My talk at the 'SBS Evening Talks' series at in5, Dubai, UAE.

1. We Validate Where We Know
Lessons from the master-apprentice relationship
Viktor Dörfler
Validation for Globalisation 3.0

2. 1D
3D but…
3D
2D
0D
context-free
second-hand
facts and rules
situational
elements
organising
by priorities
holistic
situation-induced
perspective
complete
indwelling

5. intuition
 ‘big leap’ to the solution
 besides rather than instead of ratio
harmony (beauty)
 what is not beautiful, does not work
analogical thinking
 symbolic models in the mind
 new scopes of validity
seeing the essence
 seeing the ‘big picture’
 seeing the detail – always the right detail
 switching fast between the two

6. imprinting (or the early sign of talent)
inspiration for the genre – by listening to a grandmaster
it takes a master to make a master
 even the genius needs it
 both following and abandoning
the master’s way is wrong - but in this
struggle the new master is forged
several forms of master-appretice
1. traditional master-disciple pairs
2. wandering apprentice journeys
3. mutual apprenticing
4. hot spots: creative workshops
 founded by one master

7. by becoming more and more scientistic
we are actually less and less scientific
 we rarely create interesting theories
 writing academic papers became more
important than creating new knowledge
 instead of nurturing their interest and talent
we put PhDs on the production line
perhaps it is more important to learn the
use of intuition, seeing the essence, and
develop the new generation of
researchers in ‘hot spots’ than focusing
solely on how to be rigorous, quantitative,
and systematic
“… I propose that the
goal of science is to
make the wonderful
and the complex
understandable and
simple – but not less
wonderful.”

8. actionable knowledge
 heavily rooted in experience
 requires high level of expertise
 integrates various knowledge types
dynamic relationship between
 knowledge
 knower
 context
how to achieve competence?
 24-year old top exec consultant?

9. Gravity works for
bodies that have
weight.
There are 4 egocentric
particulars:
I, this, now and here.
Gravity does not work
close to the speed of
light.

10. validating the
applicability
of relevant knowledge
validating the
relevance
of consistent
knowledge
validating the
consistency
of accessible
knowledge
this herenow
consistent knowledge relevant knowledge applicable knowledge
conceptualization description implementation
conceptual model descriptive model applied model

11. power as close to action as possible
 timely decision by the most competent
 structure + freedom: clear expectations but I do it my way
 sense of involvement and ownership
the decision belongs at the bottom
 NOT by delegation but by definition
 involves reverse delegation
it also becomes a moral principle
 it is wrong to steal one’s responsibility
 and with responsibility go rights
organisations as communities
 towards the ‘federal model’
Photo taken by Liz Handy, 2016, Budapest

12. www.strath.ac.uk/staff/dorflerviktordr
drviktordorfler
viktordorfler
viktordorfler
viktordorfler
viktordorfler
www.viktordorfler.com
www.doctuskbs.com
www.grandmasterproject.com