Living with an open mind

Bubbles anybody?

Most of us do not live in a bubble, or so we would like to think.  Should one start paying particular attention to spotting the bubbles, one soon finds that some people do indeed live in a bubble, but clearly we don't, only "they" do.

Politicians are the easiest to spot as their bubbles are hugely visible and on display in the media most days.  Somehow we accept this from politicians and as an American bumper sticker recently proclaimed. "Don't vote for politicians, it only encourages them",  we are the ones enabling politicians to get away with it. I know it is a much more complex subject so I will leave it alone for now, but add this as a final word on politics -"Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear." -   Alan Corenk .

We must consider that to others, we too might be living in some bubble, based on their interpretation of our behaviour and judged by their own beliefs and prejudices.

Bubbles can only come about when we close our minds to information by simply not being bothered to pay attention to the world around us or decide to shoot the messenger, while ignoring the message.
Bubbles are also formed around "popular"  fads such as "Ice Yoga"  or 5 wheel bicycles, but those are not what I am talking about as they do no harm.

Large organisations and governments mostly suffer from terminal deafness, but it is the people in these organisations, living in their organisational bubbles, who have decided to remain deaf or to reject anything not conforming to the "approved" bubbles.

Organisational Bubbles ( OB ) are much the same as BO in that it repels people and ideas, so maybe we should consider some deodorant.

The only deodorant available is an open mind and it is up to each of us to work at achieving this, ask questions, explore, challenge and learn. Closed minds miss opportunities in small and large organisations and leadership is the most important element to fostering benefits derived from open minds in those environments.

Individually we have to decide whether our comfort zones can be breached in an effort to escape our bubbles and become the light at the end of the tunnel for others.

 

What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. -  John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)