Taking a moment here in the newsroom to blog a little about the WK Kellogg Foundation Food and Society 2008 gathering here in Phoenix. It is halfway through day one of this two-plus day gathering to look at connecting and inspiring leadership in the good food movement across the USA. For the past nine months my Art of Hosting colleagues Tim Merry, Toke Moeller, Tuesday Ryan-Hart, Monica Nissen and Phil Cass and I have been working with the Kellogg Foundation and their partner Winrock International to craft a conference that was fundamentally different from the previous eight conferences that have …
From a conversation with Tenneson this morning, we were playing with a pattern of shifting systems that flows from skilfully hosted conversations. A simple pattern emerged, which is about bringing people together, shifting power and developing and hosting emerging beauty. In a linear form it goes like this: Gather people together from wholeness, including inviting the deeply personal into the work. Understand and work with a willingness to shift power. Cultivate curiosity: what could we really do together? Harvest what our Navajo friends call “the beauty way” a way forward that serves life and keeps people engaged in …
This week is Conversation Week. I’ve known Vicki Robin for a few years now. She’s a lovely, lively and curious soul, not shy about standing up and taking responsibility for leading shift in the world. She developed the Conversation Cafe methodology, and conceived of Conversation Week in 2001. Vicki was with us at the Art of Hosting on Whidbey Island in January, where she did something I’ve never seen before. She stepped out of her own methodology and facilitated an Open Space gathering. She was skeptical about Open Space, not having had great experiences in Open …
Just announced…Tatiana Glad, Tenneson Woolf, Teresa Posakony , Cheryl De Paoli and I will be working together to host an Art of Hosting retreat near Calgary, Alberta, June 9-11, 2008. We invite any and all to join us for three days of inquiry, exploration and learning into organizational leadership, community development and strategic and meaningful conversation. The invitation and registration form is now available for download. For more upcoming Art of Hosting events in Boston, Tampa Bay, Ireland, Bowen Island and elsewhere this year, visit the Art of Hosting website.
For those of you curious about exploring the Art of Hosting, our emerging pattern language on leadership and facilitation in living systems, you are invited to join me, Tenneson Woolf, Peggy Holman Sharon Joy Klietsch and Francis Baldwin in Tampa Bay, Florida from May 7-10. We’ll spend three plus days learning about chaos and order, living systems, the role of group work with Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry and World Cafe, and many other aspects of working with human relations to do good things in challenging and complex times. This will be our first Art of Hosting in the …