Leadership, Abundance and Complexity in Human Systems

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Bundle Bud

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

"In 1993 or 1994, a friend handed me Margaret Wheatley's book, Leadership and the New Science. Although I loved learning about quantum physics, I was at that time very into W. Edwards Deming and Total Quality Management (TQM). I handed back the book and said it seemed to have nothing to do with my work (oops!). In 1998 I was on a trip with my son to San Francisco. At the wonderful Exploratorium science museum, they had a featured exhibit on "turbulent landscapes." that included many hands-on displays about complex and chaotic forces in nature. Playing with a large pendulum with a magnet on its tip, and other magnets on the table below it (that could be set to attract or repel the pendulum) I had a literally life-changing moment. In the wild oscillations of the pendulum, I knew the laws of physics were still working. But I saw not just pendulums and magnets, but a physical model of how people interact with ideas and with each other. I was hooked. Applying ideas from complexity science to the work of dialogue, change, and leadership, has been my core focus for more than ten years. I am an avid associate of the Plexus Institute, which is where I met Valdis Krebs, CEO Orgnet.com and June Holley,  thought leader in Network Weaving."

 

Continue to learn more about complexity, change, leadership and dialogue by following Bruce's blog, Complexified.

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:


    •    Facebook I-Open http://tiny.cc/odlg2
    •    Flickr http://tiny.cc/73y6e
    •    Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
    •    Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
    •    Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
    •    Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
    •    Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
    •    Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
    •    Vimeo http://tiny.cc/106p0
    •    You Tube http://tiny.cc/j5rse

Images by Alice Merkel on Flickr  

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

Making Change One Conversation At A Time

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Star Composite

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

Bruce Waltuck, thought leader in Leadership and Change, talks about how he became interested in supporting groups of people making better decisions together.

"I'm a child of the 1960s. I worked on peer councils after race riots in my high school following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. In college, I helped establish the first student-faculty governance committee at Syracuse University in 1970. Later, my first boss at the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) encouraged us to work "smarter not harder" (not a cliche back in 1980). I became a fan and advocate of Total Quality Management (TQM)  and of Dr. W. Edwards Deming by the late 1980s, and got the chance of a lifetime, to co-create and lead the USDOL's Employee Involvement and Quality Improvement system in 1989. This was a labor-management partnership whose collaborative governance structure later became the basis for articles and stuff I wrote for journals and books. In 1990-1991 I was a negotiator of the DOL's original interest-based collective bargaining agreement - the first of its kind in the U.S. Federal sector. And in 1995-2000, I created and led a new public-private partnership to help employees in the health care industry."

Bruce Waltuck earned an M.A. in Complexity, Chaos, and Creativity (yes, really); is an Associate at the Plexus Institute and a Member of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators.

   

Continue to learn more about complexity, change, leadership and dialogue by following Bruce's blog, Complexified.

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:
    •    Facebook I-Open http://tiny.cc/odlg2
    •    Flickr http://tiny.cc/73y6e
    •    Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
    •    Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
    •    Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
    •    Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
    •    Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
    •    Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
    •    Vimeo http://tiny.cc/106p0
    •    You Tube http://tiny.cc/j5rse

Images by Alice Merkel on Flickr

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

Super Science Initiative: New Frontiers for Collaboration

Check out this website I found at innovation.gov.au

Australia and Ireland are investing in innovation and economic development based in universities focused on space and astronomy, marine and climate, and future industries.

These two forward thinking countries understand the direct connection between innovation, education, and economic development.

Beyond this, every country and region investing funds in innovation will need to invest as well in new habits of communication and collaboration.

One approach - COINs-collaborative innovation networks - is driven by swarm creativity and accelerates the formation of entrepreneurial cultures.

You can learn more about swarm creativity and COINs in this video interview with MIT research scientist, Peter Gloor. Additional resources are available here.

Get started by registering for the COINs2010 Conference and connect to this knowledge community exploring the emerging science of collaboration.

 

Isivivane Game - conversations that build trust and meaning for positive change

In Open Source Economic Development, civic leaders need to learn new practices and tools to extend and enhance their ability to engage with each other and with information to create new knowledge. New knowledge is what is generated from experience and applied to the industry of solving problems.

The Isivivane Game - Place Your Stone Upon the Pile - is one such practice. It creates immediate opportunities for leaders in government, business, and academia to build richer realities to engage in transformative action.

The game architects self constructed pathways that build new capacities for people to work together to be more creative, strengthen communications, and accelerate collaboration.

Practices introduce skills and tools people can rely on as they begin to interact in multidimensional ways. Growing comfortable in environments representing more than one reality is an aid to problem solving in the complex social, economic, and environmental situations affecting industry today. This is modern skills training.

By creating regular opportunities for experimental experiences in complexity - outside of daily work - organizations cultivate higher levels of performance and personal satisfaction, and stronger capabilties in individual decision making for wiser organizations.

From co-creator Steve Banhegyi:

"These are the cards with which the game is played - the questions on the cards are used to create knowledge by the participants - all centering around the central theme or 'organising principle' or 'strange attractor' the answer to the question : "what do we want?"

You can find Steve at I-Open on Strategy-Nets, Facebook, and @SteveBanhegyi on Twitter. Or, contact him directly at:

Steve Banhegyi & Associates
Art and Science of Change
steve@storytelling.co.za
Cell (South Africa) +27 (0)83 232-6047 / Fax +27 (0)86 635-4457
www.storytelling.co.za | www.trans4mation.co.za | isivivane.com