I’ll be giving a presentation on ‘the future of money’ in a few months, and am trying to wrap my head around all the emerging disruptive tools and services that are shaking up the financial industry. I plan to do a few posts covering these areas, and hope we can have some interesting discussion about what it means and where we’re going. In the meantime, here’s a general resource of social lending platforms/marketplaces across the globe. If you’re aware of any I’ve missed, please let me know! Thanks.

Social Lending

Social Lending, or peer-to-peer lending, essentially brings individuals together to lend and borrow money directly from each other, cutting out the middle man (the bank). Borrowers are able to get low cost loans, lenders are able to get great returns while helping their fellow man, and both parties win.

1. Auxmoney

Twitter: @auxmoney
Facebook: auxmoney-GmbH
Location: Germany

2. Boober

Location: Italy

3. Cashare

Facebook: Cashare
Twitter: @cashare
Location: Switzerland

4. CommunityLend

Twitter: @communitylend
Location: Canada

5. Comunitae

Twitter: @Comunitae
Location: Spain

6. Dhanax

Location: India

7. Donjoy

Location: Korea

8. Fairplace

Location: Brazil

9. Finansowo

Facebook: Finansowo
Location: Poland

10. Fixura

Location: Finland

11. FriendsClear

Location: France

12. Funding Circle

Facebook: Funding Circle
Location: UK

13. Fyananz

Location: US

14. GreenNote

Facebook: GreenNote
Location: US

15. HypoDate

Location: Netherlands

16. iGrin

Location: Australia

17. isePankur

Facebook: isePankur
Twitter: @isepankur
Location: Estonia

18. Kokos

Twitter: @kokospl
Location: Poland

19. LendingClub

Facebook: Lending Club
Twitter: @lendingclub
Location: US

20. Lendit

Twitter: @LenditNZ
Location: New Zealand

21. Loanio

Location: US

22. LoanLand

Location: Sweden

23. lubbus

Location: Spain

24. Maneo

Twitter: @sociallendingJP
Location: Japan

25. Money Auction

Location: Korea

26. Noba

Location: Hungary

27. Peer Lending Network

Location: US

28. People Capital

Location: US

29. Popfunding

Location: Korea

30. ppdai

Location: China

31. Prosper

Facebook: Prosper Loans Marketplace
Twitter: @prosperloans
Location: US

32. Qifang

Location: China

33. Smava

Twitter: @smava
Location: Germany

34. Trundo

Location: Netherlands

35. Uppspretta

Twitter: @uppspretta
Location: Iceland

36. Vittana

Twitter: @vittana
Location: US

37. YES-secure

Facebook: YES-secure
Twitter: @YES_secure
Location: UK

38. ZimpleMoney

Location: US

39. Zopa

Twitter: @Zopa
Location: UK

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for further info on peer-to-peer lending, check out:

- www.p2p-banking.com

The cycle can be thought to begin with the “Activators,” in the lower right side of image.

For an interactive version of the graphic, click here. (Thanks to @gavinkeech for transforming my sketches into the web page). Scroll over the icons for descriptions and traits of each role to pop out. Roles also listed below.

I found this to be an interesting exercise when thinking about the impact and influence we have on the web, and how information travels. For instance, when you RT something on Twitter, you’re fulfilling a “Propagator” function, when you’re introducing people or bridging information you’re a “Connector,” when you’re developing a new theory or model or practice, you are a “Pathfinder,” and so on. It’s a different way of thinking about our relationship with information – one that puts more control in the hands of the user verses just drowning in “information overload.” It’s also an interesting way to think about who to send information to when trying to plant seeds of information and spread ideas.

Thanks to @wildcat2030 for inspiration from Friendships in Hyperconnectivity mindmap and to @gavinkeech for visual design.

This is part 5 in a 12 part series.

:: conscious awareness ::

A recent article in the New York Times, Building One Big Brain,  prompted me to write up the next skill in this 12 part series. The piece quotes Nicholas Carr’s opinions about how the Internet is reducing the “capacity for concentration and contemplation,” scattering our attention and reducing our ability to focus.

