An opportunity like no other – the Great March for Climate Action
In March 2014 the giant Great March for Climate Action will begin its 8 month cross-country activist trek. I believe it has …
Transforming Occupy’s challenge into transformation and innovative self-organization
Two weeks ago I had an intense conversation with a colleague working with a local Occupy community. A small faction had recently done a protest that – although physically nonviolent – was not verbally, spiritually, or strategically nonviolent. The…
A big breakthrough for all group process folks…
For almost 5 years I’ve been involved with envisioning and creating a “pattern language” for group process. (A pattern language is a set of design factors to guide people in creating things that are wholesome and life-giving – vibrant communities,…
Occupy Wall Street: What is involved in making a new world?
My sleep was cut short last night by waking up worried at 3:30 a.m. PST about NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s ultimatum that the Occupy Wall Street protesters leave Zuccotti Park – aka Liberty Square – at 7 a.m. EST so the park could be cleaned. I won’t sha…
Occupy Wall Street’s brand new bumpy road – Order, chaos and a new world
Below is a slightly edited excerpt from an email written by a group facilitator participating in one of the urban Occupy actions (name withheld at their request). Their note reveals an emerging difficulty that could undermine the ability of such a…
“Consistent Contributors” catalyze group cooperation
Below are excerpts from “Consistent Contributors: Putting the team first helps solve the ‘cooperation problem'” http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4257 BASED ON THE RESEARCH OF MARK WEBER AND J. KEITH MURNIGHAN All groups need cooperation to surv…
Strategic synergy between individual and collective
I just got off a conference call workshop in which the facilitator repeatedly maintained that “it all starts with the individual”, in the sense that an individual has to do their own developmental and “get your life together” work in order to be i…