Brian Bainbridge and the fifth principle

[Christine Whitney Sanchez]

Hello Chris (and Viv, Geoff, Anne and Johnnie),

As you may know, "Be prepared" is the motto of the US Girl Scouts.  So  
we had some fun with that at the Open Space at the 2005 Girl Scout  
National Convention.  I have a great photo of the large "Be  
prepared...to be surprised" sign that had the GS Motto icon on it, but  
I'm pretty sure that I would be playing with fire to try to attach it  
here.

Love to all down under and elsewhere,
Christine

Christine Whitney Sanchez
Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
1.480.759.0262
www.christinewhitneysanchez.com
www.promiseusa.com
Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
http://www.facebook.com/ChristineWhitneySanchez
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinewhitneysanchez

On May 3, 2010, at 9:49 PM, Chris Corrigan wrote:

> Hello from Melbourne.  I've just opened space at a conference here  
> with Viv McWaters, Geoff Brown, Anne Pattillo and Johnnie Moore.   
> We've got a two day, full on participatory conference on evaluation  
> with 179 people.  40 topics have gone up for our day and a half OS.
>
> It's sweet for me being here in Melbourne, which for me is the  
> spiritual home of Open Space in Australia (would you agree  
> Brendan?  :-)).  Of course for me that impression largely comes from  
> the fact that this was Father Brian Banibridge's  home, and I regret  
> that I never made it here while he was alive, only able to meet him  
> over the years at various OSonOS gatherings or when he stopped by  
> our place on retreat or en route to elsewhere.
>
> Brian of course was such a stalwart member of our community...he and  
> Viv have hosted trainings in Australia for years and of course they  
> took the mantle of hosting OSonOS X in 2002 after Laurel Doersam and  
> I co-hosted it in Vancouver. It's such a pleasure to be here working  
> with Viv and our team in this place, with Brian's presence very much  
> in our mind.
>
> And so as way of honouring Brian in our own little way today we took  
> the unprecedented step of officially adding a fifth principle to the  
> Open Space canon.  Of course the four principles are very important  
> and probably all we need, but Brian always posted a fifth one up  
> when he worked: Be Prepared to be Surprised.   For years I have also  
> made a poster with that one on it and put it up in the room, but  
> today in my opening I elevated that most excellent phrase by making  
> it the third principle of five.  It comes right after Whoever  
> comes... and Whatever happens...  Be Prepared to be Surprised.  And  
> then When it starts... and when it's over...lovely.
>
> It seems a perfectly natural place to put it, and, being here in  
> Melbourne,  it seemed a perfectly natural act to just say out loud  
> "Open Space has 5 principles and one law..."  Viv and I both got a  
> little shiver up our spine, our own little testimonial to a great  
> friend of our community of practice whose presence we miss dearly.
>
> So from now on it'll be five principles for me, and in reciting them  
> I always see in my own mind Harrison's call to simplicity, Anne  
> Stadler's call to take simplicity seriously (which helped Harrison  
> get the principles right - that IS the story, right?) and Brian's  
> mischievous imperative to be open to surprise.
>
> So as we prepare to gather here in Melbourne on May 11 for a little  
> OSonOS with 40 or so local OS-workers, and our community of friends  
> and colleagues gathers internationally in Berlin, Viv and I invite  
> you to officially adopt Brian's fifth principle not for sentimental  
> reasons, but just because it makes sense, and it lightens the  
> invitation in just the right way.
>
> It's all good.
>
> Chris
> ----
> Chris Corrigan
> chris at chriscorrigan.com
> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
>
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