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Reed and Derek explore the principle of abundance: we can always find the good in a situation, and opportunities to make things even better. Each guests on Season Two is an example of how to use a positive approach to make life better for others.
Join Derek Hudson as he explores Essential Dynamics, a framework for approaching the challenges facing people and organizations. Consider your Quest!
Well, that sound brings me back. It sounds like the theme for essential dynamics, and I'm very glad to be here. I'm Reed McCollum, your host and, befuddled companion to the perspective man who is, my mentor and friend, mister Derek Hudson. Derek, are you on the line here?
Derek:Reid, I am. And, you know, we've done so many episodes, that I can't remember if we've had this conversation before. I'm gonna just do it again. The name of that song is Feelin' Good Blues.
Reed:That's right.
Derek:And I think that that, you know, it it spoke to me because essential dynamics is all about dealing with that opposition in our lives. And so
Reed:That's right.
Derek:Yeah. Feeling good and blues at the same time, that's essential dynamics right there. So thanks for learning to play the guitar.
Reed:Yeah. Yeah. I'm really grateful that I did. You know, how how committed I am to making every program work. Derek, we've had a wonderful season.
Reed:You just mentioned that we've done lots of episodes, and I don't even know how many. Now we're past 50, aren't we? Yeah. And, I feel, I feel very grateful to have learned so much, especially this year from our interviews with so many business and, and community leader personalities. I am I'm very, I'm very impressed, and and I've I've had to, soak up a lot of their messages well after, we've interviewed them.
Reed:I've just I really enjoyed that. So thank you for for, setting that up.
Derek:Well, it's been it's been wonderful for me too because I had, no idea what most of them were gonna say. And, for the most part well, in every case, we learned stuff we we didn't expect, which was
Reed:That's right. That's right. Now how do you feel the season went overly over well, overall overly?
Derek:Well, like I said, I learned a lot, and I'm, I'm, like, you know, I set out on this quest
Reed:That's right.
Derek:To learn. This isn't, this isn't my solution to the world's problems. It's a way to look at challenges that we face. And Yeah. So I I continue to learn.
Derek:And so, one thing I'd like to talk about today, and we can maybe pull out some, some comments from some of our guests and some of the things we talked about in the past, as I wanted to address one of the principles of essential dynamics or assumptions that that I'm working with, about three or four or five episodes ago. We talked about, the idea of agency Yes. And and about that, you know, we're in these systems that we can make we can make choices. And the other thing we talked about was the idea that there are natural laws or principles that govern things. And so if you can figure them out, you know, there's a there's a relationship between cause and effect.
Derek:And and so there's a relationship between cause and effect, and we can make choices. Those are two of the assumptions. And so I guess what what that says is if we if we make choices, we can change the outcome. And You're really big
Reed:on this, free agency thing. You think that we all have choices. What if what if I were to say to you we're all fated and that we it doesn't matter what we choose, it's all gonna be the same?
Derek:Well, I don't buy it. I don't how I don't see how that would work. Well, you know, another argument against choices as well. You, you know, some people have lots of choices because they have lots of money and freedom, and they don't have to go to work every day or whatever, and some people are, you know, in jail, and they don't have choices. But let's remember Victor Frankl?
Reed:Yes. Man's search for meaning.
Derek:Man's search for meaning, and he said the last of all humans the last of all human freedoms is to choose our response to the situation that we're in. And, of course, Viktor Frankl used his time in a concentration camp to lift and and help others.
Reed:That's right. Quite an astonishing story, Mike Viktor Frankl, and and I'm glad you brought him up because that, you know, my sister and I have, have once have exchanged what our deepest fears are, and it's a kind of a family joke, but hers are. Mine is hoarding. I fear becoming a hoarder. And, Roxy's my sister.
Reed:Oh my goodness. I just said her name on the air. Everyone's going to flock to find her. But, her her greatest fear is concentration camps. And I think it came from reading Anne Frank's diary too early.
Reed:But, she really she really fears concentration camps for the state, which has turned out to be a good thing in her life because whenever something bad happens, she always says, well, we could be in a concentration camp. So
Derek:And the the amazing thing about Viktor Frankl is if that's the worst thing
Reed:Yeah.
Derek:I mean, he showed how that can be Positive. You know, for Positive.
Reed:Well, like you say, our response to it, the actual circumstances may not ever be positive. But the but our response to it, he turned it he made something productive.
Derek:Well and, Reed, that's, the third principle that I wanna talk about. So Bleakness in bleak? Not weakness. No. No.
Derek:The positive part. The positive part.
Reed:Oh, I'm sorry. I was finally going to contribute.
