I love TED Talks as they expand my mind, stir up excitement, and provide incredible insight into what’s happening in our ever-changing world.
I listened to a talk this morning via Ken Robinson and his thoughts on education, which were brilliant, but his thoughts in the closing part of his argument got me thinking passionately about the WordPress culture and overall ecosystem, especially in regards to the “controlling” forces that are in play.
Here’s what Ken had to say:
The real role of leadership in education is not command and control. The real role of leadership is climate control – creating a climate of possibility and if you do that people will rise to it and achieve things that you did not anticipate or couldn’t have expected.
It’s not that the controlling forces within our culture are necessarily bad and at times I believe them to be very healthy and good, but it does make me take a seat back and question whether they are more like that of “command and control” or whether they understand that great leadership is much more about “climate control” than anything else.
In open source world it can be tough as there are dominant (and dominating) voices out there that people love to rally behind, whether they “get it” or not. I think it’s the responsibility of these leaders within our ecosystem and culture to shake off any mantle of “celebrity” and preach a gospel of creative possibility with WordPress instead of continuing to promote strongly one perspective and one perspective only.
This may mean, at times, supporting a view that may clash directly with your own. When I say “support” it does not mean “endorse” or claim as one’s own but rather most simply say that this alternative is no better and no worse than mine.
It requires humility which can be lacking in our culture, generally speaking. That’s a tough egg to crack. Hear Ken’s full thoughts here:
[ted id=1738]
Have you listened to any great TED Talks recently? Love to see links in the comments!
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