March 9, 2023 • 14 mins
Expanding our Vocabulary – Radical responsibility
Our world has many complainers who bemoan their circumstances, but we all can be empowered to change things with radical responsibility.
Matt Gurney’s commentary https://theline.substack.com/p/experimental-the-line-podcast-episode-e9e 1:19-4:37
Conscious Leadership group https://conscious.is/
Episode on the Fundamental Attribution Error https://beyondtheminimum.podbean.com/e/expanding-our-vocabulary-%e2%80%93-fundamental-attribution-error/
Connect with Tanya Hewitt on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-hewitt-55804529/
Buy her a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tanyah
Credits:
Adam Johns – voiceover - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjohns730/
Beverley McKiver – composer and player of the music Tell Me About Love - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverleymckiver/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adam Johns (00:03):
Welcome to Beyond the Minimum, where we'll be exploring the world of work. We'll be chatting about concepts, ideas and phrases, explore practices and delve into what good looks like. Work can be purposeful value lead, and more meaningful to all who interact with the workplace. This podcast is brought to you by Tanya Hewitt who lives in unceded Algonquin, Anishinaabeg territory, otherwise known as Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Tanya Hewitt (00:33):
Hello, everyone, we all go through a lot of commercial products that we need to replace. And I was thinking of how we do this. When we buy new products that we know we're going through, often when we get the new product, we we use it as though we had a whole abundance of it, which we do, because we just bought it. And that is interesting, because when we get to a very little amount of that product, we tend not to use it in the same almost wasteful way. We tend to be very scarcity oriented because we don't have much left, and we haven't yet bought its replacement. I think this insight into human behavior is very interesting. A lot of behavioral economics has looked at this, whereby they will see that our behavior changes depending on the circumstances. Although it's really not that different - we are still using the product.
(01:44):
While we were in this global pandemic and put under some lockdowns, various places in the world anyway, we're, we wereincentivized to buy infrequently - buy a lot, but infrequently. So you had to project what your needs would be, so that you didn't need to go to the store every day or every week that got people to start to think, Okay, well, if I have some type of product, I don't know, say margarine or peanut butter, or in hygiene, some type of cream or whatever, we might then use the product differently than if we had access to replacing it whenever we felt like it. That is really using it with a scarcity practice, as opposed to always thinking that there is unlimited supply. Collectively, we have undergone this kind of thing in world wars with ration coupons, and so forth, whereby we really needed to stretch out what we were doing in order to make sure that it lasted as long as it can. And in this era that we presently find ourselves in with high inflation and high interest rates, it might be helpful to return or introduce a scarcity practice, maybe having an abundance mindset, but practicing the use of these consumable products in a scarce way, so that they can last much longer than they would if we use
(03:28):
them in a wasteful way when we first get them because we have so much to go through and only adopting scarcity much, muchlater.
Adam Johns (03:39):
Today's episode is expanding our vocabulary.
Tanya Hewitt (03:46):
Hello, everyone. Today's expanded vocabulary is radical responsibility. I learned of this term a few years ago and to be honest, this is a term that I am still working through to be fully understood. So this is just my perspective at this point in time. A while ago, I listened to a podcast called the line. It is hosted by Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson, who in their podcast, and I believe it's on YouTube as well. They banter back and forth and you can see how they are developing stories that are going to be written for the Line publication. In this one episode, Matt Gurney was reflecting on his subbing as a host for a radio show, Matt Gurney lives in Toronto, Ontario. And at the time that this was recorded (a lot has happened since so this is a little bit dated there was an immense amount of violence on public transit, and they were speaking about this. There were some suggestions that were coming forth to put a lot more policing on the subways and on buses in order to make sure that this violence doesn't get out of hand. The interview that Matt Gurney was conducting on behalf of the host who wasn't able to do his program, had been interviewing a counselor, who was talking about the letter that she had penned to
(05:28):
react to this, because she was not in agreement with increasing police presence on to a lot of the public transit platforms.There is an argument for that there's in 2020, defund the police was a major theme that was running through a whole lot of circles. And that wasn't what Matt was focusing on. His main reason for bringing this up at all, was what she said at the very end of the interview, whereby she said, "Well, my job is to ask questions". Matt Gurney didn't say anything on the radio show. But he certainly did on this Line podcast, whereby he basically blurted out, "No, it isn't. You're an elected counselor, you are a decision maker. That is your job". Journalists are the ones who ask questions, not counselors, counselors are the ones who actually make the decisions that journalists are often writing about in their columns, because they are out in the community. And that is the job of a journalist to be able to question what governments are often doing it is a part of a democratic societal structure. And Matt Gurney was basically wanting to just comment that this, this might have been an isolated incident. But this idea of those with responsibility, not wanting to live with their responsibility,
(07:10):
and wanting to just commiserate with those who believe that the problem is bad, and things are getting worse. And that may betrue. But if you are in a position of authority, like an elected the city councilor, you can do something about that. And you should do something about that. That is your job.