Derek:Yes, you did. You did. So here, I mean, maybe I should have expressed them last time in a different order. First is that there are natural systems, there are natural laws, there's cause and effect. The second is that we are agents in that, and we can choose our response in different situations.
Derek:And the third one I'm gonna add, I'm calling it abundance right now Oh. Or or optimism or positivity is that, there can be good. Things can improve. We can always find the good in a situation, and there's opportunities for us to make things even better. And so, I think that's a pretty powerful principle that, I'm interested in considering in the in the world of essential dynamics.
Derek:One of the things one of the things that we saw, is we spoke with some people who had some inherent disabilities. Yes.
Reed:Yes.
Derek:So we talked with, Kristen Cox who lost her vision, you know, in her late adolescence.
Reed:Yes.
Derek:We talked about talked with Katie Burgess.
Reed:Katie Burgess. What a wonderful person. Bruce. All things joyfully.
Derek:All things cheerfully. Yes.
Reed:Cheerfully? I thought that was right.
Derek:Yeah. All things cheerfully. And, there she is in a wheelchair, and she's, just a positive person. We talked with Mackenzie Brown, who's, indigenous, and we happened to do it on the day of the discovery of a number of, unmarked graves in residential schools.
Reed:Right. Right. Right. I remember that. It
Derek:was very tender, but, positive positive, you know, things that can come out of this. So, one of the things I wanted to share was, I I talk a lot about doctor Eli Goldratt who, who came up with a theory of constraints, and he had five points. Number one, people are good. Wow. Number two, every conflict can be removed.
Derek:Number three, every situation, no matter how complex it initially looks, is exceedingly simple. Number four, every situation can be substantially improved, even the sky is not the limit. Number five, every person can reach a full life. And number six, there's always a win win solution. And it's work.
Derek:But if you start with this assumption of abundance, that there is more, there is, there's potential for growth, the potential for good, for good to come out of bad things. And you combine that with the ability to make our own choices and to realize that if we make choices that we can have an impact on the outcome. Yeah. I I think those are principles which endure, which means something in the context of essential dynamics where you may be responding to a call that you didn't think of, that you didn't volunteer for. You're gonna face opposition and sort of why go on in the face of these challenges while the assumptions are is that you can you can make a difference, and there's, there's potential for, you know, growth and improvement.
Reed:I really appreciate that, Derek. I also think it takes some courage and faith to base your as you as you listed those five, points that his entire philosophy starts with people are good. That's a hard assumption at times. I know as a sufferer of depression at times, I really wonder if people are good, or I've had I've had that wonder in the past, you know, as I as so much evil appears or or so much stupidity seems rampant in the world, people making bad choices. I often wonder, are people good at heart?
Reed:But that assumption you're saying, that's the number one thing he made. Yep. I really appreciate that he had the courage to make that decision.
Derek:One of the ways I look at it is, is we all have maybe a little bit of a a light side and a dark side.
Reed:Sure.
Derek:And, you know, when we talk about our responsibility as leaders, whether that's formally or informally, is, you know, to bring out the good side, to the extent that to the extent that we can. But, yeah, I I think life goes better when you act with, with good intentions, and you expect that from other people. Yeah. And so I'm, I'm encouraged by that because it's been a pretty rough go in in a sense. We've got, you know, a pandemic we're dealing with.
Derek:There's been some polarizing political movements.
Reed:Sure have.
Derek:There's, you know, still unrest in, you know, other countries, and and there's, all kinds of suffering, both the the things you see on the news and the silent suffering that that people have in their, you know, own depression and their relationships and stuff like that. But I think the only answer that makes any sense is, to assume that we we there are things that we can do to make things better. And that's I think that I think it's kinda holding up. I mean, we're having this discussion so we can test it. But I think I think it's holding up in, in making the essential dynamics model, something that you can do something with as opposed to more of a passive description of, you know, vectors on a diagram.
Reed:Yeah. And I appreciate that. I also think it's been, validated by our guests over and over again that they also have been able to take difficult or sometimes overwhelming negatives and make them positive, may become productive in an uncooperative environment?
Derek:Well well, uncooperative environment, I don't think I've heard that before, but, yeah, that's, that's the nature of the opposition that we we face. And it's, you know, part of that natural laws conversation is we have limited time, limited resources. We have to deal with gravity, friction.
Reed:Right. Right.
Derek:And then and then the other thing that we talk about in essential dynamics is this balance or this opposition between an individual and the group. And people, you know, you really have to be yourself. I mean, it was even just John Hudson. Yeah. Just a few a few episodes ago, you know, it was this kind of parting, parting advice was be true to yourself.
