Just a thought that crossed my mind this morning.

We communicate with others as though we all share the same map–and the same world–which causes conflict and collisions. In 1931 Alfred Korzybski a Polish American scientist and philosopher coined the phrase “the map is not the territory”. The way we look at the world or hear what someone says is just an interpretation of what was said.

We often confuse the two believing that we know the truth and start defending to the death of the relationship. We each have differing abilities to hear what is being said or written and we interpret what is said in 1000s of ways each of us translating it so it fits on our map.

To become good at conversational intelligence we first need to recognize that “our map is not the territory” then spend time communicating with one another to begin to understand what the territory is.

Everyone gets an “A” from me because you are still here still willing to engage in the conversation that allows us to explore our own maps or stories and to catch the spark that happens when our maps become bigger and more complete. Are you willing to give others an “A”?

We reach out to share and to catch the spark of another’s genius as we work together to achieve our shared goals of being of service and creating massive change in the world. That change starts with us.

The question is are you willing to let go of your map to embrace a larger more complex map. I’d love to hear your visions and compare maps with you. What do you have to say today?