[OSList] entrepreneurs in open space

Sat Apr 27 18:59:42 PDT 2013

HO--

Beautiful!

			:- Doug.

On 04/27/2013 08:43 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
> When an Open Space really flies time periods are irrelevant, and the length
> is a matter of perception and convenience. Under the best of circumstances,
> nobody notices, nobody cares -- they just fly! And that is where/when/how we
> should all be, I think. It is not a "process," "tool," "method." It is
> simply us be fully what we are...human! Love it!!
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
> Potomac, MD 20854
> USA
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
> Camden, Maine 04843
>
> Phone 301-365-2093
> (summer)  207-763-3261
>
> www.openspaceworld.com
> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Michael M
> Pannwitz
> Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2013 7:03 PM
> To: 76066.515 at compuserve.com; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: Re: [OSList] entrepreneurs in open space
>
> Dear Doug,
> I love your report.
> Actually its reports like yours that make my day, or night.
> And bringing good food seems a perfect sign of great management, supportive
> community, shared leadership and, of course, Vision. The eagle, bear, mouse
> and deer all in place.
> While they had a productive time and observed "when its over, its over", I
> suspect that things would even get better if "faculty and advisors"
> would not stay out but get in... and some more of the "community people
> bankers and business leaders" joined (were invited?).
> I have experienced groups that seemed not to need the time available in the
> groups but spent the time not in the groups in amazing ways (started a new
> venture)... afterwards I was glad I did not intervene and thinking on this I
> decided not to interpret all this stuff, much too complex and maybe none of
> my business, and instead let selforganisation do its stuff... and stick to
> the announced schedule.
> I wonder why you say its "another one for the books".
> To me it appears to be unprecedented, unique, probably not exactly
> reproducable, a wonder.
> Lets have more of them.
> Greetings from Berlin
> mmp
>
> On 27.04.2013 23:59, doug wrote:
>> Friends--
>>
>> Report on a half-day OST in Northern Indiana, held today:
>>
>> A local women's college has a program to help low-income women become
>> entrepreneurs. It runs 6 weeks and has as faculty many community
>> people, bankers and business leaders. I convinced them from the start
>> that OST should be an integral part of the curriculum. This spring was
>> the 4th class. This spring we had two classes running concurrently,
>> one meets in the evening, one during the day. Today was the first time
>> both classes had met each other.
>>
>> We gathered at 8:30, scheduled the opening for 9:00 and actually
>> started at about 9:10. Village marketplace was done by 9:40. There was
>> so much good food they brought to share that it was 8:57 before they
>> gathered for their first groups! We scheduled to run to 1:00. So we
>> did 3 sessions of 1 hour each, with the closing circle at 12:40.
>>
>> There were 21 of the 23 students there, and there were 4 faculty and
>> advisor folks too, a total of 25. The faculty and advisor people
>> stayed out of the sessions for the most part.
>>
>> There was a healthy amount of bumble-beeing and butterflying, lots of
>> banter and laughter.
>>
>> 14 topics were posted, and they elected to combine 3 into one session.
>> Theme: "Issues and Opportunities in Our Businesses, Our Lives." Topics
>> included:
>> Managing business risk
>> How do we sell our products?
>> A name for my business
>> Juggling home, family & business
>> How do I connect with people
>> Finding a business location
>> The three that were combined: Funding for the future; How do we invest
>> in our business?; Connecting with business/financial partners Ideas?
>> Marketing...outside the box!
>> Stepping out
>> Having a business at home, or opening a store?
>>
>> What I have learned from these folks is the shorter sessions (1 hour)
>> work better for them. Perhaps their needs and questions are more
>> discrete at this stage in their entrepreneurial adventure (many have
>> not actually started their businesses, they are just learning about
>> business plans and payroll taxes and the like). Maybe they are still
>> unsure about themselves and not sure even what questions to ask-maybe
>> the questions (or the answers) get deeper and have more permutations
>> after they have actually been doing their businesses for awhile (I
>> have also been doing retreats for graduates of this course with longer
>> sessions and a day-long format, and they sustain the conversations for
> longer times).
>> Not sure why shorter sessions would serve them better, but I saw
>> groups breaking up before the 60 minutes was up at least twice, maybe
>> three times, and at the end, the conversations seemed to be running
>> down so I went up to them after about 50 minutes and asked if they
>> were done and wanted to move into closing early, and they said yes.
>>
>> A lot of emotion in the closing circle--even passing of tissues!
>>
>> Another one for the books. Of course it worked.
>>
>>               :- Doug. Germann
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>
> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
>
>
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