Contrasting World Views

This chapter is unique from chapter one; it immediately states a problem that needs to be solved. Then the authors immediately give multiple examples of people that drive us crazy. They gave a few stereotypical examples like “the chatterbox” and “the ignorant stake holder who believes they have more power then they really do.” For instance what drives me up the wall are “Know it All’s” or people who think they know absolutely everything, so they propel themselves into your conversation with there meaningless opinions. I found it ironic when looking for a video seeking information about “know it all’s” The people who were giving the advice acted just like “know it all’s” so this video is funny in the sense that this lady decided to make a one minute and eleven second video discussing exactly what she is, but is completely oblivious to it.

While the lady in the video thinks that subtly letting them know that you are no longer going to take them seriously, I feel like there are some better options. For instance the book gives the example of “A New Word” called “Contraxiom” The book uses seven contraxioms: work, future, know, language, lying, good and desire. Each one of these can help you deal with the difficult people that you can encounter. But now that we have this new word how can we put this into action? I chose this video to demonstrate the tolerance that each character has for Sheldon on the Big Bang theory.

However when I think about trying to deal with people, I wouldn’t say I use the same “Contraxiom” idea, however I try to be tolerant in my own way. Instead of allowing it to upset me, I try to embrace it and deal with the person as an individual. Especially if I am managing them, chances are they are acting that way to try to impress me, or be recognized, and I think that when it gets to be to much to bare, you deal with them individually through communication , because it will be impossible to tolerate it forever. However like the video says, effective communication can help so much more than trying to just allow it. Eventually you will lose it.

When comparing this chapter to class, we compare geeks to suits, I would classify my self as a suit. I love business however I have an excellent connection with people in the sense that my interests are vast enough to hopefully have some shred of information to discuss that isn’t work to try to connect on a more social level. For instance in class I can see some differences in opinion, for instance the idea that geeks don’t like looking into the future, where as us suits the future is a must, the competition is always trying to put out a better product, and a company wants to be as prepared for whatever could happen as possible. For instance there was a Harvard Study about looking forward into the future and how it can really help you. The three percent of people wrote down a one year, three year, 5 year, and 10 year goals/plan for their life. This is exactly what I am starting to do.  So for people who don’t understand looking to the future, I believe it is a necessity, without future goals or plans for a company, there wouldn’t be a company for suits to employ geeks. It just wouldn’t last. A company without a plan is one that can not survive.  So when having to deal with someone who shares opposite beliefs with me, I would again resort to my plan at being intentional with my communication.