24 Comments on The me gene?

Sam Holmes on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 11:54 am


Nice one Matthew! Me: all-rounder, B-plus, frustrated on many fronts. Fixer of all kinds of stuff but never myself. Nasa has proved that multi-tasking is less effective than single-focus, but this seems to be beyond me.

Anthony Zacharzewski on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 11:59 am


My wife and I have this conversation with each other quite a bit. Two thoughts.

First, you are probably better at what you do than you think you are. Highly skilled people tend to underrate their abilities, because they are self-aware enough to know where they fall short, whereas less skilled people overrate their abilities. The research on the point is around, but off the top of my head I can’t locate it.*

Second, we judge ourselves by our intention/ambitions, and others only by their actions. The rigorous academic sitting in the room with you might wish that he was you, with a persuasive speaking style and years at the centre of politics. He might have harboured lifelong ambitions to be a think tanker, or an opera singer. You won’t know that, though. You’ll just sit there admiring his academic skills and rigour.

[* but I'm OK with my poor memory and laziness.]

Mark Lloyd on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 12:34 pm


20 years ago I used to go to a comedy club above a dodgy pub in Streatham. The compere was one of the most naturally funny people I had ever come across. It was all unscripted and he just made me laugh so much that I would go back and see him again and again. His name was Eddie Izzard.

Last night I watched the programme on BBC3 about Eddie’s marathon running exploits. In the midst of that I was struck by a comment he made about how he was never any good at anything. Had no “talent” and everything he had ever done had come from “hard work”. I guess it’s the stories we tell ourselves.

I have always thought that the less we worry about “leaving a mark” (whatever that might mean) the more likely we are to do so.

Nice post.

Flustered Badger on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 1:39 pm


There will always be someone younger, cheaper or more skilled than you. What is to be gained from comparing yourself to them with all the A plus and B minus? Satisfaction shouldn’t always be a relative concept. Surely you can find things in your life which don’t require you to measure yourself against others? Activiites for which it’s the process rather than the outcome that matters. Personally, I find the growing of carrots is responsive to this approach.

Hilary Sutcliffe on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 2:18 pm


I had to smile, despite being somewhat less successful than you, though in similar areas, I have this conversation with myself quite often and even pay a coach good money to bend his ear with my B plusness.

However, I was immensely cheered by a leading academic I know who laughed when I said this, and said ‘you have no idea what you are do you, that is very funny, it’s so obvious. You are a a maven and a brilliant connector.’ So I looked up my Malcolm Gladwell Tipping Point where he got his reference from and decided I would deeply love being one of those. What it means is you have to be a little bit good at all the other things, in order to be excellent at the main thing.

So Matthew, maybe you are ‘framing’ it wrong to use that awful word. Have another look and maybe you are an A+ (or actually A*, showing our age) but you are looking at it from the wrong angle!

Anyway I decided – what the heck, I’ll be a connector then – it seems like a lot more fun than being a B+ anything else. And lo and behold I do the same things I have always done but with a renewed purpose and less angst about the Bplusness and save the money on the coach!

See this is what comes from being a glass half-full person!

Jonathan on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 2:40 pm


I think it is easy to over-estimate the ability of specialists. It’s like the old joke about the two hunters running away from a bear. One stops to put on trainers. “What are you doing?” asks his friend, “You can’t outrun a bear.”

“I don’t need to,” he replies “I just need to outrun you”

My tactic is to conceal my general ignorance with pretentious quotes. In this case Montaigne:

“If all complain that I talk too much about myself, I complain that they never even think about their own selves.”

So you’re in good company.

Having said that, I can’t resist noting that you are the only person who has ever actually said to me. “Let’s talk about you. What do you think of me?”

Matthew Kalman on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 2:43 pm


SOCIAL NETWORKS + URBAN HAPPINESS PROJECT + LIVING COMMUNITY MAP

How about this for a piece of RSA research: compare and contrast the ‘Social Network Analysis’ maps (sociograms) of people at different levels on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

In other words, do the struggling ‘Sustenance driven’ have different looking networks to the status-conscious ‘Outer directed’?

What do the sociograms of ethically-driven ‘Inner directed’ Pioneers tend to look like (ie RSA members, like you and I!).

