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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Arial Cyr"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Cyr'">Dear
listers,</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Arial Cyr"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Cyr'">[Below is a
letter I sent to two folks on the list privately, one of them convinced me to
post it. After giving it some thought I have posted it with some minor edits.]
</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I have been very troubled recently by some
thoughts and wanted to run them by you (by the way, I would post this to the
listserv, but right now I don't feel ready to, it seems too
personal!)</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The story:</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I have been sending an appeal letter to
various friends and colleagues to raise the funds to go the OSonOS in
Goa.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">One of the responses I got was from a
mentor of mine, a prominent North American political and social activist/trainer
and occasional consultant to (nonprofit) organizations. He was the person I had
said in a previous post felt that OS is oversold.
</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">His "beef" with OS from a consultant
perspective is:</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">If you go around consulting organizations
and you only have one tool in your toolkit, why would I want to use you? In
other words, if you go around life with a hammer, you're going to see every
problem as a nail.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I had a conversation with him a while back
and was consulting on my life direction with him, the plusses and minuses of
getting (deeply) into OS and the like. </SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Later, in response to my funding
letter, he wrote (paraphrasing): </SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">To attempt to consult organizations using
OS (or any other OD tool) without the (significant) prior experience of managing
one (thus having been in the shoes of the director of an organization) reflects
the pretense of a twenty-something. That being in my mid-30's I should know
better. That no right-thinking organization should/would really want to hire me
as a consultant if I don't have a track record. A track record of managing
organizations. A consultant who hasn't had the nuts and bolts experience of
having dealt with the nitty-gritty of managing is apt to be in the clouds, not
likely to really understand what the organization is going through. [I
understand that initially he consciously chose putting his thoughts to me in a
"tough love" kind of way; later he broke it down for me]</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">One of the underlying messages
on using OS that I gleaned from Harrison's User's Guide - if I recall
correctly- (being somewhat reductive here) is the Nike slogan "Just DO
it!"</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I find it hard to argue with him on
this question about acquiring requisite managerial experience to offer a more
"grounded" OS.</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As I understand, many listers in the
OS world, managed in different contexts, consulted (traditionally) in
different contexts before they started using OS consciously.
</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">My own managerial experience is limited at
this point; I don't necessarily want to get into managing organizations even
over the short term. But maybe this is something I nevertheless need to
do?</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Your thoughts?</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Warmly,</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Raffi</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">p.s. And yet I know that part of my passion
lies with OS, I have no choice but to follow it, right or
wrong...</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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