Learning to Think

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
I always wonder about the guy who invented the wheel! I bet he got some stick! Some bloody eccentric sticking his neck out and making a damned nuisance of himself.:LOL:
Yes, I wonder how many times he'd been out rolling it, and then heard "that will never work"
:rolleyes:
We have a lot of things that possibly were said would never work/be adopted/be any use/get off the ground....
"Dream Stealers" :p:finger:

That would be good advice to new managers: don't always listen to dream stealers... unless they actually know the wheel won't roll, try it!
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
I would never dismiss "Old Wives' tales" out of hand.

An old lady who died in her late 80s a few years ago used to maintain that canine distemper could be cured by passing a sewing needle through a dog's ear. She was full of nonsense but I remembered this. Then I learnt about the early experiments in immunisation. Apparently, the first experiments involved passing a needle through the ear of an infected dog and then doing the same to a healthy dog you wanted to immunise. Now, that makes sense!

Also, the tabus of various faiths are interesting. Pork quickly goes rancid in hot countries and pigs are (apparently) rather partial to human faeces, a habit that creates a pathway for the transmission of the pork tape worm to a human! Maybe muslims like to cover their women because the sun has a very harmful effect on the skin and they like their women to be free of wrinkles. The cow is important in India as an animal to work the land, to produce milk, and it's dung is a useful fuel....

A wise man will learn from anyone, even a fool.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Field gateway locations are a simple example of something I didn't give much thought to for 40 years. I just got used to them being there and didn't question it.

Then I realised most were in the lowest stickiest corner of each field next to a watercourse so inevitably we made a mess everytime we went into a field and tended to create ruts and tramlines which channelled even more water into the corners. Moved the gateways to a higher sandier part of the field boundary and many problems were solved.

Often small carefully thought changes to iron out snags and oil the wheels of the enterprise are better than wholesale change.
 

Walterp

Member
Location
Pembrokeshire
'Heuristics' are the biggest obstacle to rational thinking - it's the human condition to be moved by emotion, not logic. What makes us human, and also makes us (extremely) fallible.

Let's face it, some farmers on TFF are destined never to buy or rent another acre (unless it's given to them) because of their emotion-driven preconceptions. Others, swayed in the opposite direction, are equally prone to go bust, eventually, as their ambition over-reaches their ability.

Three valuable mental habits:

1. accept that no one can be immune from subjectivity, ignorance or denial;

2. recognise your preconceptions, emotions and biases;

3. try to develop an objective perspective.

(The really hard bit is no. 2).

In my experience, obtaining the correct answers to business problems is straightforward - what is difficult is asking yourself the correct questions).
 
I agree with your premise -- rapid changes ongoing in modern societies and technologies require a different skill set, and we need to train managers how to think and specially how to manage change.

Here is a link to a short article we wrote on the subject called, Certain Hope in an Uncertain World. In it, we use agriculture as a lens to explore humanity's naturally adaptive capacity to cope with complexity. Holistic thinking is the next wave of thinking coming to humanity, especially through agriculture. Holistic thinking helps us to think differently and manage change.

Register for our free webinar, 11 December 2017, Less Stress, More Grass by Managing Holistically.
 

beefandsleep

Member
Location
Staffordshire
Never mind what a manager should be doing right now, a manager should always be questioning what he or she is doing. There is always a better way. Looking critically and identifying things you could and should be doing better, then of course finding ways to do them better. The environment and circumstances we operate in are continually evolving and we have to adapt to stay competitive. I would say adapt to the situation you find yourself in not the one you think you will be in a few years in the future. Thats not to say the direction of change should be ignored but anything else is gambling and personal prejudice or political outlook will lead you down the wrong path if you are not careful Walter.
 

beefandsleep

Member
Location
Staffordshire
Critical thinking and an enquiring mind was the best think I was ever taught in school. I am aghast sometimes during conversations with nieces and nephews when it becomes apparent that they will believe anything they read in a newspaper or hear on TV in the news without question. If there is one thing I will ensure that I instill in my own children it will be to question everything they are ever told. Yes 1+1=2 but everything else should be subjected to a logical stress test.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top