(07:30):
Another story. I know an elderly man who had moved his wife into a nursing home, when the care she needed exceeded what couldbe done at his home. And he lives with his son. At the present time. He and his wife own the house, but his wife now lives in a nursing home. So he said, "Well, if it were up to me, I'd ... " and whatever he wanted. And I remember asking, "Well, who is it up to then? I mean, you are the one you own the house, and the co owner of the house isn't here, you do seem to be the prime decision maker, then. Who is it up to if it isn't you?" We can become accustomed to habits that no longer serve us, which then prevent us from executing the responsibility that we have.
(08:25):
Fairly recently, this would have been a pandemic inspired choice. I shudder to think if the pandemic hadn't happened, where Imight be today, I think I'm in a much better space than I was before the pandemic began. But one of the changes was that I stopped going to a brick and mortar Catholic Church, in favor of a number of online communities, these online faith communities have given me a much richer understanding of the faith that I have been proclaiming basically all of my life. In short, through these online faith communities, I have realized that I do not know the Bible. And it was a very stark realisation that, my goodness, I have been going to a brick and mortar church for once a week for many, many years. And yet, I have now come to the realization that I don't know the Bible. And I can remember many times whereby I was asked to lead the online service where I would disclose this that I have now realized that I don't know the Bible. And as I used this a couple of times during this online service, I started to realize, well, wait a minute. I'm saying that I don't know the Bible, but I can do something about that. I mean, it's not as though there's any anything preventing me from changing that status to
(09:59):
actually knowing the Bible more than I did at that time. So it had to be this mantra that I was repeating over and overagain, well, I don't know the Bible, well, that can only last so long. Because really, I can do something about that. And that is my responsibility, I can actually pick up the Bible and start reading it. And that would fix that particular state that I was professing that I was in lack of.
(10:37):
Those were just simple examples. Radical responsibility actually goes much farther than that. This is where people becomefully present and take full account of who they are. They resist blame, and the fundamental attribution fallacy, the fundamental attribution error was discussed on this podcast, I'll put it in the show notes, whereby those who are radically responsible are very introspective, and see how their thoughts and especially their actions affect any outcome. They live in curiosity and compassion with themselves and with others. And they realize that they are the authors of their lives, no one else. And any influences are ones they choose to let in. As a result, they live far more purposefully, and far more aware of how they interact with their environment, taking radical responsibility for virtually everything that they are doing, they do not attribute their feelings or their actions to anybody else. "Look what you made me do" is not in their vocabulary, they have a very heightened understanding of who they are, and how they show up in the world.
(12:13):
Radical responsibility. As I mentioned, I am early on this journey, but I will put the Conscious leadership group's webpagein the show notes. So if you are curious, you can start to follow this company, their YouTubes are fabulous. And you can see how this concept can be very useful, if applied. It's not easy. But I believe, as with much of the challenges that we encounter in our lives, this one would be very much worth it.
(12:55):
I thank you for listening. I don't know if this is your first episode. Or if you were a regular listener. Having reallyappreciated some of this content. I just wanted to tell you that I really do appreciate you for listening.
I thank you for listening. I don't know if this is your first episode, or if you are a regular listener, having reallyappreciated some of this content. I just wanted to tell you that I really do appreciate you for listening. If you would like to express your gratitude for this podcast, I would encourage you to buy me a coffee, head on over to buy me a coffee.com/tanyah that's buy b-u-y me m-e a coffee c-o-f-f-e-e all one word.com/t-a-n-y-a-h tanyah. I will put this in the show notes. And I would really sincerely appreciate your support. In addition to that, you can rate and review this podcast and I really, really appreciate that you are here listening to what I am sending out to you guys. Thanks so much.