It goes on to posit that “technology is weaving humans into electronic webs that resemble big brains.” (It’s nice to see this concept going mainstream… we talked about that idea here last November in the ‘Twitter’s Intelligent, Welcome to Web 3.0” post ). The next stage in the line of thinking is that this process is part of our species evolution:

Could it be that, in some sense, the point of evolution – both the biological evolution that created an intelligent species and the technological evolution that a sufficiently intelligent species is bound to unleash – has been to create these social brains, and maybe even to weave them into a giant, loosely organized planetary brain? Kind of in the way that the point of the maturation of an organism is to create an adult organism?

The article didn’t treat the evolution of technology as something that was going to happen outside of us, such as a machine intelligence that will outpace us, as the technological singularity implies. (which may also happen, though). Rather, it suggests something more akin to a process of evolutionary development, in which interconnectivity and cooperation will indicate a move towards higher intelligence. The ideas reminded me of the work being done by John Stewart and the Evolution, Complexity and Cognition Research Group on intentional evolution. Check his Evolutionary Manifesto.

As someone who spends much of my time online, both of the premises of the article – decreased focused attention and increased potential for a distributed consciousness – do resonate. But, I do wonder if an intelligent planetary brain is going to emerge without some intention and conscious awareness on our part.

Call it Presence, the Buddhist concept of Mindfulness, or a version of meditation, but I see this increase in hyperconnectivity forcing us to adopt some type of mental practices in order to be highly functioning and effective humans. While the Web is a tool that does allow us to extend our minds, our identities, and our worldviews, it can also be a trap that sucks us in to compulsive behaviors that can be practically incapacitating. I experience it myself – trying to read every semi-interesting thing that is emailed to me, scouring Twitter for that must-read article that’s going to really matter, or chatting and ideating with friends nonstop. At some point you step back and realize you’re operating in a reactionary state most of the time, attempting the impossible task of “keeping up” with the information flow or chasing after every tangent.

Where is our practice that reminds us to reassess the situation, recontextualize, and be present and aware of our thoughts and actions?

A globally interconnected network of scattered thoughts doesn’t sound intelligent – it sounds chaotic. Both on and off the web, if we allow ourselves to be pulled around by every distracting force around us, do we really think we’re going to magically evolve? And what do we mean by evolution? Just being connected doesn’t guarantee growth. If we aspire to move up the ladder of consciousness to higher ideals like self-reflectivity, cooperation, compassion, and empathy, will it not require some intentional awareness?

We’ve seen the studies that meditation/mindfulness boosts attention span as well as mood and mental toughness. But it also makes us think a little bit about the role of the self and how that relates to the other – about what we are, why we think what we think, how our thoughts and behaviors are influenced by our minds and our environments, how to tap into deeper intuition and clarity, how to filter through the noise to get to what matters, and how to even decide what matters when our consciousness is expanded to be inclusive of the whole of humanity.

Sure, the world is fast and complex, but it seems that much of what distracts us is due to our own inability to ground ourselves and choose to turn our attention to what we truly value. The system is set up so that it’s all too easy to be on auto-pilot, going through motions without needing to be consciously aware. But we may not have that luxury for much longer. It’s interesting that was once considered an exclusively Eastern practice or a New Age fad may very well prove to be an essential skill for survival and sanity, thanks to the strain imposed by our technological advancements.

Juliet Schor: Plenitude from toddboyle on Vimeo.

I just watched a talk by economist Juliet Schor, Plenitude: Building a Post-Work Society with Resilient Community Technologies, with some interesting thoughts about where things are and where they’re going. An overview:

There are a number of drivers and trends that are shaping the direction society and business is going – global recession, jobs created offshore, labor displacing technologies, and growing environmental costs that our economy is going to have to pay (scarcities of energy, erosion of ecosystems). Duration of unemployment is rising, and we haven’t created a solution. (In order to just get employment rates to pre-crash levels, we would need about 500,000 jobs created a month for 21 MONTHS.)

She asks:

“Can we continue with a “business as usual” economy driven by fossil fuels, consumerism, and a “hands off” attitude to market outcomes, or do we need another way?”

She posits the corporate sector is not the engine for wealth creation that is needed, but rather we need to create economic structures that are mindful of both wealth AND well-being – a new economy needs to create TRUE WEALTH, that actually improves lives and avoids top-down elistist solutions.

How?

Schor says there is a trend towards “High Tech Self Providing” – a return to more “do it yourself-ism.” This is not a backward looking, back to the land luddite vision, but one in which we use high levels of knowledge and high tech methods for doing and making for ourselves. Our free hours can then be spent for self providing, leading to “green entrepreneurship,” a small scale green sector, cooperatives, self-employment, and small businesses – resulting in the release of individuals from corporations, building self-reliance and local resilience, and teaching individuals skills to enhance local community.

