"grey skies thinking"?

Posted by Bob on December 06, 2003

In Reply to: "Grey skies thinking"? posted by pdianek on December 06, 2003

: From the Independent: Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said it [*it* being the concept of schools in the future possessing just one teacher -- the head teacher, what in the US we call a "principal" -- and a plethora of classroom assistants] was "grey skies thinking" and the idea schools could get by with fewer teachers was "idiotic". Where did this phrase come from?

It's the logical inverse of "blue sky" thinking, where one envisions utopia. Distopia is the province of pessimists. I recall working for a company where there were two famous meeting attenders, known as the BOH and the VOD, initials that stood for the Bluebird of Happiness and the Voice of Doom. They could be counted on, double guaranteed, to take opposite sides of every plan. They were both certain they were being totally objective about the subject matter, but made projections based on their genetically driven personalities.

• "Grey skies thinking"? pdianek 06/December/03
  • Blue sky ESC 06/December/03
    • Grey skies thinking Smokey Stover 06/December/03