Adam Johns (14:07):
Thank you so much for listening to Beyond the Minimum with Tanya Hewitt. We hope this episode aligned with you. Maybe it was diametrically opposed to us, at any rate, we trust it made you think. The more we can think about our workplaces and start talking about them, the more we can collectively make a real difference. If you're living in Canada, please find out the Indigenous territory in which you reside. Begin using it to introduce yourself. Please reach out to Tanya through her email Tanya@beyondsafetycompliance.ca. Connect and chat with her on LinkedIn. Follow her company Beyond Safety Compliance. And remember to ask yourself the question, How does your work look? Because we can always go Beyond the Minimum.
Welcome to Beyond the Minimum, where we'll be exploring the world of work. We'll be chatting about concepts, ideas and phrases, explore practices and delve into what good looks like. Work can be purposeful value lead, and more meaningful to all who interact with the workplace. This podcast is brought to you by Tanya Hewitt who lives in unceded Algonquin, Anishinaabeg territory, otherwise known as Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Tanya Hewitt (00:33):
Hello, everyone, we all go through a lot of commercial products that we need to replace. And I was thinking of how we do this. When we buy new products that we know we're going through, often when we get the new product, we we use it as though we had a whole abundance of it, which we do, because we just bought it. And that is interesting, because when we get to a very little amount of that product, we tend not to use it in the same almost wasteful way. We tend to be very scarcity oriented because we don't have much left, and we haven't yet bought its replacement. I think this insight into human behavior is very interesting. A lot of behavioral economics has looked at this, whereby they will see that our behavior changes depending on the circumstances. Although it's really not that different - we are still using the product.
(01:44):
While we were in this global pandemic and put under some lockdowns, various places in the world anyway, we're, we wereincentivized to buy infrequently - buy a lot, but infrequently. So you had to project what your needs would be, so that you didn't need to go to the store every day or every week that got people to start to think, Okay, well, if I have some type of product, I don't know, say margarine or peanut butter, or in hygiene, some type of cream or whatever, we might then use the product differently than if we had access to replacing it whenever we felt like it. That is really using it with a scarcity practice, as opposed to always thinking that there is unlimited supply. Collectively, we have undergone this kind of thing in world wars with ration coupons, and so forth, whereby we really needed to stretch out what we were doing in order to make sure that it lasted as long as it can. And in this era that we presently find ourselves in with high inflation and high interest rates, it might be helpful to return or introduce a scarcity practice, maybe having an abundance mindset, but practicing the use of these consumable products in a scarce way, so that they can last much longer than they would if we use
(03:28):
them in a wasteful way when we first get them because we have so much to go through and only adopting scarcity much, muchlater.
Adam Johns (03:39):
Today's episode is expanding our vocabulary.
Tanya Hewitt (03:46):
Hello, everyone. Today's expanded vocabulary is radical responsibility. I learned of this term a few years ago and to be honest, this is a term that I am still working through to be fully understood. So this is just my perspective at this point in time. A while ago, I listened to a podcast called the line. It is hosted by Matt Gurney and Jen Gerson, who in their podcast, and I believe it's on YouTube as well. They banter back and forth and you can see how they are developing stories that are going to be written for the Line publication. In this one episode, Matt Gurney was reflecting on his subbing as a host for a radio show, Matt Gurney lives in Toronto, Ontario. And at the time that this was recorded (a lot has happened since so this is a little bit dated there was an immense amount of violence on public transit, and they were speaking about this. There were some suggestions that were coming forth to put a lot more policing on the subways and on buses in order to make sure that this violence doesn't get out of hand. The interview that Matt Gurney was conducting on behalf of the host who wasn't able to do his program, had been interviewing a counselor, who was talking about the letter that she had penned to
(05:28):
react to this, because she was not in agreement with increasing police presence on to a lot of the public transit platforms.There is an argument for that there's in 2020, defund the police was a major theme that was running through a whole lot of circles. And that wasn't what Matt was focusing on. His main reason for bringing this up at all, was what she said at the very end of the interview, whereby she said, "Well, my job is to ask questions". Matt Gurney didn't say anything on the radio show. But he certainly did on this Line podcast, whereby he basically blurted out, "No, it isn't. You're an elected counselor, you are a decision maker. That is your job". Journalists are the ones who ask questions, not counselors, counselors are the ones who actually make the decisions that journalists are often writing about in their columns, because they are out in the community. And that is the job of a journalist to be able to question what governments are often doing it is a part of a democratic societal structure. And Matt Gurney was basically wanting to just comment that this, this might have been an isolated incident. But this idea of those with responsibility, not wanting to live with their responsibility,
(07:10):
and wanting to just commiserate with those who believe that the problem is bad, and things are getting worse. And that may betrue. But if you are in a position of authority, like an elected the city councilor, you can do something about that. And you should do something about that. That is your job.
