So it’s been more than thirty days that I have been on my 30 day learning journey, but here is a harvest from some significant conversations. Consider this the tender early sproing greens. There is more to follow. I began this learning journey leaning into thinking about what role I can play in taking change to scale. My reasons for this inquiry have to do with the fact that I am increasingly working with systems, beyond organizations and beyond groups. Also, some of us in the Art of Hosting community and the Berkana Institute are deep in this inquiry as …
Last wekk I was working with some good friends – Kyra Mason, Thomas Ufer, Ruth Lyall, Jennifer Charlesworth and Nanette Taylor. Together we designed and delivered a one day workshop on what we called “Chaordic Leadership in Changing Times.” The focus of the workshop was collaborative leadership practice and we were asking questions about collaborating around a movement in the child and family services sector in British Columbia. Collaborative leadership practice has a couple of key capacities. First is the ability to be in and hold space for conversations that matter. The second is the practice of developing and holding …
I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this piece, A Samurai Creed, but it speaks volumes about practice. A Samurai’s Creed Anonymous, Circa 1300I have no parents; I make the heaven and earth my mother and father. I have no home; I make awareness my dwelling. I have no life and death; I make the tides of breathing my life and death. I have no divine power; I make honesty my divine power. I have no means; I make understanding my means. I have no magic secrets; I make character my magic secret. I have no body; I make endurance …
Dave Pollard sees skillful conversation as a key to the kinds of communities he is trying to create. In this post he revisits his ideas about personal practices for being a good conversationalist. These are great: Tell the other person something you’re passionate about, and why. Tell them passionately. Tell them something they should know that they don’t, preferably as a story, and make it clear why it’s important. Tell them about a possibility you’ve imagined. A real possibility, not just an ideal, a wish or a dream. Tell them a different way of thinking about something, one …
I work with lots of colleagues and in general the flow of money is pretty straightforward. With some fiends though, we often sit with each other and think about what else we could do with the economy. Being clear about money is a life practice – in North American culture money holds all kinds of traps for energy between people. My friend Tenneson Woolf has just blogged on this and he and his colleagues from a recent workshop worked these principles: Whereas the old model for these decisions is more transactional, the new model is energetic. It is …