Out of time: Maybe part 2

And concluding this short not-the-jubilympics festival of links...

Maurice Davies of the Museums association has kicked off an interesting bout of verbal fisticuffs in the cataloguing section, by arguing that museums should focus on impact not simply preserving collections and buildings. There are fascinating parallels with the fund artists just to make art/widen your scope to bring more people in arguments some make in artsfunding, which no doubt we could have great fun bringing together. The MA’s Museums 2020 blogs are stimulating too.

James Bridle’s suggestion that ‘Opinions are Non-contemporary ‘ sent a bit of a shiver down my spine, especially his conclusion that ‘opinions are no longer a useful or appropriate organising principle, that reckoning is no longer a scarcity, that the network now so obviously and explicitly extends beyond the bounds of any individual being able to say anything useful or conclusive on or about it in isolation, that telling someone your opinion is like telling them about your dreams.’ I grew up with post-modernists (not the fun sort, the ones with dead eyes who never laughed) arguing there was no such thing as real or true, and we are now where that got us. This reminded me of that. As a friend of mine used to say about po-mo literature lecturers (who generally hated literature): who or what do they cling to in the night?

Mairead Byrne’s poems sometimes make me want to applaud in recognition or surprise and agreement. Her essay Differences Between Poetry and Stand Up did likewise. For one with this: ‘This is the essential difference between poetry & stand-up: Stand-up is fun —maybe even more fun—for other people besides the stand-up.’ And for two with this: ‘The last thing we want poetry to be like is poetry.’ It’s a funny and true essay, with some grand examples of her poems too.

I wish I’d read Joel Stein’s blog Boringness: The Secret to Great Leadership when I had an actual job leading people, I’d have circulated it to all staff and cc’d anyone likely to fill in my 360° evaluation. It's as good as the title.

Claire Antrobus has had a series of posts on her blog which are very useful for anyone wondering how to make your organisation one that is constantly learning, and using that learning to improve - very practical tips. I especially agree with the tip about meetings in this post.

The MMM re.volution has just posted a set of video of interviews around the themes of how best to use finance, in different forms and ways, to make yourself more resilient. I may pull some out in following posts, but you can find them all here.

Finally two questions:

1.    How closely does your workplace resemble Google in encouraging innovation? Their 8 cultural charactisistics are set out here.

2.    What are the five books that changed your life? Arlene Goldbard sets out hers here. I’m still pondering mine, it may actually be lines of poems and songs that changed my life most. One will be revealed later this week... (It's not 'I will survive', no.)


(Thinking Practice Believe it or Not Fact - Bruce Thomas who plays bass in the rather astonishing video above went to the primary school on my road, where my kids went.)