What industries are being highlighted as these values shift?

There’s a growing interest in: permaculture and urban agriculture, green production, self-reliance (using high levels of knowledege about natural systems to minimize human labor in the production of food and agriculture), micro-generation of energy (off the grid, small scale ways of generating electricity), DIY home building using natural low cost materials for individuals to build their own homes and structures, living without mortgages and high financial requirements for shelter, personal fabrication technology (“fab labs”) and 3D printers.

Big Picture Trend: People are de-linking from the market economy, then reengaging with the communities around them.

To watch her full talk, click here.

The points Schor covered in her talk made sense to me, and I was wondering about the deeper human values and beliefs that were underlying these trends and shifts. I was reminded of a recent slideshare presentation – Thrivability – which goes deep in identifying the qualities, values, cycles and actions of humans who yearn to not just survive, but to evolve themselves and thrive.

So we’re aware of the problem, and we know we want to thrive. But what are the working solutions that are proving that it’s possible to overcome the current structure of “the way things work?” What are the most interesting initiatives and projects that support a creative economy of change agents? What are the new business models that have a built-in mechanism to unleash human potential and create abundance? How can resources be redirected and channeled in ways that allow humans to create and grow? And how can the mindset be shifted so that the predominant beliefs are that “success” and “wealth” are defined by the health, happiness, abundance, and interconnectedness of a thriving human population?

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I asked this question the other day to the twittersphere and was pointed to Zappos, Semco, Gore-Tex, WorldBlu, Corporation2020, B Corps.

thanks for feedback @valdiskrebs @jonhusband @AnalPoet @jenshoffmann @wwjimd @zaana @b2ix @orgnet @CoCreatr

I’m in the middle of taking a course on Virtual Learning Environments (syllabus here), and reading a few chapters from Adaptive Software Development by Highsmith. It approaches the team-building and collaboration process from the perspective of complex adaptive systems theory, and contains some interesting insights in evolutionary development and creating environments where emergence can occur. I’ve created a summary of a chapter that I’d like to share, as I think it can be valuable for many of us, and specifically for the community of practitioners around the junto concept.

Collaboration is an act of shared creation or discovery. (schrage89)

As a distributed group of individuals (agents) within a network, we form a complex adaptive system.  The key to our success is in creating the environment where emergent, innovative results can occur.

Barriers to Collaboration

1. A top down Command+Control management style

This style works well for organizations that operate effectively by regarding their people as interchangeable cogs in a machine – following specific rules in a predictable environment which is structured hierarchically. An emergent, adaptive group does not exude these characteristics.

2. An over-reliance on the culture of individualism & attitude of “every man for himself”

It is a challenge to collaborate effectively, when many of our current organizational models still reward individual rather than group performance. BUT, collaboration is about mutual creation.

As we design new systems, it will be important to frame the experience in a way that values and rewards productive participation and contribution.

(This relates well to the component mentioned in yesterday’s junto post on creating an opportunity for rating/evaluating each other’s participation in dialogues…. and structured in a way that is generative and encouraging of paths to improvement, not putting people down for lack of experience or technique.)

The Essence of Great Groups

A team consists of…

… a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and [a common] approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. (J. Katzenbach & D.Smith)

Successful, innovative teams are all about the relationships and the right blend of skills – technical, business, problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal. They all work towards a common goal, but are alo committed to a deeper purpose. Through the process of building trust, each individual assumes a level of risk that is associated with assuming personal responsibility and mutual accountability.

Four types of teams and the environment in which they work best:

Traditional hierarchical: territory is familiar & predictable, requirements well-known

Breakthrough: project must develop major new innovation. environment chaotic & random, project structures become very unstable as they grow larger

Synchronized: project success dependent on shared vision and common values. effectiveness requires full commitment by all members to a sufficiently complex vision of mission and methods of group

Open: territory is turbulent & fluid, success requires an open-ended, flexible apporach. “Adaptive collaboration is tailored for technical problem-solving… What is important in this view of projects and progress is the adaptive fit between how the team is working and what it is they are working on” (op.cit. p.72)

“While a breakthrough team structure would work for a small adaptive project, my view is that open teams are the most appropriate for adaptive projects in general – for two reasons. First, adaptive development requires the ability to scale up to larger, more complex projects – and open teams can do this. Breakthrough organizations work bet with a small, collocated team. Second, a breakthrough organization is an excellent choice for creative inventions (in science, for example), but less suitable for the work of turning a creation into a complete product, such as in engineering. So, while there are exceptions to every rule, an open organization seems best for adaptive projects. Collegiality flourishes in open environments.”