One of the big names in social network analysis – Steve Borgatti – was going to do some research along these lines, though looking at the 7 ‘Action Logics’ rather than Maslowian motivations. Don’t think it happened, in the end…

I think we’d learn something new and valuable if we did this…

URBAN HAPPINESS PROJECT – HELSINKI

Also, have you come across a mapping project called the Urban Happiness Project in Helsinki?
http://pehmogis.hut.fi/pehmogis/en/helsinki.html

I’m not sure what its maps will actually end up looking like. (Anyone seen one?)

LIVING COMMUNITY MAP

I’m also advocating that we somehow extend the mundane focus of FixMyStreet website into the positive and negative experiences (even emotions?) we have around our communities (from walkability, to feelng safe, to enjoyment of nature or culture).

If we could somehow plot all this in real-time – see the waxing and waning of isobars/hotspots of particular feelings – it might give us a whole new way of looking at the health of our communities, of nourishing positive developments, and nipping problems in the bud…

I sent an idea along these lines in to Westminster’s innovation competition in 2006 – your predecessor Penny Egan helped it to be the runner-up individual entry

I called it ‘Living Community Map: Council 2.0″.

There’s also interesting work being done by Dave Snowden – who somehow collects stories from people and turns them into 3D ‘fitness landscapes’, that may be a bit like the GIS-based Living Community Map I have in mind… (Always a bit hard to tell with Dave, I find, as he throws in so many ideas.).

If we can get inside the feelings of our communities in real-time - and map them – would that revolutionise our perspective on community health.

I talked a little bit with David Wilcox about this…

Matthew

Susmita on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 3:34 pm


Jonathan “Having said that, I can’t resist noting that you are the only person who has ever actually said to me. “Let’s talk about you. What do you think of me?”

Oh JCW – nothing is the same without you!

Matthew “Being both self obsessed and a glass-half-empty kind of guy I tend to wish things were different.” You and me both. Perhaps we should just drink more.

Jonathan Rowson on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 3:39 pm


The grass is always greener…

Most experts yearn for profile and relevance, and wish their domain-specific status conferred stature more generally, but often it doesn’t.

I have some expertise in a relatively obscure(for the UK) field in that I am a chess Grandmaster and former British Chess Champion. I played with some of the best players in the world, but one day I realised I didn’t really want to be like any of them, and saw less and less of myself in the 64 squares and 32 pieces where I was pouring all my time and energy.

I think having a taste for expertise is important, if only because it gives you some intuition for when people in other fields really understand something- it allows you to recognise the form of expertise, even if you have never tasted the content.

Louisa on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 3:59 pm


Oh…I was always told if you put your mind to it you can learn anything? I’ve never tested the theory personally, taking more of the Elbert Hubbard view “Don’t take life too seriously; you’ll never get out of it alive.” Don’t show this blog to small children Matthew you’ll shatter their dreams.

Eff on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 5:08 pm


I think that central to all expertise is a passion for the area of interest. But this also requires a kind of monomania; an ability to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others. I think people like Matthew and other commentators probably share that focus but for a wider abstract concept rather than a specific craft or subject; in this case – how societies & cultures work to improve themselves/change. Naturally this type of thing covers a vast array of topics and subjects, usually interrelated. An intellectual curiosity about these factors necessitates hopping from one topic to another and is mutually exclusive with being a subject specialist. I think it is this intellectual restlessness that marks MT and others out from specialists.

This doesn’t however mean that generalists are not also specialists – anyone who has an interest in these things should be skilled in many things: the ability to write and talk persuasively to varied audiences, (crucially) the ability to network, the ability to critically understand numbers and statistics, the ability to appraise the quality of research, have a nuanced understanding of complexity and systems, spot patterns, analytical abilities, creative thinking etc. As Sennett (listen to his excellent RSA talk) and Gladwell have discussed developing these skills takes many years.

Livy on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 5:24 pm


@Susmita

“Perhaps we should just drink more”

After reading the original post it occurred to me that the Friday lunchtime culture clearly gave him a head start on that one.

I guess it’s not necessarily a bad thing. In the end, if you quit drinking you don’t actually live longer, it just seems longer.

G on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 6:51 pm


When out running (averagely) I often ponder this myself. Should I have worked in a different field? Should I have persisted more in some area or other? Can I make up for a lack of ability through tenacity? And so it rumbles on round my head never quite getting resolved.