(07:30):
Another story. I know an elderly man who had moved his wife into a nursing home, when the care she needed exceeded what couldbe done at his home. And he lives with his son. At the present time. He and his wife own the house, but his wife now lives in a nursing home. So he said, "Well, if it were up to me, I'd ... " and whatever he wanted. And I remember asking, "Well, who is it up to then? I mean, you are the one you own the house, and the co owner of the house isn't here, you do seem to be the prime decision maker, then. Who is it up to if it isn't you?" We can become accustomed to habits that no longer serve us, which then prevent us from executing the responsibility that we have.
(08:25):
Fairly recently, this would have been a pandemic inspired choice. I shudder to think if the pandemic hadn't happened, where Imight be today, I think I'm in a much better space than I was before the pandemic began. But one of the changes was that I stopped going to a brick and mortar Catholic Church, in favor of a number of online communities, these online faith communities have given me a much richer understanding of the faith that I have been proclaiming basically all of my life. In short, through these online faith communities, I have realized that I do not know the Bible. And it was a very stark realisation that, my goodness, I have been going to a brick and mortar church for once a week for many, many years. And yet, I have now come to the realization that I don't know the Bible. And I can remember many times whereby I was asked to lead the online service where I would disclose this that I have now realized that I don't know the Bible. And as I used this a couple of times during this online service, I started to realize, well, wait a minute. I'm saying that I don't know the Bible, but I can do something about that. I mean, it's not as though there's any anything preventing me from changing that status to
(09:59):
actually knowing the Bible more than I did at that time. So it had to be this mantra that I was repeating over and overagain, well, I don't know the Bible, well, that can only last so long. Because really, I can do something about that. And that is my responsibility, I can actually pick up the Bible and start reading it. And that would fix that particular state that I was professing that I was in lack of.
(10:37):
Those were just simple examples. Radical responsibility actually goes much farther than that. This is where people becomefully present and take full account of who they are. They resist blame, and the fundamental attribution fallacy, the fundamental attribution error was discussed on this podcast, I'll put it in the show notes, whereby those who are radically responsible are very introspective, and see how their thoughts and especially their actions affect any outcome. They live in curiosity and compassion with themselves and with others. And they realize that they are the authors of their lives, no one else. And any influences are ones they choose to let in. As a result, they live far more purposefully, and far more aware of how they interact with their environment, taking radical responsibility for virtually everything that they are doing, they do not attribute their feelings or their actions to anybody else. "Look what you made me do" is not in their vocabulary, they have a very heightened understanding of who they are, and how they show up in the world.
(12:13):
Radical responsibility. As I mentioned, I am early on this journey, but I will put the Conscious leadership group's webpagein the show notes. So if you are curious, you can start to follow this company, their YouTubes are fabulous. And you can see how this concept can be very useful, if applied. It's not easy. But I believe, as with much of the challenges that we encounter in our lives, this one would be very much worth it.
(12:55):
I thank you for listening. I don't know if this is your first episode. Or if you were a regular listener. Having reallyappreciated some of this content. I just wanted to tell you that I really do appreciate you for listening.
I thank you for listening. I don't know if this is your first episode, or if you are a regular listener, having reallyappreciated some of this content. I just wanted to tell you that I really do appreciate you for listening. If you would like to express your gratitude for this podcast, I would encourage you to buy me a coffee, head on over to buy me a coffee.com/tanyah that's buy b-u-y me m-e a coffee c-o-f-f-e-e all one word.com/t-a-n-y-a-h tanyah. I will put this in the show notes. And I would really sincerely appreciate your support. In addition to that, you can rate and review this podcast and I really, really appreciate that you are here listening to what I am sending out to you guys. Thanks so much.
Adam Johns (14:07):
Thank you so much for listening to Beyond the Minimum with Tanya Hewitt. We hope this episode aligned with you. Maybe it was diametrically opposed to us, at any rate, we trust it made you think. The more we can think about our workplaces and start talking about them, the more we can collectively make a real difference. If you're living in Canada, please find out the Indigenous territory in which you reside. Begin using it to introduce yourself. Please reach out to Tanya through her email Tanya@beyondsafetycompliance.ca. Connect and chat with her on LinkedIn. Follow her company Beyond Safety Compliance. And remember to ask yourself the question, How does your work look? Because we can always go Beyond the Minimum.
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