Walking Out

[Harrison Owen]

i have never done it. But I have come close. My rationale would have been that
my committment was to keep the space open. And if somebody, who had the power
to close the space (Chairman of the board etc) chose to exercise that power --
I still had my committment. And so the law of two feet. Not in anger (although
I am sure some feelings would be present) but as a visible sign to all those
who had gathered in Open Space that the space was still open should they choose
to exercise the option.

I have never had to do walk out, as I said -- but I think the reason is that I
have always been explicitly clear about where my head was. I had one job -- to
keep the space open, relatively safe, and nutrient to the point that good
ideas, and good people could grow. My committment was not to save the company,
save somebody's job -- and certainly not to some pre-determined outcomes.

A tale I have told multiple times (ad nauseaum, I am sure) makes the point, I
think. I was invited to Open Space for a small consulting group (50 people) on
the subject of their future. By 1 pm it was clear to all that they had no
future, and by 4pm, they had essentially dissolved the company. The only person
who was surprised was the president, though credit to him, he made no effort to
close things down when it was apparent that the outcome was far different than
he had imagined.

I have always felt particularly good about that particular Open Space. I
suppose from some points of view it could be considered a dismal failure. But
frankly I took it as a marvelous success. Open Space, once again, worked
perfectly. But the results were a little surprising. The best results, however
were that nobody walked out mad, and also by the time they were through they
had created several new business ventures which everybody seemed to agree were
"better" than what they had been doing.

As the fellow said -- when you are laying poker, you got to know when to hold.
And know when to fold. When to talk. when to walk. Or something like that.

Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
phone 301-469-9269
fax 301-983-9314
website
www.mindspring.com/~owenhh
Open Space Institute websites
www.openspaceworld.org
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