However I do have another prism through which I see life.
My little boy was born with Cerebral Palsy and specialists queried if he’d ever walk independently. Having turned 3 and after lots of physio he can now walk.

So on the days when the sun shines in the garden and he comes wobbling down the lawn I feel ridiculously selfish for even querying all that other stuff. Daft but true.

Great post – keep it coming.

G.

lynn broadbent on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 11:29 pm


I was beginning to worry about all this navel gazing when thankfully G added the perspective that was missing. If it’s all about “you” there is no such thing as good enough. That’s how we are made.

CP is in my family and I volunteer in a therapeutic horse riding program for kids with a wide range of physical and emotional challenges. Anyone wanting to be A+ is welcome to join a similar effort in his or her own community. I promise no amount of life coaching will do such a good job of helping you recognize the amazing gifts each of us has, whether as leader of the free world or as a three year old with the courage to finally find the strength to walk (for my sister, it was a little later).

For G’s son, like my sister and my riding students, success is a very different and often very basic thing. Witnessing such courage and every wobbly step leaves a lasting impression on any of us lucky enough to be there.

Brenton Holmes on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 11:33 pm


Matthew
Interesting, isn’t it, how many comments you’ve already received about this post, and how consistent are the sentiments they express. Anyone who is engaged, curious, open-minded will always be painfully aware of the seeming abundance of others’ capabilities and the apparent relative scarcity of one’s own. But the opportunity to be stimulated, challenged, disheartened or inspired is what makes it worth getting up each day and joining the fray. As I enter the delicately phrased ‘Third Age’ I am acutely aware that my professional career as I knew it is a thing of the past. But in its stead I have a life which is much more self-directed, and a damn sight more self-examined that it was during the frenzied years. I hope to turn it to some good effect (not brilliant, earth-shattering or lucrative !) by Todorov-style conversations with my fellow citizens in person and in print, and I cannot wait for the opportunity to overwhelm my grandchildren with a loving excess of advice and encouragement so that their own cups have a greater chance of running over. Meantime, never underestimate the worth of what you do. I for one have found much of great benefit in the work of the RSA and the ideas you kick around in your blogs. I may live on the other side of the world, but we inhabit a shared space that I treasure.

Tim Hood on Sat, 6th Mar 2010 8:20 am


Being a regular reader of yours, I’d say you are highly skilled at sourcing, curating and sharing- in an exciting, inspiring way- cutting edge research and top drawer knowledge. An excellent teacher in other words.

If there were an accredited module of Matthew Taylor’s Knowledge, I’d take it and I suspect many others would!

Being a teacher doesn’t mean working in a school or university by the way. I’d say CEO of the RSA is your natural home-that or Director of BBC2, As a job though, yours deserves a higher profile.

Livy on Sat, 6th Mar 2010 5:24 pm


MT…you’re better off. Stop the internal monologue…you just are. Some of the best surgeons and trial lawyers in the world never set foot in their kids’ schools, and chances are they haven’t spoken to their wives in two weeks. But…with great sacrifice comes great reward.

I’ve resisted commenting properly until now for I’m reluctant to feed the self-indulgent beast that is the MT ego. Any money – he wrote this post to see how many people regularly read the blog but choose not to comment.

An old friend of mine used to say: “Life’s not fair, and that’s the good news”. The point being that the poker game of life is played with a marked deck; if you know it, and you’re a natural extrovert with fluent oral communication skills then you don’t always need the best cards to win the hand. Play them blind and you’ll come out on top more often than not – as long as you can read and connect with people. Hilary’s right. But half empty, half full, can we at least agree the glass isn’t full yet?

You should poche Peter Hyman’s role on the regular(ish) Newsnight discussion panel with Olly Grender and Finkelstein, and maybe even snag some guest appearances on Andrew Neil’s This Week. But something tells me that even though you (and most GCSE students) could destroy Finkelstein, Portillo would actually make you look at the cards and probably fold too many times than would be tolerable.

The question isn’t whether you have the ‘intellectual discipline’ to be a politician; the question is, how could you possibly be any worse than most of the clowns we have at the moment?

