxic "expert" -- the disconnected brain who "manages by the numbers from a distance" -- is beginning to pass.

The recent indictments of high profile executives of such firms will surely help.

Imagine one of these bozos doing a cost-benefit-analysis on yokoten.

"It doesn't make sense for me to teach anybody anything."

Been thinking a great deal about leadership lately. In fact, I have a new book coming: Reflections of a Business Nomad.

More on that later.

Stay young, stay foolish.

Cheers,

Pascal

Yokoten, Meta-cognition and Leadership

By Pascal Dennis

A lovely Japanese word, no?

It rolls off the tongue, and ends with a long, pleasing 'nnnn...'

What's it mean?

Here are some definitions:

Horizontal sharing, best practice sharing, lateral deployment, shared experiential learning...

I like the last one. Shared -- experiential -- learning.

Yokoten entails not just cognition (knowing), which tends to be shorter term, but also meta-cognition.

Meta-cognition entails 'knowing about knowing' and mean answering questions like:

How do I learn?

What do I know?

What do I not know very well?

Great leaders know themselves thereby, and can make conscious decisions.

(The Lean Business System is fundamentally about wakefulness.)

Leaders need to ask these questions of their organization:

How do we learn best?

What do we currently know, and not know, well?

Most important question for leaders:

How do I ensure that we'll continue to learn, after our current leaders retire or move on?

A tough one, to be sure.

The late, great Steve Jobs thought about it a great deal.

The result: Apple University.

More in my next blog.

Cheers,

Pascal