--- bitch at pulpculture.org wrote:
>
> Alchemy is described in phrases such as "good fit,"
> "clicking," "hitting
> it off," and so forth. It's mysterious and magic and
> managers come to
> fetishize this in an odd way. What was most
> interesting in my research was
> that it literally took them a few sessions of
> unpacking and explicit
> mini-lectures on it from the transition counselor
> for these folks to
> understand that, when they went on an interview, it
> was going to be all
> about alchemy and "clickin". What I mean is, it took
> them that long to
> figure out "OH! That's how *I* used to operate."
> This recognition was
> simply never present to them without a lot of help.
>
> Partly, they don't want to know. The worst thing in
> the world is to be
> unemployed for a over a year and all of a sudden
> realize that there is very
> little you can do to change alchemy. You can't study
> for it, you can't plan
> for it, you can do nothing except do your best. It's
> out of your control
> and unemployed, discouraged workers don't want to
> know that they might just
> get a job, not because of a pretty resume or key
> words or their talents and
> skills, but because they had on a pair of socks
> someone recognized the
> brand of, a conversation started, and "clicking"
> started to happen. To
> realize that you're in that position is to realize
> that there's little you
> can rationally do to alleviate your situation and
> someone might get the job
> instead of you because they clicked and you didn't.
> There's no explanation.
> It's unnerving and could set these folks (long term
> unemployed upper level
> managers and professionals) into a bout of serious
> depression.
[WS:] Is not that true of any human relationship? Things either "click" or they don't, everything else is rationalization. If they do, you see people who based on "rational" criteria should not be together forming good and lasting relationship, and if they don't those who seemingly have 'everything working for them" splitting up. You see that not just in work relationships or busines partnership, but in dating, romantic relations, friendships etc.
We as society internalized "purpose rationality" (to quote Max Weber) as the modus operandi of the modern life, from business organization to finding a mate - but it is, for the most part nothing more than a legitimating myth, wishful thinking how things ought to be. In reality what matters is the so-called "social" or "emotional" intelligence, not measured on any formal tests, which is the ability to intuitively comprehenfd and reenact certain apriori "hard-wired" rules of human interaction, such as reciprocity or empathy.
People who posses that ability do much better in all kinds of relationships - persoanl and business alike - than those who have the formal skills entailed by the notion of "purpose ratioality" but lack social/emotional intelligence. It makes perfect sense - 99.5% of life revolves about interaction with other people, not about making breakthrough discoveries. Even making those discoveries, not to mention problem solving is a collective effort rather than solo performance of a superspecialist, so the ability to work as a collective matters much more than being a superstar.
Differences in human abilities are for the most part grossly exaggerated. They are merely rationalizations of social hierarchies. Most people are not very far apart in their abilities and skills - as evidenced by the fact that all but the mentally retarded can fully master the most complex and comprehensive system ever created by humans - the language. Most people can do most other people's jobs with relatively little training, unless of course they have been conditoned to be stupid, helpless, lazy and inept. However, whether they succedd or not depends for the most part not on their "individual genius" but on how well they can work with others.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense that people are intuitlively looking for "alchemy" that makes human relationships "click," corporate rat-choice mythologies notwithstanding. Without that alchemy, inteperseonal relationships wwoul dgo down the drain and with them everything else, from science and cutting edge technology to corporate profits.
Wojtek
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