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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Greg – I suspect we have a case of holacracy and “Holacracy.” The notion of holacracy (small “h”) has been around for a bit and has been discussed by Ken Wilber and others as a description of the natural, emergent conditions of an organic system, I might say self organizing system. The H was capitalized when folks tried to formalize it and make it into an operational approach to organizations – which is something we do. Zappos and others have essentially mandated its introduction – which seems to me to be the total antithesis of what I thought holarchy was all about. So I do believe that in Open Space we encounter a Holacratic environment... power, decision making, authority is distributed all over, albeit at any given moment it may be centralized in a given person, but only for a moment. That is not what I hear happening at Zappos. I am sure the folks think it is all wonderful, but I do think they are working much too hard creating a system that can emerge all by itself. Otherwise known as organizing a self organizing system. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Harrison <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Harrison Owen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>7808 River Falls Dr.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Potomac, MD 20854<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>USA<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Camden, Maine 04843<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Phone 301-365-2093<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>(summer) 207-763-3261<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="www.openspaceworld.com%20"><span style='color:blue'>www.openspaceworld.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="www.ho-image.com%20"><span style='color:blue'>www.ho-image.com</span></a> (Personal Website)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to:<a href="http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org"><span style='color:blue'>http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Greg Bloom<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, March 05, 2014 8:55 AM<br><b>To:</b> OSList@lists.openspacetech.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [OSList] Open Space and Holacracy<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>I am just starting to learn about both Open Space and Holacracy, but I actually think there are some misconceptions in this thread. <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Holacracy is *not* a framework in which ruling power is totally distributed among participants. There's still a head honcho; and at every level below, there's a group that defines the purpose and exercises authority over its subsidiary groups. Within that structure, groups are democratic and I believe self-organizing, etc. But it's very much a hierarchy. More here: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2014/01/15/making-sense-of-zappos-and-holacracy/">http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2014/01/15/making-sense-of-zappos-and-holacracy/</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Despite that, it seems to me that Open Space and Holacracy include similar notions about the world, but one is exploratory and the other is operational. Perhaps they could be practiced in a complementary fashion, in a way that relieves some of the pressure of the hierarchy. I'd love to hear more comparing and contrast.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <br>-- <br><span style='font-family:"Garamond","serif"'>• <a href="http://flavors.me/gjb" target="_blank">gjb</a> •</span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gc-cs-link><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"'>202.643.3648</span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>