In the current issue of the Harvard Business Review there is a very enlightening article entitled NOISE. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman at Princeton and others highlighted how a variety of human judgments can influence and cloud the decision making process. This “noise” over time results in millions of dollars lost, inconsistent organizational direction and time wasted. This variability in thinking and actions-taken can be, as the authors put it, reduced significantly by the adoption of simple algorithms. Algorithms are precise rules that specify how to address and solve a problem.
That got me thinking about how it relates to the Rotary Club of Salem – many thoughts came to mind. But the two that stuck were these. On the visionary algorithm level the founders (so to speak) were very wise is spelling out four basic rules that guide our thinking and actions, The Four Way Test. These simple words really give clarity with respect to guiding our everyday thinking and actions taken. The second thought was that each year Rotary adopts a motto that refreshes and refocuses our mission for that Rotary year.
These four visionary algorithms and yearly updated motto really do help guide Rotary clubs around the world “focus” on the issues of the day and takes some of the variability that human nature might insert out of the equation. I have the sense, with respect to our club’s members and committees, that the interaction of Human Nature – our 2016-17 motto, Rotary Serving Humanity – wisely “assisted” by our four smart, savvy and informed algorithms make us, as Salem Rotarians, even stronger.
Don’t forget our (your) 2016-17 Membership Challenge. Have a great and productive week.
Tomorrow’s meeting: El Camino de Santiago Trek
MaryAnn Cave Sweet, Salem, will bring us her first-hand experience hiking the El Camino de Santiago. Spilling over the Pyrenees from France into Spain, the network of trails that make up the Route of St. James-or El Camino de Santiago-converges at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have trekked over the high plains of Castilla and the hills of Galicia, some to honor the Apostle James; others in the midst of their own spiritual journey.
Read more!