About the lecture:

The lecture will start by defining a modern society – and with it a modern organization – as operating in a mode of dynamic stabilization. This implies that it systematically requires persistent economic growth, technological acceleration and cultural innovation in order to maintain its institutional status quo.

By consequence, individuals as well as organizations are structurally forced to incessantly strive for ‘parametric optimization’ of their performances, processes and standings. This, in turn, entrenches a mode of ‘aggression’ as the dominant form of our relationship to the world, i.e. of relating to one’s environment as well towards one’s competitors and one’s self. ‘Learning’ here means finding ways to improve one’s standings and optimize one’s performance. This mode of aggression, however, leads to pathological consequences in the form a destroyed planet and burnt-out and alienated individuals.

Hence, the second part of the lecture will sketch out an alternative mode of relating to the world which is not based on the striving for control and domination, but on a mode of resonance. Resonance can be defined as a form of relationship characterized by four elements (Affection, Self-Efficacy, Transformation and Non-Engineerability) which define a basic mode of listening and responding. This mode can be used to define the criteria of a good life for individuals – and to sketch out the contours of a ‘respons-a- ble’ organization. Learning here takes on a different meaning: It refers to the institutionalization or habitualization of ‘axes of resonance’ in four dimensions: social, material, existential and self-related.