Video

The Future of Western Civilization

PeggyHolman

Now isn’t the future of our civilization a big topic!  I did an interview on February 29th with Nicholas Beecroft.  He’s been pursuing this subject by talking to a variety of people.

The questions Nicholas asked were so big that I found myself looking for simple, practical answers.

Check out my responses to:

  • How can we boost our cultural direction and self-confidence?
  • What’s your highest vision for Western Civilisation?
  • What’s the new, emerging civilisation?
  • Whats great about the current Western Civilisation which we should preserve and cherish?
  • How can we ignite a self-propagating group process to transform Western Civilisation for the better?
  • How can we evolve democracy to be deeper and more effective?
  • How can we integrate the dark, shadow side of our history so as to unlock our power and potential? Do we or anyone need to have a strategy in the traditional sense?
  • How do we best support collective intelligence, group change processes and emergence to get the best outcome?
  • How can we reorganise our large government bureaucracies for health, education, welfare etc to fully liberate the human spirit of the staff and community and to embed a learning, evolutionary system to harness global intelligence?
  • How do we create new fields of consciousness – our energetic potential into which the future will emerge- create the field of alignment and remove the obstacles and provide the support structures and allow the self-organisation to occur?

If you prefer, here’s an MP3 for download

To see a list of Nicholas’ other interviews, take a look:

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The Real-time Debut of Engaging Emergence

PeggyHolman

I did a session on my new book, Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity at the Organization Development World Summit.  I am delighted that Richárd Nagy-Hegyi, creative director of HR Cafe was there to record it:

Richárd described his vision for HR Cafe:
To make it a place, like you’d put together TED + Wikipedia (with the Wikipedia community) + World Cafe.

If you are inspired to help that vision come true, register to watch the video there and offer your comments.  You can also get the handouts at the site.  (If Hungarian isn’t your native language, just click on the appropriate flag in the upper right of the page.)

This was my first chance to get a public response to the content from people who don’t know me.  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous when I started and thrilled by the time I was done.

The session affirmed a pattern to the responses I’m getting.  From those familiar with ideas like order arising from chaos, welcoming disturbance, differentiation and integration, they say that I have taken what they know and framed it with greater coherence so that it becomes easier to act on the ideas and to share them with others.

For those who are new to the concepts, I have been thrilled and humbled by the strength of their reaction.  Several have told me the ideas are life changing, using phrases like:

“Little did I know that the book would have such a powerful impact on me…”

and

“It challenged what I thought I knew about change, about leadership, and about group dynamics. I very much appreciated those challenges, as I felt they opened not only my eyes, but also my heart, in new ways so that I will forever see disruption in a new way.”

So, watch the video or read the book, and let me know your response!

One last exciting note – The book has been at #1 in “Hot New Releases in Organizational Change” on Amazon.com since announced:

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An Interview on Open Space Technology

PeggyHolman

I had the privilege today of being part of a fun experiment. The organizers of the Organization Development World Summit, Budapest, August 22-26, hosted an interview and online chat with me today.

Here’s the 20 minute interview.

The chat was quite an experience!  People posted questions online and my little fingers were humming along on the keyboard typing answers.  There were a lot more of them than there was of me!

I was struck by the questions.  Some were basic, some complex.  All challenging to answer in such a brief format.  Here’s a sample: Continue reading “An Interview on Open Space Technology” →

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Orca Up Close

PeggyHolman

My husband and I just got back from a trip around the Olympic Peninsula.  A high point was whale watching out of Port Townsend on July 21st.  We got a gift from an Orca, who came over to check us out.  The whale swam right up to the boat and I had a video camera running.

We’d been watching the whales for about 10 minutes and one seemed to be moving towards us.  Some instinct caused me to move from still camera on my iPhone, where I kept getting the “after glow” of a whale’s fin, to video mode.

Just as I made the change, the Orca surfaced.   Like my previous still attempts, I caught a fin in the opening moments of the video.   Ah, the magic of video!  I left the camera running and am I glad I did.  About 16 seconds in, the Orca surfaced, and swam right up to the boat.  Unlike the whale that crashed into the sail boat in South Africa on the same day (!?), this whale swam parallel to the boat.  What a gift!

I continue sending my thanks to the whale for coming over to say hello.

PS Express led the half-day tour we took.  If you’re ever in Port Townsend, it’s worth the trip.

Oh yes, the video:

You can also view it directly on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJIkRVJZnmE

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