Today's Wall Street Journal:

Most financial analysts spend their time poring over numbers. Laura Rittenhouse spends hers studying words. For the past nine years, Ms. Rittenhouse has analyzed annual shareholder letters from the chief executives of 100 big companies and ranked them based on candor and the information provided.

Her inspiration is Warren Buffett, whose annual opus has a cult following, and who once said every CEO should be required to write his or her own shareholder letter. If they can't explain what they're doing, Mr. Buffett reasons, there's a good chance they don't know.

For the past three years, Motorola has ranked near the bottom of Ms. Rittenhouse's list. "Bafflegab," Ms. Rittenhouse calls it. "Motorola tells you nothing. There are no financial or operating goals," and an immense amount of what she calls "fog" -- spin, jargon, cliche and confusion.

Her favorite line comes from the 2005 letter: "Motorola's going to own Seamless Mobility, where today's hottest technology is converging -- where the Mobile Me lives -- where mobile broadband means everything everywhere and anything anywhere."

"Orwellian," she calls it.

Richard, I'm sure you've seen the like?

One of the contestants on last night's "The Apprentice" said,
"My thinking isn't linear. I'm a spiral thinker and that gives me an edge."

I wonder what it means.

(Incidentally, it's a long time since my maths degree but from a topological point of view "linear" and "spiral" are the same thing.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

quote:

Richard, I'm sure you've seen the like?

Indeed. Some of my work has been translating arcane, pompous and impenetrable language into good English.

(Incidentally, it's a long time since my maths degree but from a topological point of view "linear" and "spiral" are the same thing.)

I don't think this is an impenetrable metaphor. It's just a different word for non-linear. There was an Italian, Giambattista Vico, who wrote a book called The New Science (La Scienza nuova) in the 18th century. He proposed that history was not linear but cyclical. Joyce was entranced with his work and the fact that there was a Vico Road in Dublin. In a sense I like spiral better than non-linear in that a spiral can imply a three-dimensional figure.

quote: from a topological point of view "linear" and "spiral" are the same thing.

So are a cup of coffee and a donut, "from a topological point of view".

quote:

Originally posted by wordnerd:
quote: from a topological point of view "linear" and "spiral" are the same thing.

So are a cup of coffee and a donut, "from a topological point of view".

Indeed they are.

Damn! just spilled my coffee trying to dip it in a doughnut.

There are lots of words that don't mean linear. Might as well say "my thinking isn't linear, it's purple". It has just as much content as the entirely content free "my thinking isn't linear it's spiral". My own guess is that he would have said "circular" but realised that circular thinking isn't a good thing and opted for spiral instead. Either way it's first order managmentspeak BS.

It's difficult to think of an antonym for this sense of linear. In my training I tend to take the easy option and call the opposite "non-linear" and then go on to discuss creative thinking techniques such as brainstorming or mind-mapping, which allow one's mind to break out of the "normal" linear thinking pattern.

Either way it's first order managmentspeak BS.

Sorry, Bob, I just plain liked it. It's perfectly comprehensible to me. If you don't like it, that's your privilege. Because I've (over-)heard non-linear, I like that the person made an effort to change. In fact, strictly typing, thinking is not linear. it's more abductional. Goodnight.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
Either way it's first order managmentspeak BS.

Sorry, Bob, I just plain liked it. It's perfectly comprehensible to me. If you don't like it, that's your privilege. Because I've (over-)heard non-linear, Ilike that the person made an effort to change. In fact, strictly typing, thinking is not linear. it's more abductional. Goodnight.

In what way does his thinking differ from someone who thinks in zig-zags, waves, dotted lines, circles, ellipses, dodecagons, multi-faceted polyhedra, tartan, or paisley pattern? For the "spiral" metaphor to make sense there has to be a rationale. Spiraling out of control maybe?

In fact watching his perfomance "moribund" seemed the appropriate adjective.

In what way does his thinking differ from someone who thinks in zig-zags, waves, dotted lines, circles, ellipses, dodecagons, multi-faceted polyhedra, tartan, or paisley pattern?

I simply took it to mean non-linear. I didn't take it to be a great metaphor or great writing, I just liked it. What about what I have written do you not understand?

Hmmm BobHale - I'd almost (but not quite) pay money to see "spiral" or "in zig-zags, waves, dotted lines, circles, ellipses, dodecagons, multi-faceted polyhedra, tartan, or paisley pattern" as you described.

However, I still consider it as BS also, along with any other effort to sound "superior" by using non-traditional terminology. Kind like some cults where ordinary words are given special meaning - so that outsiders can never actually grasp the real meaning.

Bob

BS.

Oh, I suppose I should mention this, though it oughtn't to be necessary, but it may be absolute twaddle, I'm just saying I like the term spiral thinking better than linear, non-linear, paisley, and all the rest. I'm afraid it hides no great truths. Just cuz something is beautiful doesn't mean it has to be true; look at art, religion, and literature. You'd think somebody who enjoys Carroll would grok that.