Using Complexity Concepts to Improve Collaboration

In complex adaptive systems theory, the focus is on the concept of emergence. Ralph Stacy has identified five control parameters characteristic of networks that determine whether the group/organization is on the edge of chaos:

1. Rate of Information Flow

Restriction of the speed of information flow can be detrimental to a team in a rapidly changing environment. There are two fundamental kinds of interactions the team must differentiate between – shared creation and information transfer.

Shared Creation – These are meetings focused on brainstorming, problem-solving, decision-making, or reacting & evaluating (feedback). This type of process creates value through active collaboration.

Information Transfer – The purpose of these meetings is to inform. The format is reporting and presentation, and the information is not intended to be modified or updated.

2. Degree of Diversity

A diversity of technical skills and experience, cultural and racial backgrounds, personality types and temperaments, business skills and experience, all contribute to a healthy mix in the creative process. Too much diversity can create issues in creating collaborative environments and facilitating convergence in order to produce results.

3. Richness of Connectivity

This refers to both the number of connections between people in a group (“network weaving”) as well as the type of data flow (text, imagery, sound). Increasing the number of interconnected groups increases diversity of information exchanged in problem solving.

4. Level of Contained Anxiety

“Complexity theory supports the view that anxiety is a cauldron for creativity.” Innovative groups are able to strike the balance and ride the edge of chaos, existing between high tension/anxiety and stagnantion/inertia.

5. Degree of Power Differentials

While open collaboration encourages participation and empowerment, it also must find a balance between a Command-Control management style and no leadership at all.

Building Collaborative Groups

Cooperation in networked environments isn’t about learning how to use “collaboration tools,” it’s about learning how to communicate effectively and resolve interpersonal issues.

The beginnings of a conversation may start with everyone wanting to express their own opinions and be heard. As the conversation progresses, individuals make an effort to understand each others’ perspectives, reasons, assumptions, and mental models. Adaptive cycles require teams to make this transition from divergent to convergent thinking in order to form “sustainable agreement” and move forward with deliverables.

Core Values

Successful collaboration in a self-organizing team is facilitated when core values are embraced and demonstrated in daily encounters. The core values are mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual participation, and mutual commitment.

Mutual Trust

There are three components of trust:

• Honesty: telling the truth
• Safety: an ability to voice ideas an opinions without fear of ridicule or rejection
• Dependability: knowing others will accomplish the tasks assigned to them

Trust levels are always in flux, but are built up by “showing respect to others, doing what we commit ourselves to do, being honest and forthright in our dealing, and by not playing politics.” Trust is not a replacement for accountability – others must still be held accountable in order to protect against miscommunication or flawed expectations.

Mututal Respect

It’s easy to full tuned to the people in our group that think like us. The challenge is to value others for their unique contributions, despite our understanding of their area of expertise.

Mutual Participation

Every team member should have the freedom to express themselves, and the commitment of the team to understand that particular perspective. Though every member will not contribute equally, each must have the ability to contribute in key ways.

Mutual Commitment

Everyone in the group is committed to achieving the purpose and goals of the project, shares responsibility for making it happen, and owns the result.

Joint Application Development (JAD) Sessions

JADs are:

“a facilitated workshop that brings together cross-functional groups to build collaborative relationships capable of producing high-quality deliverables during the life of a project.”

These sessions are feed-forward rather than feedback, meaning they are intended to solve problems, plan later work, and make decisions. There are four key roles in a JAD session: project manager, participants, facilitator, and scribe. Project managers are responsible for group administration. Facilitators plan the session with the project manager, orchestrate interactions during the meeting, assist in preparing documentation, and expedite follow-up after the session. Participants are responsible for the contents of the agreed-upon deliverable. The scribe documents the session – gathering, organizing, and distributing the results.

