Language as Clue — Part 3

The Effect of Paradigms on Creating Systemic Change in Business

The Human Potential or Humanist Paradigm

According to Wikipedia, the human potential movement arose out of the counter culture milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believe to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement took as its premise the belief that through the development of “human potential,” humans can experience an exceptional quality of life filled with happiness, creativity, and fulfillment. As a corollary, those who begin to unleash this assumed potential often find themselves directing their actions within society towards assisting others to release their potential. Adherents believe that the net effect of individuals cultivating their potential will bring about positive social change at large.

Core to this movement was the ableness of humans to be aware of and manage not only their own behavior but also their inner mind and motivation. Most of this movement’s emergence was a reaction to the behavioral psychology of the previous decades.

Source of the theory: Great thinkers and teachers of the twentieth century — including Abraham Maslow, Virginia Satir, Carol Rogers, and many others — rejected most of the…