Either way, that isn’t even the real issue. I’m loathe to say something complimentary given all the fawning going on so far… but writings like yours clearly demonstrate that those best qualified for public office aren’t crazy enough to run for it – anybody smart enough to do the job to a high standard isn’t dumb enough to want it in the first place. Quite apart from anything else, a 1.5% increase won’t attract the sort of people we need, and 65 grand a year in no way warrants that level of intrusion into your private life.

Before my fellow lefties boil their blood, just think about it for a sec. The only other people exposed to that level of slander, media stalking and attacks on their families are celebs, sportsman and movie stars – all of whom know it’s worth it because they’re properly milking it.

Livy

Ian Leslie on Sun, 7th Mar 2010 12:40 am


The world needs foxes as well as hedgehogs.

Hilary Sutcliffe on Sun, 7th Mar 2010 8:04 am


Hey, re previous post, so now what happens you get the angst about being a B+ connector/communicator/ etc etc. (Actually I actually aspire to B+ mainly, C- is more my worry!)

So we are left only with Churchill’s great phrase – “keep buggering on”.

So Matthew, KBO, it’s all a lot better than being unemployed and more fun anything else we can thing of to do.

David Wilcox on Sun, 7th Mar 2010 10:43 am


In this socially networked world, many more people can leave a footprint in the sand, and Lao Tzu may be as relevant as Churchill:
“The Leader is best,
When people are hardly aware of his existence,
Not so good when people praise his government,
Less good when people stand in fear,
Worst, when people are contemptuous.
Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, who speaks little
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
The people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’”
Perhaps the RSA is particularly challenging for any CEO because it provides an excellent platform, with access to many people keen to leave “their” footprint, while also providing the opportunity to be a good leader to 27,000 Fellows who might prefer Lao Tzu to Churchill. What style can satisfy both … and what rewards provide continuing support and motovation?
My personal reflection comes from being a journalist who, many years ago, gained satisfaction from seeing people read my (occasional) front page stories in the Standard on the Tube. A few of those stories stopped things happening. I’m not sure if any did much positive good.
These days, after excursions into consultancy and facilitation, I’m a social reporter with the aim of helping to make sense, join up, encourage, with a mix of media. No exclusives, content re-used, pleasure other people are starting to use the term: ethos – please steal my ideas. It’s a lot more satisfying.
Thanks Matthew for shared the tensions RSA leadership produces. How can we – as Fellows – do more more to support that other side of your leadership? It is appreciated.

grit on Sun, 7th Mar 2010 11:15 am


I do not condemn the occasional attempt to flush out the lurkers. I will add the wise thought, ‘Let not great ambition overshadow small success.’

I got that from a fortune cookie. Works for me.

David Wilcox on Sun, 7th Mar 2010 11:33 am


I like “Warning – do not eat your fortune” More here

matthewtaylor on Sun, 7th Mar 2010 9:16 pm


What a great set of comments!

Everyone was far too tolerant of my self indulgence and David, Brenton and Tim’s kindness I find genuinely touching (mind you, I’m slightly emotionally fragile after a crap weekend of watching West Brom and my sons’ football teams lose games they should have won).

Thanks Livy and Jonathan R for sharing the frustrations of specialist and the many of you who either reassured me or suggested that general-ism is a kind of specialism. of course, we all defer to G and Lynn for their more grounded world view, which reminds us that recovering from adversity is a great character builder and that philanthropy contributes to contentment.

i guess the greatest complement to my generalist skills would be if the RSA truly became – to use one my pet phrases – ‘the kind of organisation the 21st century needs’. Tomorrow, with the launch of the RSA Peterborough partnership is a big day for that project. Really glad to have so many of you on board for the journey.

After reading and rereading these comments I felt really happy to be part of this on-line network. Carry on like this and we are in danger of giving the blogosphere a good name!

PS – Jonathan I’m sure I was being ironic !

PPS Susmita, no drinking at work, not even on a Friday!

PPPS Matthew K – I know someone doing a project on emotional reactions to place. He is an old colleague of mine called Karl Hallam. Here’s the link http://www.cadenceworks.co.uk

john Riley on Wed, 10th Mar 2010 11:06 am


It’s all about step change from the overlaps which is the fundamental ethos of the RSA. Any specialist can make 2+2=4. It takes an A* networker to facilitate a 2+2=5!
Keep up the good work!

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