Alfred Korzybski Quotes

The point of that is, if you look at Walgreen`s history, they`ve always been pioneers in the application of technology. They`re the only drugstore chain that I know to have their own satellite.

So my answer is, YES, everyone can find a hedgehog concept. If these companies can do it, anyone can do it. And anybody who says they can`t is simply whining.

If you can help other people understand those truths - and in my mind, the only way I know to do that is with large scale, multi-year research projects, where you start with a question and then very rigorously and comprehensively answer that question.

The answer I have is, you know, there a lot of things you can try to build to last. And what we try to do in our work is to come up with ideas that will last. Ideas that will stand the test of time.

The first is that instead of writing a sequel, which is what most people do, this is in fact a prequel. Although we didn`t know that when we began the process.

Ha, well you see... this notion of a balanced life, I don`t think I`m ever going to be able to have that... but I can have what I call an integrated life.

If I had a personal wish for the new ideas in this new book it would be that every parent, every counselor, every teacher, every professor, every sports coach that deals with young people would understand the three circle concept.

That the potential to become Level 5 exists in you and me and the people we work with and that it is then a process or a journey to nurture that seed... in a culture by and large that doesn`t reinforce it.

Be like Curious George, start with a question and look under the yellow hat to find what`s there.

So, that single idea of always first who, then what, has had a huge influence on me and I hope to continue to be able to make progress on it.

There`s no reason for Gillette to be world class on the web, but there`s every reason for Gillette to be world class in producing billions of high powered razor blades at low cost.

A magazine is simply a device to induce people to read advertising.

And an integrated life is one where you`re able to fit the different pieces of your life together in seamless fashion.

The way you want to respond is to ask a question: Is this technology directly relevant to our hedgehog concept? If the answer is YES, then we want to become pioneers, not in the technology, but in the application of that technology specifically linked to our hedgehog concept.

Whatever you say it is, it isn`t.

Thus, we see that one of the obvious origins of human disagreement lies in the use of noises for words.

Let us repeat the two crucial negative premises as established firmly by all human experience: (1) Words are not the things we are speaking about; and (2) There is no such thing as an object in absolute isolation.

In the rough, a symbol is a sign that stands for something'¦ Before a noise, etc., may become a symbol, something must exist for the symbol to symbolize.

We should not be surprised that we find meaningless noises in the foundation of many old '˜philosophies', and that from them arise most of the old '˜philosophical' fights and arguments.

If we consider that all we deal with represents constantly changing sub-microscopic, interrelated processes which are not, and cannot be '˜identical with themselves', the old dictum that '˜everything is identical with itself' becomes in (today's understanding of the universe) a principle invariably false to facts.

It is now no mystery that some quite influential '˜philosophers' were '˜mentally' ill.

There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.

'¦the analogy between the noises we make when these noises do not symbolize anything which exists, and the worthless checks we write when our bank balance is zero'¦

If a psychiatric and scientific inquiry were to be made upon our rulers, mankind would be appalled at the disclosures.

'¦a few philosophers really do important work. This applies to the so called '˜critical philosophy' and to the theory of knowledge or epistemology. This class of workers I call epistemologists to avoid the disagreeable implications of the term '˜philosopher'.