Assuming roles also enhances collaboration, helps team members evaluate mission components, and allows them to experiment with different identity constructs. Role-playing is both fun and sparks creativity. Three sample roles are visionary, realist, and critic. A visionary can switch between many roles and see the big picture, a realist can break things down to their components and form plans of action, and a critic anticipates problems and risks.

Techniques for Successful JADs

Prepare

Each session must have a solid objective and an agenda following that objective, so that participants come prepared to meet the expectations. An example of a contructive JAD session is to explore and define the project’s mission. Another necessary objective is relationship-building, which is crucial for forming emergent environments. More important than any single deliverable is understanding everyone’s mental models. For instance, if the topic is about a product’s “quality,” sufficient time must be spent uncovering and analyzing each person’s view of what that word means.

Conducting the Session

This is a matter of deciding who talks when, and keeping the discussion focused.

Produce the Documents

There must be a “product” at the end of the session that can be archived and available for future reference.

Stable Change

“Collaboration is the best tool for dealing with high-change environments.”

The characteristics that enable individuals and organizations to embrace change can be defined as “resilience.” Three keys are:

1. Establish respect and trust for leaders

Unlike the emphasis positional power common in hierarchical organizations, trust and respect are the glue of an adaptive system.

2. Build strong relationships

In a self-organizing environment, strong relationships are essential for collaboration.

3. Instill confidence in technical skills

Though the tools may change, confidence in one’s capabilities will carry them through rough spots and challenges.

Summary

I really enjoyed this overview, and found that we have already come to many of these conclusions through our experimentation and intuition. I’ve been writing for months about the trust-building and relationship-building process in networked environments, and the need to dissolve illusions of the ego and become more open-hearted and open-minded. Much of the information from this chapter affirmed those ideas. I found the section about the 5 “levers” that push teams to the creative edge fascinating, and those control parameters definitely personally resonated with my experience. As we’ve discussed the two tracks for junto discussions – freeform and structured – I saw a lot of parallels between what they called feed-forward and feedback JAD sessions. The suggestion for role-playing in discussions was also aligned with our thoughts on creating roles for discussions, what we defined as host/facilitator, participants, and mapper. I’m really interested now to explore self-definition and roles in this process, and experiment with different combinations of personalities and strengths to see what kind of creativity emerges.

Hi all! In the past few months, there has been a lot of excitement and momentum building around the Junto concept, which has been great, and expanded all of our views of where it could go. I just wanted to take the time to reclarify the philosophy, definition, and components of Junto, so that we know what steps can be carried out to bring the vision closer to a reality. Thanks again for everyone’s involvement in this collective learning and building process!

junto :: philosophy

For far too long, information and knowledge have been locked inside silos, repeated across disciplinary fields, differentiated by jargon but not substance, then lost and rediscovered, repackaged, reworded, and resold, over….and over….and over.

We are at a critical point in human history, where as a globally interdependent society, we must learn how to lower these barriers, share information, collaborate, and cocreate value in new ways. The solutions to many of our problems are already out there, but it’s still not obvious how to find the information and people who have them.

The Web is a medium to make this possible, and while there are many theories about how open design, open innovation, and public knowledge sharing can work for mutual benefit, there are still only a handful of powerful examples.

How do we go from theory to practice, and amplify the power of networks?

We just have to start experimenting and see what works. A growing intentional community of thinkers, artists, designers, and change agents is gathering around the idea that we can’t do it alone, and we’re all in this together.

So let’s start playing.

junto :: what it is

Junto is an environment for open discussion, combined with a public backchannel. it’s not about being a platform – it’s more of a meme and a mindset of collaboration and cooperation. Junto was a club started by Benjamin Franklin for mutual exchange of knowledge and information and personal and business development. When I proposed the concept of Junto, it was in that spirit that the community of people who believe “we can’t do it alone” would model the behavior online of what generative dialogue and open innovation looks like.

That was the very simple initial concept.

There are many parallel initiatives that can evolve and emerge from this, one of the most immediate being an opportunity for individuals to start juntos in their local communities. Inspired by Open Space Technology and World Cafe formats, we hope to demonstrate what effective collaboration looks like, so we can all learn, empower ourselves, and then implement those techniques at our local levels to get things done.

junto :: components

livestreaming video – my initial proposal was to host a dialogue, meaning 2 people. the idea evolved to include a format for group dialogues as well, so we’re thinking there should be no more than 4-5 people in the video discussion during any one session. an additional option would allow other potential participants to be able to enter a “waiting area,” and enter the conversation when one of the other participants exits.

multiple spaces – the environment allows for unlimited discussions that could be occurring in parallel. there will be a directory available, searchable as a calendar and also by keyword, so that you are able to see what live conversations around a specific topic are in progress at the moment, as well as what conversations are upcoming.