Derek:On the one hand, you also have to fit into, a family and a work team and a community. And I think those situations are designed to help us become, the the best self that we can be true to.
Reed:Right. Right. And I also I remember when you when we interviewed Kristen Cox, and she said if you don't know how to use the resources you have, it won't help to have more of them.
Derek:Right.
Reed:Right. And that's that's kind of the okay. Here's what we've got. Let's use it. It's sort of like celebrity chef.
Reed:We're gonna give you some molasses and an egg. Make, oh, you've also got a cup of flour. Do something. And, I, you know, crazy ingredients. Of course, that's not a great example, but but they here's here's a pound of flounder, and I want you to make mix it with this particular this particular, ingredient and this particular ingredient.
Reed:Well, I I always admire chefs who were able to make something palatable out of the craziest ingredients. But is that also true in business? Is it true what we do every day?
Derek:It's it's true in life. And and another way to look at it is that, with the exception of the French and Russian judges, every other, like, the judges that really matter count degree of difficulty.
Reed:Right.
Derek:And and we have a challenge in a society that's trying to make everyone equal Yeah. When we all have our individual challenges, and it's how we respond. It's it's we can't level the playing field. It's just impossible to level the playing field. It doesn't mean we don't help people out.
Derek:Don't get me wrong here. Yeah. But degree of difficulty determines, the opportunity for growth.
Reed:Yeah. Yeah. And not everybody comes up to that standard. Not everybody some people are felled by the degree of difficulty. Some I can't do it.
Reed:I won't do it.
Derek:For
Reed:instance, well, yesterday, I missed going to the gym. Now that makes seven years in a row. So I, I may have I may not be physically capable of doing things that they do in, say, the Olympics. But I still enjoy watching the Olympics. And why why why do we watch these things or or or games of sport of any kind?
Reed:Well, my theory is we'd watch them because we we are amazed at what the human body can do and what it can be overcome and, what it can overcome. And, and, theoretically, I could too, or if not me, then my son or his son, using a patriarchal kind of viewpoint. But nonetheless, I I think that's a justification for getting very excited by others' athletic prowess.
Derek:Well, I think one of the things I really like about sports, and especially team sports, is the goal and the rules are pretty clear. Yeah. And a lot of other things we do in life, it's not the case. And so because I
Reed:need professional wrestling. I'm not sure what the rules are in professional wrestling, but you go ahead.
Derek:Hey. Hey. You're the theater guy. You should know. There's a script.
Reed:I don't know why there's a referee in professional wrestling. Oh, you can't do okay. Go ahead.
Derek:You can't do that. So so the thing about sports is you can see the goal, and you can see all of the effort that it takes to get there, you know, at on one level. And so much of our life is not it's not as clear. The goal isn't is clear. The effort isn't as obvious.
Derek:And so when you see someone overcome physical challenges to accomplish a goal, you say, there's a story there about the human heart.
Reed:Yeah.
Derek:And you can take that back to your challenging workplace or your disrespectful teenager or your own employment challenges or whatever, and be as tough about that as the marathon runner is or the, you know, twelfth round draft pick that contributes to Yeah. Yeah. To the winning team.
Reed:Yeah. And I love that because well, what you what you said earlier, abundance being a third prong, if you will, of essential dynamics. I feel that's that's a very inspiring way to look at it, that there's there's enough around us to survive and flourish?
Derek:Well, I I I've quoted this before, and I don't think I had it in front of me then, and
Derek:I don't have it in front
Derek:of me now. But Sam Gamgee, in one of his, you know, soliloquies, said the people didn't give up because there was something worth fighting for.
Reed:Right. Right.
Derek:And I think sometimes in our society, we wanna kinda, like, eliminate the fight because it's hard, and we don't want people to have to suffer. But there are some things that are worth fighting for. And and that's why the quest, metaphor for me is so compelling is, you can do hard things in the face of a quest that you can't do when you just look at the the activity itself and say, oh, that looks hard.
Reed:Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why, Derek, but often after taping one of these podcasts, I I feel an urge to go back and watch Lord of the Rings. I'm grateful to you. We're working on
Derek:we're working on a sponsorship deal from, Peter Jackson. Well, so so did we have a good time? Season
Reed:two? I loved it. I think, you know, I I this is a time of year when we're supposed to be grateful. It's Christmas is coming up as we're taping this and recording this, and and I feel I feel like my gift this year was to remind myself that there is abundance. And, and I feel that makes me feel warm.
Reed:So
Derek:Well well, you know, this isn't it, though. Really? So this is the end of season two. And after season two, we're gonna take a bit of a break.
