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Entries Tagged as 'Fable'

Philosophy and Reality

March 14th, 2024 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Philosophy and utopia are great until reality punches everything in the nose—philosophically speaking of course. Philosophical discussions are great. They may stretch the mind to see other points of view or possibilities. They may lead to better ways. Philosophy, however, is philosophy and not reality. We need to keep that in mind. […]

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Tags: Culture · Experiment · Fable · Greed · History · Ideas · Reality · Technical Debt

The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Other Tales of Adulthood in the 2020s

June 9th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Please, choose words wisely so that actions will match the words. Yesterday, I was hit with a couple of examples of the Aesop’s fable. The trouble was, these were real life, and a boy wasn’t crying—it was adults jabbering nonsense. I won’t repeat the examples. There is something about these crying-wolf examples […]

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Tags: Expectations · Fable · Honesty · Integrity · Management · Word

Some Thoughts on Restoring Trust

September 16th, 2021 · No Comments

By Dwayne Phillips Restoring trust in something called a shared reality won’t be easy. Or will it be so simple that it won’t be easy? Here is a suggestion. “We’ve lost a shared reality.” I heard this in a recent presentation. I’m afraid I lost the reference, so I cannot give due credit to the […]

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Tags: Ethics · Fable · Integrity · Trust

Fiction and Disinformation

December 14th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Fiction, when repeated enough, becomes fact in the minds of many. So why aren’t we trying to stomp out fiction that is far from reality? I have seen many movies on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. 99% of murders in real life are not like that, nothing like that. 99% of murders in […]

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Tags: Expectations · Fable · Fairy Tales · Information · Stories · Writing

The “Get Well” Project

February 10th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is a type of project that will not only create a product, but will also cure all ills in an organization. “Get well projects” exist largely in fantasy. There is a type of project that some of us know as a “get well project.” Such are usually found in organizations that […]

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Tags: Fable · Fairy Tales · Management · Patience · Time

A STEM Fable

October 3rd, 2019 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A group of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) folks sit at a table and dream. This is a fable. Don’t take it seriously folks. One day in the cafeteria at a college, a group of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) persons gathered at a table near the patio. (Actually, it was a […]

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Tags: Data Science · Fable

Fake News (and our misguided efforts to stop it)

July 27th, 2017 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Let’s take a breath and pause regarding all this “stop fake news.” We have to stop fake news. It is ruining civilization. It ruined an election. It is wreaking havoc around the world. Come on everyone, when you see fake news, label it, punish it, eradicate it. Well, perhaps some pause is […]

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Tags: Communication · Fable

The History-Story Gap

July 14th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There is often a gap between our history and our story about our history. I suppose, since most of us are not famous, that is okay. We have experiences—those comprise our history. Then we tell people a story about those experiences. Sometimes the stories enhance the histories. Barack Obama has some doozies. […]

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Tags: Communication · Excuses · Fable · Family · Security · Teaching

The Power of Collaboration (or is it just silly?)

February 18th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I repeat an old, old story. Does it illustrate the power of collaboration or is it just another old, silly story that we tell children to have them behave? The old story… There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. […]

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Tags: Culture · Fable · Trust

Wasting Time and Wasting Time

January 28th, 2016 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the best use of time is wasting it and the most wasteful use of time is working hard. Here is a story I heard many years ago: Story Two computer programmers came to work. They both worked hard and programmed for six straight hours to the point of exhaustion. The first […]

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Tags: Fable · Fatigue · Work