Hi friends: Just a note to the list to mark the death of Peter Frost on Monday after a short and intense struggle with melanoma. In addition to being a respected academic in the fields of organizational culture and leadership teaching out of the University of British Columbia, he was also my father-in-law.
Although he was not an Open Space Technology facilitator, Pete was an open space guy. Several of you had met him. I know most recently Brian Bainbridge took him and his wife Nola to lunch in Melbourne last spring, a lunch they enjoyed immensely. He had met Michael Herman (who helped trim the Frost's Christmas tree in 2002!) as well as Harrison and Birgitt and had deep respect for OST and what it meant in the world. My first OST event was conducted out of Pete's copy of the old green user's guide. I remember him giving me the book when I consulted him about ideas for a workshop. "Here, try this," he said. Most recently, Pete had been writing about compassion in organizations, and his work of the past five years culminated in a book published in late 2002 by Harvard Business Press called "Toxic Emotions At Work." (http://www.toxinhandler.com) Together with colleagues at UBC and in Ann Arbour, Michigan, he co-founded CompassionLab (http://www.compassionlab.org), an interesting academic group looking at organizations as arenas for the practice of compassion. On their website (and in Pete's book, and a previous Harvard Business Review article) Pete quotes one of his favourite lines from an OST practitioner: "There is always grief in the room." He heard Birgitt Williams say this when he sat in with us in a facilitation training back in 2001. That quote served as a bit of a mantra for his work and for CompassionLab. Pete loved Open Space and was always interested in the stuff that came from this list. It gave us hours and hours of fascinating conversations, with my own thinking and work shaped by what I learn here and seeing how it bounced around with him. As he was dying, he took great comfort in knowing that as a family we were all holding space for him. He knew exactly what that meant, having incorporated the concept into his work on toxicity in organizations as a fundamental practice of compassionate managers.. The language of this community spoke directly to his heart and the practice of OST in the world gave him great hope and satisfaction that humans in organizations and communities could work together with heart. We are having a celebration of his lilfe at UBC next Monday. If Pete's spirit or work touched you and you are in the neighbourhood, please join us. Email me for details. Cheers, Chris -- ------------------------- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
