Category: People

  • Retrospective 2024-01

    This is a retrospective of the first week 2024 (2024-01-01–2024-01-07). I will write in both English and Swedish because I write for myself. Newborn thoughts are easier to express in my native language (Swedish). However, most of what I read is in English and then I will stick to English. For the most part, I…

  • Iain McGilchrist on control

    The following quote is from a conversation between Iain McGilchrist and Ameer Shaheed in May 2023. It is part of a series of conversations exploring McGilchrist’s philosophy as laid out in The Matter with Things. (My emphasis in italics.) I would go so far as to say that control, which is the single value of…

  • Carol Sanford on Indirect Work

    Carol Sanford writes in Indirect Work: A Regenerative Change Theory for Businesses, Communities, Institutions and Humans that her words are often misinterpreted as direct instruction. People want something they can do, something they can apply directly. This means that what she is describing is downgraded to tactics rather than as an invitation to go deeper.…

  • New orders reflect new values

    The world crumbles. New orders are emerging. Conditions are getting worse and worse. There is less and less to hold on to. There are fewer givens to assume. How to live? What to do? How to organize? The world is falling apart. Fear deepens as necessary orders are lost. Events force rapid reassessment of everything,…

  • Are People Machines?

    This is an imagined conversation between Peter D. Ouspensky (1878-1947), George I. Gurdjieff (1866 to 1877–1949), and Norm Hirst (1932-2012). The conversation is based on quotes from Peter D. Ouspensky’s book In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching, and the Autognomics website. PO: Once I was talking with Gurdjieff… I was speaking…about…

  • Posts on David Bohm

    David Bohm is one of the most interesting thinkers that I’ve encountered during all years of reading. Here’s an overview of posts where I mention David Bohm in one way or another: 2018 Organizing retrospective 126 — A retrospective of 2018. Book Review: The Supreme Art of Dialogue by Anthony Blake Book Review: Mind and…

  • Organizing reflection 25

    This is a post in my series on organizing ”between and beyond.” Other posts are here. The purpose of this post is to reflect on subjects occupying my mind. I make no claim to fully believe what I write. Neither do I pretend that others have not already thought or written about the same subject.…

  • Organizing reflection 4

    This is a post in my series on organizing ”between and beyond.” Other posts are here. The purpose of this post is to reflect on subjects occupying my mind. I make no claim to fully believe what I write. Neither do I pretend that others have not already thought or written about the same subject. More often…

  • Organizing reflection 1

    This is a post in my series on organizing ”between and beyond.” Other posts are here. The purpose of this post is to reflect on subjects occupying my mind. I make no claim to fully believe what I write. Neither do I pretend that others have not already thought or written about the same subject. Often, I take…

  • Respect for people

    This is a post in my organizing “between and beyond” series. Other posts are here. The purpose of this post is to explore Bob Emiliani’s emphasis on Respect for People.1 Introduction Bob Emiliani has written several books and papers where he presents Lean as a management system. He describes the interplay between the Continuous Improvement…