Reed:Right.
Derek:Except that we love doing this so much that next week, not part of season two, because we're ending season two today.
Reed:Right.
Derek:Next week, we're gonna have the Essential Dynamics Christmas special.
Reed:I can't wait. The Muppets are coming, aren't they?
Derek:You know, I'm not sure if it's gonna be the Muppets, or Bill Murray as Scrooge or I'm not sure what it's gonna be. But let me let me foreshadow just a little bit, and that is that the Christmas story, the real Christmas story Yeah. Is the ultimate pattern of essential dynamics. So we're gonna tease it out next time.
Reed:Well, I'm glad. I I look forward to our Christmas special. But as for now, we are ending our second, season of Essential Dynamics podcast by saying we are very grateful to our listeners and and people who have, who have supported and encouraged us throughout these past, seasons. We as we continue on next year, in the new year, please remember to click on our RSS feed in the new year so that you can, you'll be alerted as to our new start ups and new guests and whatever we can find, to talk about.
Derek:And, sorry, Reid, there's one other thing I was trying to
Reed:I'm sorry, Derek?
Derek:No. No. I forgot. I forgot. It was on my list.
Derek:So the other thing is that, my purpose in working with essential dynamic dynamics is not to have a podcast. It's to have this body of knowledge and this approach that can be useful to people. I use it in my work, but I can only help so many people. So I I want, you know, to give access to these people. So I'm I'm working on web based resources, the essential dynamics wiki, which will be released, probably about this time this episode airs.
Derek:Okay. Okay. And so people can interact with the concepts of essential dynamics live on the web, and then we'll rejoin for ongoing discussions, in later seasons of the podcast as we get to that.
Reed:Well, that sounds like my Christmas present from you.
Derek:So Hey, Kate.
Bryn:Can I jump in, you guys?
Reed:Hey. Bryn Griffiths. Hi.
Bryn:You know? Happy holidays to everybody. But, you know, can you guys please explain to me what a wiki is? Derek, do you wanna tell everybody what a wiki is? Because not everybody is gonna know what a wiki is.
Derek:Well, you're just saying that because you didn't, Brad.
Bryn:I didn't initially. I do now, but I thought I can't be the only one that doesn't know what a Wiki is.
Derek:Okay. So
Reed:I know what a what Wiki is, and I loved them. I I was in the minority, but I loved them when I saw them in the empire. What was it? It was Revenge of the Jedi.
Bryn:That was Wookiees. That was a Wookiee cat.
Derek:Okay. Okay. Okay. Anyway So I'm gonna take you back to my childhood. When I was quite young and when I first learned to read, I used to like to read the encyclopedia.
Derek:I had World Book Child Craft.
Reed:Yeah. Yeah.
Derek:Then I had World Book the encyclopedia. My dad was a school teacher. He sold them one summer, I think. Uh-huh. Probably sold enough to get a free set and that was it, but I got them.
Derek:And I just read the encyclopedia. I just like, you know, and then 50 later, Wikipedia comes along. Right. And the best part about Wikipedia, I know it's not that great for college papers, but for everything else, when you see when you're reading a paragraph and there's another topic introduced, there's a link. Yes.
Derek:And you can click on the link and go to that topic, and then you can find another one there, and you just go deep as you want on something. It's fantastic. And so the technology is called the Wiki technology. I think it's Wiki Wiki is Hawaiian or something for fast. So great great way to to learn concepts.
Derek:And so, I've been developing a central dynamics wiki, where as these principles are all interrelated and the podcast will apply all the principles, there'll be a there'll be a page for every podcast, which is why you need a break because I'm behind. And you can click on the links and, here's my one link, Samwise Gamgee Quest. And then, you know, I can go to that. And so that kind of stuff will be in the Wiki and just resources that people are able to, to explore the concepts of essential dynamics. So I'm pretty excited about it.
Reed:Oh, that sounds great. I'm excited. Crowd loves it. Yeah. Okay.
Reed:Super.
Bryn:Thank you. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just
Reed:No. No. No. Bryn, we're always glad to hear from you. Now I just wanna re re repeat.
Reed:Click on our RSS feed in the New Year so that you continue to follow Essential Dynamics because, we're gonna take a little break here so Derek can catch up on his wikis. And, I know my wikis have been killing me. So I I, I look forward to the break as well. Listen, everybody who's been listening to us, thank you so much. We hope you have a great New Year.
Reed:Derek, where can they find you if they want more information?
Derek:Hey. Merry Christmas, everyone. You can find me at Derek Hudson dot c a.
Reed:And, until we see meet again, please, everybody, consider your quest.