Category: Quotes
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Empowerment is a red herring
The following is a quote from Harrison Owen on the World wide Open Space Technology email list October 14, 2014. “I know we talk a lot about empowerment, but I have come to the conclusion that it is really a red herring, and most painfully so in those situations where you actually try to do…
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Pre-conditions for self-organization
The following is a quote from Harrison Owen on the World wide Open Space Technology email list October 14, 2014. I have changed the formatting. “The essential pre-conditions for self-organization are: A Real business issue (something that people really care about). High levels of complexity such that no single person or group has a prayer…
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Original wisdom
Robert Wolff has spent a lifetime with indigenous people from many parts of the world. He lived with the aboriginal Sng’oi of Malaysia during the years he spent in Malaysia as a government psychologist. He fell in love with this people and their immense inner dignity, humanity, and sense of connection to all creation. His…
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Ackoff on consensus
I have written previously here that I am convinced that sociocratic principles can be implemented in many ways. Below is an additional example from Russel L. Ackoff on the use of consensus which sounds very sociocratic to me: “Decisions made by a majority of participants usually create a dissatisfied minority.” “Decision-making by consensus avoids such…
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Beliefs influence results
Peggy Holman writes in Open Space Technology: A User’s NON-Guide, pp. 48—50, that different methods can work in a given situation but what matters most are the beliefs of the facilitator. “My belief (and I don’t have sufficient empirical evidence for it to be more than an opinion) is that while method may be one…
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Thinking like a plant
“Living thinking can vitalize every area of human engagement.” ~Craig Holdrege, Thinking Like a Plant, p. 10 Here are some brief remarks by Craig Holdrege on how we can model our thinking after living processes. See also other publications by Craig Holdrege.
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Facilitating an Open Space
Harrison Owen wrote the following on the OSLIST Email Community in April 17, 2014: “So in the peculiar situation of facilitating an Open Space: Why do we do it? Doubtless each person will have to answer that one for themselves, but I am very clear why I take on the role of facilitator. My purpose…
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Both/and thinking
“Sociocracy is about the power of self-organizing environments that relish both/and thinking. … To foster collaboration in a small organization or on a massive scale, we must find fundamentally smarter ways to challenge what we think we know and how we communicate. The journey is to learn to self-organize in a way that we all win.…
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Enjoy life
I found this anonymous unattributed quote about enjoying life even when there are hardships to overcome in a shop window in Umeå, Sweden. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
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Dee Hock in his own words
Dee Hock, the founder and former CEO of VISA, was way ahead of his time in contemplating what biology, chaos and complexity theory could teach those in business. My good friend Simon Robinson—who is co-author of Holonomics: Business Where People and Planter Matter—has compiled a post with Dee Hock in his own words based on my…