[OSList] Report From The Field

Tue Jan 8 14:57:31 PST 2019

I looked hard at your name, Mark, and didn't recognize it. But I have heard
your story, and even told a very abbreviated version from time to time!
Thanks!  And thanks Harrison for making that connection. Michael

On Tue, Jan 8, 2019 at 15:55 Thomas Herrmann via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Great read!
> Now I will sleep well.
> Opening Space tomorrow, warms my 💔
> We rock
> Appreciatively
> Thomas
>
> Skickat från min iPhone
>
> 8 jan. 2019 kl. 23:47 skrev Harrison Owen via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>:
>
> For reasons known only to the CyberGods I somehow missed Mark’s offering.
> But I didn’t miss what followed… Mark’s language is (0n occasion) off
> putting. But having known him for a long time, his heart is definitely in
> the right place (even if it isn’t YOUR place). J
>
>
>
> When I first meet Mark (25 years ago?) he had the exalted title of
> Superintendant of Roads (I think) in a Colorado County -- Pueblo. I don’t
> know what that totally involved – but one thing was the snow plowing
> operations on some of the nastiest parts of the American Rockies. Serious
> business with marginal room for error lest you go over the edge. Each Fall,
> the plow operators would be gathered for a “education” session on “better
> plowing.” Experts would hold forth, and the drivers, presumably, got
> smarter. Then came Mark. He turned the gathering over to the real experts
> (the drivers) – and it was all in Open Space. Came up with a catchy title:
> Roads Scholars! Then it seemed that the Governor of Colorado needed to work
> with all “his” County Execs. Mark was called upon for the job. He ended up
> as a County Executive … which is a political job equal to President in many
> (smaller) countries. Frankly, I have always stood in awe of Mark – opening
> space in the middle of a political morass. He’s good – but definitely odd.
> I’m pleased to call him my friend.
>
>
>
> ho
>
>
>
> *From:* OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> <oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>] *On Behalf Of *Marai Kiele via
> OSList
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 8, 2019 4:32 PM
> *To:* ost list international
> *Cc:* Marai Kiele; Mark Carmel
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Report From The Field
>
>
>
> Dear Mark,
>
>
>
> I appreciate your flow of energy and appreciation, both for OST and
> Harrison!
>
> I am fascinated, hearing about the „at that time“ largest educational
> transformation group and I honour you as someone who has walked the trails
> of OST before me.
>
>
>
> At the same time, I notice my resentment in regard to this part of your
> sharing:
>
>
>
>           "beware of the evil spirits that seek the status quo at all
> costs“ and "fortify oneself against the forces that WILL seek to
> undermine change".
>
>
>
> I actually don’t live within a paradigm of something like „evil spirits“,
> and I find myself quite „resistant" to changing that world-view. I also
> don’t believe in setting myself up „against“ anything, but instead I
> believe in focusing on what is wanted. For me, this would include honouring
> those with a different perspective on what I desire (which might be change
> or transformation in regard to a specific subject).
>
>
>
> I have heard the term, „the client is resistant“ both in therapy and
> consulting contexts, and I notice great discomfort within me towards this
> kind of label.
>
>
>
> Not mostly, but also from my personal experience of someone giving me that
> „batch of honour". Someone who didn’t understand my perspective and how I
> was actually serving a group with my intervention. It has now happened to
> me several times that someone said to me (sometimes years later): „NOW I
> get you! I thought you were just annoying/resistant, but you were right /
> actually ahead of us with your perspective“.
>
>
>
> And.. there are times when I am not at all ahead, but truly resistant to
> change. For example because of different priorities.
>
>
>
> I will never forget the disbelief of the person at the iPhone help desk of
> my mobile phone provider:
>
>
>
> I called to ask how to activate my new iPhone 6. Which had been sitting in
> my desk for OVER A YEAR unused, after I had received the new model. He
> couldn’t believe that I hadn’t activated it right away. I imagine he might
> have shared that story during his coffee break with colleagues and all of
> them shaking their heads or laughing about that strange client.
>
> I just hadn't wanted to let go of my iPhone 3s (until I really had to
> because I couldn’t get software updates anymore). Back then, I so preferred
> its design. I mostly used it to make calls, not for the internet, and it
> fit so nicely into my hand and the back pocket of my jeans… Clearly a
> criteria that many tech savvy people will not find as important at I did!
>
>
>
> So the „moral“ of my story: What might be the things that other people
> value which we don’t understand, when we judge them as „resistant“?
>
>
>
> I very much appreciate how that perspective is embodied in this short
> video, narrated by Charles Eisenstein:
>
>
>
>             What is it like to be you?
>
>             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uStmnodUpOo
>
>
>
> Also, isn’t OST based on invitation? And if there is something like
> „resistance to following an invitation“, is it a true invitation in the
> first place?
>
>
>
>             (Kudos to Dan Mezick and Mark Sheffield and their book on
> Inviting Leadership)
>
>
>
> With respect,
>
> Marai
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Am 08.01.2019 um 02:41 schrieb Mark Carmel via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>:
>
>
>
> Greetings Fellow OST Practitioners!
>
>
>
> It is an honor to join you once again.  I met the great Harrison Owen in
> the early 1990's and began immediately facilitating Open Space.  I hope
> some of you remember me.  Guided by Harrison's mentor-ship I set the world
> record with a 700 person group in 1993, the largest at the time for an
> educational transformation.
>
>
>
> To my fellow followers of His Honor, Harrison "The GREAT" Owen, THE
> Inventor of the Magic and Miracle of OPEN SPACE, (or the Receiver, from the
> Great Inventor...) I honor you for carrying on His Legacy.
>
>
>
> May I suggest to ALL, that when the Space is Opened to the Spirit of
> Change, you are playing with the fire of the crucible right there,
> fomenting the ferver that IS the crux of CHAOS, and thus bringing out the
> very, very Good in people, and also, sometimes, the bad.  In all your
> preparations, beware of the evil spirits that seek the status quo at all
> costs, sometimes, literally.  Change dies hard, as it is said, and in
> America, we now live in Retaliation Nation, where change, may be, and is,
> often, met with resistance.
>
>
>
> To fortify oneself against the forces that WILL seek to undermine change
> (and not in an open way, quite the contrary), and undermine the change
> agents championing change, one tidbit of hopefully useful observation is
> warranted:  Make SURE Leadership is SOLID!
>
>
>
> It is such a joy to see O.S.T. alive and well.  We ALL have Harrison to
> thank for His Gift of the Spirit of Human Understanding, Peace, and
> Reconciliation.  Thank YOU, dear Father Harrison Owen!!
>
>
>
> Cheers!  Long May OST Live!!
>
>
>
> O - Open Invitation
>
> S - System Innovation
>
> T - Transformation Communication
>
>
>
> Peace!!
>
>
>
> Mark Carmel
>
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-- 

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)

http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
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