Linear process models resemble an assembly line. One group is in charge of a phase of a project, performs their task and "tosses it over the wall" to the next group. The product is supposedly finished when the last group is done with it.

In a spiral model, the product starts at the center and winds its way out through the various groups (each group is represented by a pie-shaped wedge on the diagram). However, there is a feedback mechanism built into the system which can prevent the product from being declared complete and forces it to make multiple passes through the groups. The product is only declared complete when all groups declare it complete.

I suspect that linear vs. spiral thinking somehow parallels these concepts.

I saw that edition of The Apprentice and thought the same as Bob. It's a shame he didn't say it to Alan Sugar; I'd have loved to see his reaction to the phrase.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
In what way does his thinking differ from someone who thinks in zig-zags, waves, dotted lines, circles, ellipses, dodecagons, multi-faceted polyhedra, tartan, or paisley pattern?

I simply took it to mean non-linear. I didn't take it to be a great metaphor or great writing, I just liked it. What about what I have written do you not understand?

Your writing is, as ever, perfectly clear. We just disagree about the use of the phrase we are discussing. I feel that a metaphor should have a point. For example I can visualise what is meant by "thinking outside the box", I can understand the difference and the value) of linear and non-linear thinking.

I could even make post facto justifications for my own examples (I think in zig zags, I follow logical steps but am not afraid to change direction when needed. I think in tartan, I can see all the threads of the problem and how they are weaved together to form an overal pattern.)

But a metaphor that no one gets is a poor metaphor. The other thing is, I've seen the program and you haven't so I know the kind of guy who said it and my evaluation of him was that he was a pompous ass who was just trying to sound clever.

On a side note, it's interesting that all the pompous asses remain in the program having thoroughly stitched up the candidates that weren't from the public school, jolly hockey sticks crowd.
One of the remaining candidates, referring to this week's loser, actually said "He should go bakk to the north, to all of his northern friends" as if coming from the north marks him as socially beneath contempt.

We just disagree about the use of the phrase we are discussing.

OK, I can live with that. I've never seen the show under discussion. Is this the Donald Trump one? I've heard others talking about it at work.

No, but it is the British version with Alan Sugar (boss of Amstrad) in the Donald Trump position. It's pretty much the same except that the US version seems to attract more slick corporate types than the UK one. Most of the UK candidates wouldn't pass the first audition for the US show.

This is one of the more recent manifestations of those TV shows which are, ostensibly, competitions, but whose "entertainment" value lies in the humiliation of the competitors.

I do not find it entertaining to watch people being humiliated (and frequently upset to the point of tears) and do not watch this, or any similar programme.

I agree in general but disagree in this specific case.

The competitors are frequently arrogant and the fun comes often in seeing them make a complete pig's ear of tasks that you could do better yourself. The tasks aren't in any way designed to be humiliating, they are straightforward business tasks that are similar to those that any training organisation might use, albeit on a larger and more entertaining scale. You, yourself, could easily use them, Richard.

As an aside, I recall many, many years ago when I was leaving university applying for a job and being placed in a group, given a box of lego bricks and told to build a bridge between two tables. This is clearly a team management exercise not unlike those used in The Apprentice.

The task this week has been used in every series and is perfectly simple. They are given a budget and a list of ten items ranging from the commonplace to the extremely unusual and told to buy them new, but as cheaply as possible. They must negotiate the price down from the first offer price or face a financial penalty in the final count. It's a negotiating task.
One of the items was "nigella seeds" and no one knew what they were. That's fair enough but not one of these intellectual giants thought of spending five minutes at the library with a dictionary or thirty seconds at an internet cafe with google to find out. They were reduced to asking random strangers.

The fun of this program is in seeing the mistakes they make with the tasks and as for humiliation they all have egos big enough to take any momentary embarrassment.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

quote:

linear. I'm a spiral thinker

I am reluctant to enter an argument with such an erudite group on such an important topic, but by "linear" do you mean "rectilinear? Isn't a spiral linear, i.e., a spiral line? Of the examples above, the only one that is "non-linear" is the series of dots. A dot would be non-linear.

quote:

not one of these intellectual giants thought of spending five minutes at the library with a dictionary or thirty seconds at an internet cafe with google to find out.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that would be against the rules. I know mention was made a couple of times of the fact that they only had a copy of Yellow Pages to assist them.

quote:

Originally posted by missann:

quote:

linear. I'm a spiral thinker

I am reluctant to enter an argument with such an erudite group on such an important topic, but by "linear" do you mean "rectilinear? Isn't a spiral linear, i.e., a spiral line? Of the examples above, the only one that is "non-linear" is the series of dots. A dot would be non-linear.

Well purple, paisley and tartan wouldn't be linear either but other than that you are absolutely correct. This was part of my objection to the metaphor to begin with. A spiral is linear.

Someone beat me to it! Nigella Sativa at Wikipedia.