Missing Persons?

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Missing Persons?

(L-R from top)                                                                                                                  Sue Abbotson, Donata Caira, Louis Parsons,  Mike Brennan, Tim Malnick, Ian Young.

Not really - these guys were among those who were fully present when we met at The School of Life. The 'missing persons' charge was aimed at the inhabitants of meusHQ who had been somewhat conspicuous by their recent absence.

It's true, we have been a little low profile but we were able to show all the infrastructure we have been building; accountancy systems, social media, website, CRM system.... All carefully constructed so that we can develop our support for practitioners wanting to get the work that they love out into the public domain.

And the conversation soon switched into enquiry mode as we began to explore the ways of bringing our work to the world.  One of our colleagues noted that, "The intention between love and money was palpable, and I enjoyed meeting a lot of people coming from such a developed perspective."

So how might you join in this growing conversation?  

Sign up for our newsletter. Book on a course. Commission some work. Co-create and deliver an offer with us. Volunteer to support our work.... Any other ideas?

Peter Koenig Workshop (Update)

Posted by Ian Young  Follow me on Twitter

Peter Koenig

It’s pretty dramatic being alive just now. With the convergence of crises happening in our economic and financial systems, in business with people losing their jobs, in society with riots in our streets, in the environment with hurricanes threatening New York… there seems to be no easy prescription available.  Trends analysts and forecasters say that these conditions will pertain for at least the next 12 years, so we cannot adopt a holding strategy and simply “sit things out” until conditions return to normal. It seems that there is no “normal” to go back to.

These issues in the global field affect our lives more personally. Many of us are facing complex situations that are making different and deeper demands on us and on our resources than before. How do we speak to our needs at such a time? How do we address the deeper issues of personal and collective consciousness?

With this in mind, meus is holding a very different kind of enquiry into “money and you in turbulent times” as a special response to the convergence of crises in our lives right now.  We are taking the opportunity of working with Peter Koenig, who many of you might know from our Money Seminar and Source series of workshops.

Peter describes below what will be different about this open enquiry:

“This enquiry will be an open flow ‘drop in / drop out’ process where you can come for some (or all) of the time using the so-called Law of Two Feet. We will hold space in London from 0930 – 1730 each day from 10th – 12th September and you are free to come and go as you feel.

For anyone who wishes to join, there is a possibility (but not an obligation) to make a financial contribution. As a research process it's intended to evaluate current/future needs and consider direct responses to them – to develop a pool of shared information from which everyone can draw and good "products" can be formed.

A central focus of this open flow enquiry is not so much money as YOU - How do you position yourself, your family and your life for now, the present and future? The process of the Money Seminars and Source, developed to help people materialise their incarnate purpose without (financial) compromise will be available, but not necessarily a central component.

No registration is needed, you can simply turn up.  

The locations where we will be are:

·     September 10th and 11th:  Regents College, London

·     September 12th:  The Jamyang Rooms, London

If you are free and would like to come along, we’d be delighted to see you there. You're encouraged to come with your own pre-reflected objective, personal enquiry or question - chances are this will yield the most interesting and effective results - but there's also no obligation around this.

Photo-Dialogue

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Steve Marshall : Self-portrait

Vision.  It's a visual thing.

When I first started reseaching imagery for our 'photo-dialogue' process I used to claim that we lived in a visual world; Flickr had 3 billion images and YouTube received 5 billion views per month.  Today those numbers are beginning to look trivial.  YouTube exceeds 10 billion views per month in the U.S. alone. Flickr, now one of many photo hosting sites passed 5 billion in 2010 and users continue to upload over a billion images per year.

We are becoming increasingly visually literate as our world is filled with visual media. TV, internet, streaming video and 'play-it-later' technologies all provide compelling messages (and lots of 'noise') which dominate our communication.  Against such a dynamic, constantly changing background, the static text of a corporate ‘vision statement' languishing in a filing cabinet while people go uninterrupted about their daily work becomes a stark reality

Language has long been a poor tool for encompassing the fast-moving complexity and subtlety of modern organisations. Procedures are out of date before they have been published and written descriptions cannot offer sufficient clarity. 

Shifting from language to visual has clear advantages; Gartner Group analyst Lou Latham says 'Organisations who can add visual interaction to their communication have better comprehension, a higher level of trust, and more accountability among their employees'. Many leaders now know that ‘vision’ requires more than a tired verbal mantra. Visual literacy begins with developing a personal vision and then enables others to build and share their own visions. So, what are the benefits of bringing visual 'technologies' to the 'vision' conversation?

• Images cut through linguistic barriers and jargon
• Images can be easily disseminated and reproduced
• Interaction and creativity increase as typically 'quiet' participants find their voice
• Imagery is fun and offers deep insight 
• Images can leave a long and lasting impression
• Images support the potential to easily develop significant dialogue and meaningful organisational change 

The simple notion that a picture tells a thousand words opens up new vistas as we address the increasing complexity of modern organisations - especially when we begin to engage people in envisioning their future.

It's time to illuminate creative, visual, conversations.

Steve Marshall is a founding partner and director of meus. His cutting edge work combines photography, art, and enquiry as a spur for dialogue, innovation and change. 

Presence at Work

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Tim Malnick

Tim Malnick was a founder member of our community in the days of the early conversations at Hawkwood when meus was stumbling into life.  Since then, Tim has regularly offered his thoughtful, guiding influence to the team and we are now delighted to collaborate with him on his workshop series, Presence at Work.

Beginning in September, Presence at Work is designed as a series of one-day taster workshops which are gateways into deeper explorations.  The workshops can be booked singly, in combinations, or as a whole series.  

Since companies like Google and sports stars like Jonny Wilkinson have become known for using meditation in their work, the potential of the practice has been brought back into the public arena.  Building on the foundation of awareness and mindfulness within the context of work, Tim will explore issues such as the paradox of ambition, the roots of stress and burnout, leadership and presence, and the nature of ethical decision making.

Each workshop includes teaching input using both ancient and contemporary frameworks, personal reflection, experiential exercises and  group dialogue to deepen your thinking.  For more details and a booking form, please see our events page on this blog or visit our website.

Diary Dates:

Workshop 1: 13 September - London

Workshop 2: 14 October - London

Workshop 3: 21 November - London

Workshop 4: 20 January - London

Workshop 5: 21 February - London

Tim Malnick is a founding associate of meus. He is a faculty member at Ashridge Business School, co-director of their MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility and a member of the Ashridge Centre for Action Research. He is also a visiting professor at Rotterdam Erasmus Business School.

Love and Social Hierarchy

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Many thanks to friend and colleague Veronica Scheubel for sending us this video (16:52) of Alain de Botton describing a 'kinder, gentler philosophy of success.'

Alain talks about the contradictions and paradoxes that surround ideas like love, meritocracy, snobbery, self-esteem, equality and envy.  We are told that, in a world that supports the spirit of equality, anyone can rise to the top yet those who fail to make the grade are seen as 'losers'. He asks us to be less judgemental of each other, noting the frequently random, haphazard nature of success or failure. 

De Botton reminds us that we can't have it all and that we need to recognise areas where we cannot succeed. Critically, he claims is that we should make sure that our ideas of success are our own, rather than criteria that are 'sucked in' from parents, media and materialist society.