Beautiful stated! No wonder some CEO's are reluctant to Open Space, yet they benefit as much as everyone since the outcomes in OS are the ones they truly want and are trying to make happen. Thank you, Harrison From: [email protected] To: [email protected] List-Post: [email protected] Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2013 08:10:06 -0400 Subject: Re: [OSList] Power / Be Prepared to be Surprised!
Maybe the issue here isn’t the “circumvention of power”, but rather the redefinition of power? In the ordinary scheme of things we consider that the CEO has “power” because he has the position. To me this has always been a very false and misleading sense of power, if only because it is arbitrarily imposed. There is power there, but in a funny way it is consensual power. That sort of power remains powerful so long as everybody thinks it does. Very much like the Emperor and his clothes. Even though he is buck naked, he is attired resplendently, so long as everybody thinks he is. But should one small boy... Power in Open Space is of a very different sort, but no less present. Power in Open Space manifests whenever and wherever Passion and Responsibility effectively join, creating what I have called a Circle of Caring – which is actually a power vortex from which real action, new ideas, change may emerge. You can also call this Leadership. This vortex can center on anyone present – Leadership (power) is therefore distributed and specific to the task, people, and task. In a word it is not arbitrary. Once the Circles of Caring form, the Open Space is off – POWERFULLY! Now an interesting question. Which view of power is accurate? Or one might say correct or effective? I believe it is the second sort. Not because it is nice, moral, ethical, the politically correct thing to – but because it is a totally natural situation. I would suggest that the power we experience in Open Space is the way things really are. Power as imaged by the CEO Model is pretty much illusory. Heretically Yours, Harrison Harrison Owen7808 River Falls Dr.Potomac, MD 20854USA 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)Camden, Maine 04843 Phone 301-365-2093(summer) 207-763-3261 www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Herman Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 11:35 PM To: World wide Open Space Technology email list Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space Economics? Be Prepared to be Surprised! I can't ever remember "attempting to circumvent power dynamics," Bui. While it's quite common when people talk about sitting in a circle they say things like, "...the circle makes everyone equal." I always disagree. The circle gives everyone equal access to all the others in the circle, the markers and paper and microphone at the center, and the bulletin board gives everyone the same access to all of the info that is generated. It doesn't make them equal, the ceo has an entirely different set of skills, resources, experiences, concerns than the new intern. But as a facilitator, I give everyone the same job: learn and contribute as much as you can, from wherever you are, with whatever you have at your disposal. serve the common purpose. none of this attempts or requires any circumventing. i think ost works in spite of whatever the power structure might be, once people show up. maybe the invitation tweaks the power structure -- but if the invite comes from the top, then it's the top giving power away -- hardly a circumvention, and certainly not the facilitator attempting. if the invite bubbles up from somewhere below, then it's the lower ranks claiming power for themselves. so i think any shifting of power arises because invitation exists as an option, not because anything we do in the process of 'opening space.' i think ost is just one way of pointing out that invitation is possible and the ost story is pretty much the same in all kinds of different "power" distributions. or maybe i just don't understand. what do you do to notice and recognize power imbalances? and how have you seen this improve the ost experience for people? m -- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 312-280-7838 (mobile) http://MichaelHerman.com http://OpenSpaceWorld.org On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Bui Petersen <[email protected]> wrote:Michael, I guess we'll have to disagree. I see OST's temporal attempt at circumventing power dynamics (e.g through the the empowered of the the law of two feet) as one of the beauties of the process. One of the reasons that the liberal view of market economics is problematic is that it doesn't account for power imbalances. While you can't take away all structural power, I think the OST experience can be enhanced by at least some awareness and recognition of such powers. Bui On 30/09/2013 10:56 PM, Michael Herman wrote:i don't think ost is trying to "take away structural power," bui -- not even temporarily. i think it's more about acknowledging the distribution of knowledge and choice (power) that already exists. the law of two feet isn't something special we enact at the start of an event, it's something we just notice and point out, for instance. m -- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 312-280-7838 (mobile) http://MichaelHerman.com http://OpenSpaceWorld.org On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Bui Petersen <[email protected]> wrote:Interesting discussion. When I have described OST, some people have been skeptical as it to them has has sounded to "neo-liberal" and not taking power balances enough into consideration. Obviously what the "structure" of OST is trying to do is to take away structural power temporarily. But some people are still skeptical about OST's potential to do this. My own take is that OST does not always fully succeed in this regard. Still it is very interesting theoretically. Both there is a lot of other (than economics) theoretical perspectives that better deal with power. Bui On 26/09/2013 5:33 PM, Michael Herman wrote:I share your concerns, Jeff, but found this piece to be mostly not about politics. And where he comments on current views and policy, I was less bothered by what he was saying than by my tendency to agree in many cases. But mostly this is interesting and useful totally separate from his politics, I think. On Thursday, September 26, 2013, Jeff Aitken wrote:thanks Michael! It's unfortunate that I have a lingering dislike for Mr. Gilder, who was famous for awhile around 1981 when the Reagan administration rolled out its economic agenda, and his work was considered one of its intellectual pillars. Twas a long time ago, and no doubt the man remains a hard thinker and clear writer, perhaps with more heart than I experienced back then. With that caveat, I'll dig into this when I have a chance. Thanks for sharing. JeffSan FranciscoOn Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 12:25 PM, Michael Herman <[email protected]> wrote:Here's a long one, friends… But maybe an important one. What follows is an excerpt from a markets newsletter I've read for maybe 10 years by a financial expert and best-selling author Named John Mauldin. He describes and then shares an article by a guy named George Gilder, Who seems to have been writing "important" books for at least a few decades. -- Michael Herman MichaelHerman.com (312) 280-7838 Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________OSList mailing listTo post send emails to [email protected] unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] subscribe or manage your subscription click below:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org _______________________________________________OSList mailing listTo post send emails to [email protected] unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] subscribe or manage your subscription click below:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
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