[OSList] Open Space Economics? Be Prepared to be Surprised!

Brett Barndt barndtbrett at gmail.com
Wed Oct 2 10:40:56 PDT 2013


Very interesting discussion. Meanwhile, in terms of OST economics, the
economics profession and all the adherents have so much power since they
choose what ideas/explanations, etc. get proffered for the worlds' events.
Many people who come into an Open Space event will carry those beliefs,
which are themselves a mere subset and selection of possibilities heavily
influenced by power preservation inherent in institutions.

Many of the most influential people in the world operate by these beliefs
which say justify austerity because of public debts (and despite
destruction of social fabric, even rising suicide rates), public debts
themselves (which are not a foregone conclusion in the grand scheme of
things), or even the very concept of interest-bearing money, which is
itself laden with ecological, power, and social hierarchy implications all
by itself. And, powerful funding sources ensure new generations get taught
these ideas at universities and secondary schools so that they are not even
any longer debatable.

There are so many assumptions not even questioned in our current world
because of this hegemony.


On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 11:40 AM, Diane Gibeault
<diane.gibeault at rogers.com>wrote:

> I think the idea is not CEOs giving up power but getting more effective
> power, differently.
>
> The CEOs are invited to expand their definition of power to include shared
> leadership, a more open way of working with all elements of the
> organization...
> Harrison's description of the power that emerges through self-organization
> captures well this different paradigm of power.
>
> Diane
>
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Bui Petersen <bui.petersen at gmail.com>
>
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 2, 2013 10:52:41 AM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Open Space Economics? Be Prepared to be Surprised!
>
> Maybe "circumventing" is the wrong word. But for me the issue of power is
> central. In order for OST to work, the "CEO" has to temporarily give up
> some of her/his power (both procedural and positional).
>
> I'm quite serious about this, and OST (and other group processes) may
> become part of my academic research (I just started on an PhD in
> Management). Maybe my contribution will be to help make the field of
> Management become more open to self-organization. :)
>
> Maybe you'll all hear back from me in a few years. :)
>
> Bui
>
> On 02/10/2013 1:04 AM, Michael Herman wrote:
>
> 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://michaelherman.com/>
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org <http://openspaceworld.org/>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Bui Petersen <bui.petersen at gmail.com>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://michaelherman.com/>
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org <http://openspaceworld.org/>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Bui Petersen <bui.petersen at gmail.com>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.
>
> Jeff
> San Francisco
>
>  On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 12:25 PM, Michael Herman <
> michael at michaelherman.com> 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
>
>
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