Author: Tenneson Woolf

Below is a piece that Chris Corrigan offered as part of an Art of Hosting Invitation we are creating for October 3-6, 2010 on Bowen Island.

I find myself experimenting with a lot of language on these invitations. Some of it wordy. Always appreciating a crispness — which Chris offers here.

“We are more aware than ever that human beings are living in complex systems. From the very large to the very small, traditional forms of organizing and leading are being tested and found wanting. What is missing?

Complex environments require additional leadership capacities in order for groups at any scale to find the way forward together. One of these practices is convening: calling together people around a shared purpose or inquiry to work together for community and organizational evolution.

Convening and facilitating participation is an art, and the art of hosting is a practice that works with personal and collective capacities to bring the best from ourselves and the groups we work with. If you are a facilitator, a leader, an internal consultant, a community member or an educator, the practice of this art is core to your work.”

Thanks Chris. And others (Meg Wheatley in particular comes to mind) that invites similarly. From Meg I learned more on “leader as host rather than hero.” Should be good for Bowen in the fall.

I’m giving much attention these days to paradigm shifting. In thinking out loud. In writing. In receiving, that way in which things just seem to arrive when an intent is set. Together with colleagues, and in particular with fellow traveller, Teresa Posakony, I’m welcoming insights on tools, practices, advice for shifting paradigms.

A receiving today was in an email quoting the British Philosopher and Writer, Alan Watts.

“In music one does not make the end of a composition the point of the composition.

If that were so, the best conductors would be those who would play the fastest. There would be composers who would write only finales. People would go to concerts just to hear one crashing chord, because that is the end.

When dancing you don’t aim at a particular point in the room where you should arrive at. The whole point of the dancing is the dance.

But we don’t see (…) something brought by our education in our every day conduct: we thought of life by analogy with a journey with a pilgrimage which a has a serious purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end, success whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead.

But we miss the point: the whole way along it was a musical piece and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music is being played.”

So it is with paradigm shifts also? Is the end the desire? Yes, I suppose. Yet it misses much along the way. It sounds trite to say it this way.

Perhaps the more significant point of paradigm shift is learning to be in the shift. In the energy of it. So as to build capacity not only for the current shift, but for the unknown others coming. So as to know it in muscular memory and in energetic memory that can be recalled. So as to enable a deliberate participation in shift, rather than a passive enduring. And perhaps better yet, so as to enable an ability to create shift.

The Bonneville Shoreline
Tenneson Woolf

On this warm summer night
a mile along the trail
800 feet above the city lights in the valley
we choose a place to sit quietly.

It chooses us really.

The wind blows through tall, dry grass
in and around scrub oak
and stars begin to appear.

We are on the rolling feet of the Wasatch Mountains,
once the shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville.

Seventeen thousand years ago
we would have been sitting on the edge of a lake
more than 300 miles long and 135 miles wide,
home to many fish and amphibians.
Birds in marshes would have been common.
Buffalo, horses, bears, even mammoths may have roamed the shores.

Tonight this shoreline is elevated retreat from the city.
A place to welcome and receive impressions about shifting paradigms.

Seventeen thousand years ago
I imagine the lake seemed everlasting.

But things change.

I’m told that glacial melt raised the water level
just enough to exceed the elevation of the lake’s lowest exit,
spilling over Idaho’s Red Rock Pass into the Snake River drainage,

I’m told the flood may have lasted a year.
Lake Bonneville’s outlet elevation was lowered by 375 feet.

A mile along the trail.
Eight hundred feet above city lights.
Seventeen thousand years later.
Sitting on the Lake Bonneville Shoreline
now crusted and dried into an elevated lookout.

Things change.

I’m happy to share Peggy Holman’s launch of her new book. She is the kind of friend and colleague that I always feel a particular appreciation for. Though we haven’t seen each other a lot, when we do, it has the feeling for me of old, old, dear friend. Her writings have often inspired me. Her presence is a gift. Her insights and ability to bring together many ideas and make them accessible is remarkable.

I was glad to have Peggy include a story I offered of hosting experiences with CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees. It was work with friend and colleague, Cathy Remus of CUPE, and hosting colleagues, Chris Corrigan, Nancy Fritsche-Egan, and Angela Amel.

A longer version of that story is here — with a bow to Peggy for her tasteful and skillful edit to a shorter version that worked for her book.

Below is Peggy’s invitation. Check it out. And reach her directly too.

Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity is almost here… I’m excited to share the news that my book will ship from the printer on August 6th!

As it makes its way to the major online booksellers, and other retailers across the country, I’d love your support by pre-ordering the book. Pre-orders tell the online booksellers that the book is generating buzz in the marketplace and that it will have broad appeal once available.  A strong pre-order campaign also influences how many copies the online stores will order and stock.

To get that buzz going, I’m asking everyone I know to help me get the book off to a fast start!  Please consider picking up a copy of the book, perhaps even ordering a second copy as a gift for a friend.  Or forward this message on to people you think would find the book of interest so that they can pre-order a copy for themselves.

I’m thrilled with how the book turned out.  Esthetically, it is beautiful.  And based on the feedback from many of you, people find the content useful and inspiring.  I look forward to your comments.

Engaging Emergence offers principles, practices, and real-word stories for bringing compassion, creativity, and wisdom to the entire arc of change—from disruption to coherence.  For more about the contents, visit http://www.engagingemergence.com.

You can even check out the text – http://peggyholman.com/PH-WordPress/papers/engaging-emergence/engaging-emergence-table-of-contents.  For Tenneson’s story, see chapter 4, Prepare: Foster an Attitude for Engaging.  The story follows the subhead “Follow Life Energy: Trust Deeper Sources of Direction”.

To pre-order the book from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or directly from Berrett-Koehler Publishers use the links below:

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1605095214?ie=UTF8&tag=opencirclecom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1605095214

Barnes and Noble

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Engaging-Emergence/Peggy-Holman/e/9781605095219/?itm=1&USRI=Engaging+Emergence

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=9781605095219