IQI Academy graduates have used this metaphor to describe their experience of learning how to see through the lens of the System of Profound Knowledge as taught by Dr. Deming.
The Matrix is an amazing movie, and the parallel's between "learning to see" with Deming, Agile, and Lean, are similar with the idea of "red pilling".
Unfortunately, the concept has been hijacked by other elements that aren't using the "red pill" to signify systems thinking, but instead extreme viewpoints. Even when "red pilling" was introduced by the creators of the Matrix, it was hinting at gender cultures that, at the time of the movie, were far from mainstream.
The challenge, in my opinion, is that there is no absolute objective perspective; and to those that declare the "truth" or "right" perspective do that only through power and coercion. What gives me, a lowly systems thinker, daresay servant leader, the "right" to say "my way is the best way of seeing what is really happening in a society, company, organization, etc..." - and moreover, that if you don't agree, that makes you "wrong"? I fall into the trap of "otherness" that the system I'm trying to reform wants me to fall into.
Good points, David -- I agree. One of my slides that preceded my explanation of The Matrix in my deck had orange slices on it, an homage to Ackoff's observation that an orange appears different depending on how you slice it: pole-to-pole, or across the equator. Same deal here. The key is in whether you're making the observation from within the system or outside of it.
As coach, I take on the Morpheus role, but I am also a Neo depending on the topic and who I'm learning from.
IQI Academy graduates have used this metaphor to describe their experience of learning how to see through the lens of the System of Profound Knowledge as taught by Dr. Deming.
Funny that! It has always felt this way to me, that learning Deming lets you peer behind the curtain and see things others cannot.
The Matrix is an amazing movie, and the parallel's between "learning to see" with Deming, Agile, and Lean, are similar with the idea of "red pilling".
Unfortunately, the concept has been hijacked by other elements that aren't using the "red pill" to signify systems thinking, but instead extreme viewpoints. Even when "red pilling" was introduced by the creators of the Matrix, it was hinting at gender cultures that, at the time of the movie, were far from mainstream.
The challenge, in my opinion, is that there is no absolute objective perspective; and to those that declare the "truth" or "right" perspective do that only through power and coercion. What gives me, a lowly systems thinker, daresay servant leader, the "right" to say "my way is the best way of seeing what is really happening in a society, company, organization, etc..." - and moreover, that if you don't agree, that makes you "wrong"? I fall into the trap of "otherness" that the system I'm trying to reform wants me to fall into.
Good points, David -- I agree. One of my slides that preceded my explanation of The Matrix in my deck had orange slices on it, an homage to Ackoff's observation that an orange appears different depending on how you slice it: pole-to-pole, or across the equator. Same deal here. The key is in whether you're making the observation from within the system or outside of it.
As coach, I take on the Morpheus role, but I am also a Neo depending on the topic and who I'm learning from.