[OSList] Report From The Field

Thomas Herrmann thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
Thu Jan 10 13:59:57 PST 2019


… BUT fully present indeed!

Thomas

 

Från: Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com> 
Skickat: den 9 januari 2019 01:36
Till: markacarmel <markacarmel at gmail.com>
Kopia: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>; Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com>
Ämne: Re: [OSList] Report From The Field

 

> statues of Harrison Owen in town squares everywhere

 

 

i've heard there are already hundreds if not thousands of them sprinkled around the globe.  all invisible, of course!

 




 
--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

312-280-7838 (mobile)

 

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

 

 

 

On Tue, Jan 8, 2019 at 5:28 PM markacarmel <markacarmel at gmail.com <mailto:markacarmel at gmail.com> > wrote:

Thank you Sir Michael Herman, I remember you for sure.

Mark

 

 

 

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

 

-------- Original message --------

From: Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com <mailto:michael at michaelherman.com> > 

Date: 1/8/19 3:57 PM (GMT-07:00) 

To: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> > 

Cc: Mark Carmel <markacarmel at gmail.com <mailto:markacarmel at gmail.com> >, Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com <mailto:thomas at openspaceconsulting.com> > 

Subject: Re: [OSList] Report From The Field 

 

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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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). :) 

 

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] 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 <mailto: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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