These videos were taken in May. They show some of Harrison Owen’s latest thinking about the phenomenon that started with him, or through him, after he dreamed up a simple way for groups to meet called “Open Space Technology“. Harrison Owen likes to tell the story of how this happened after two martinis. More important was that he’d put on a conference with a full year of planning, and the feedback he received were that the best part were the coffee breaks.

The intriguing part of this new thinking is how it related to death and dying. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is famous for showing us how people faced with their own mortality as in an incurable disease, tend to go through several phases in the transition before acceptance. The powerful recognition Harrison Owen has made is that the reason Open Space Technology is so powerful is that it rides the space between denial and acceptance. Change work for organizations is a lot like grief work.

Harrison Owen – Talk I – Leadership in a Self-Organizing World from Harold Shinsato on Vimeo.

Harrison Owen – Talk II – Leadership in a Self-Organizing World from Harold Shinsato on Vimeo.

Harrison Owen – Talk III – Leadership in a Self-Organizing World from Harold Shinsato on Vimeo.