2 types of discussion – the host/facilitator can select one of 2 types of discussion to have – freeform or structured.

• freeform format – there is no time limit, it is just open-ended; good for brainstorming, idea generation, and hashing out perspectives and clarifying an issue
• structured format – this version is constrained, and intended to actually produce some type of “product” or piece of knowledge or task or actionable step at the end; the conversation has a limit of 20 minutes, and at the end a text box must be filled in that summarizes the takeaway of the discussion. this box will have a limited amount of characters that are able to be entered, which encourages the participants to be clear, concise, and to the point.

shared document – an area for participants to co-create text documents

shared whiteboard – an area for participants to co-create drawings

concept mapping – each conversation will have a mapper who is documenting the conversation on a concept map. the reason for using a concept map instead of just a word document is that complex issues often have many interrelated components and branches, and a concept map allows for visual representation of this. each “node” of information on the concept map can contain other metadata, which can be accessed by double-clicking on it, and another box of information will pop-up. that box could contain information like keywords, links to more in-depth info around the topic, names of people associated with the topic, etc.

public backchannel – as this is intended to be a public discussion, there should be an ability for an unlimited public backchannel. there would be a textbox available for the backchannel to enter in their comments or suggestions so that they are able to contribute to this generative discussion. the participants can join the backchannel directly through the site when they click on a conversation, or they can be imported in from twitter.

conversations viewable from multiple locations – i’m not sure of the feasibility of this, but it occurred to me that it would be interesting to be able to import a junto directly onto your blog, website, or facebook page, effectively allowing you to host a conversation from your own space.

user profiles – participants can list their topic areas of interest, areas of expertise, and keywords for conversations they would like to participate in. they are also able to list what they can bring to the table in terms of an open collaboration process. meaning, they define the types of roles they feel best suited for, in order to be easily found and approached to join a discussion or project. users are able to create synapses to each other and build out their social network, as well as define the relationship to those people. the user’s network can then be viewed as a data visualization, and filtered by different criteria (keyword, role, location, etc.)

ranking participation in discussions – in addition to having a text box to fill out at the end of a discussion, users will also be able to evaluate each other on their effectiveness at engaging in collaborative, cooperative dialogue. the point of a junto is to be productive, and so behavior and participation that moves the conversation in that direction is rewarded. participants who are argumentative for the sake of arguing, disrespectful, or unable to support their arguments productively will not be ranked as highly. the public backchannel also has the ability to rank participants. these rankings will show up on the users’ profiles as a way for everyone to begin to establish a metric for evaluating each other’s expertise or value to a generative conversation.

hosting – i am looking for suggestions of what the community thinks about this.

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That’s the overview! Please share any feedback you have, and share this with developers who may be interested in helping with this project. Thanks.

[This is part 4 in a 12 part series. The topics covered so far are Pattern Recognition, Environmental Scanning, and Network Weaving.]

::Foresight::

The ability to develop foresight is a cornerstone for forward thinking individuals and change agents. I can say that on the personal level in my own life, when I did not have a clearly defined goal or vision of what I wanted or where I was going, I floundered. My ability to “see” potential opportunities or pitfalls was clouded, and I fell into a rut or holding pattern in life. Then, when those wild cards and “black swan events” did occur, I was completely blindsided and unprepared to handle them. I think this applies at the individual as well as the organizational level.

So what exactly is foresight? Here are a few definitions from the wikipedia page on Foresight (Futures Studies):

- critical thinking concerning long term development
- debate and effort to create wider participatory democracy
- shaping the future, especially by influencing public policy

These components can also be restated as follows:

- futures (forecasting, forward thinking, perspectives)
- planning (strategic analysis, priority setting
- networking (participatory, dialogic) tools and orientations

Essentially, foresight the ability to see “the long view;” to look at information from the past and present, extract the patterns and lessons, and use them to inform decision-making in order to impact the direction things go into the future. There are a range of tools for foresight, the most common being: environmental scanning, trend analysis, brainstorming, modeling, gaming, visioning, and scenario development. Scanning was already covered earlier in this series, so here is a brief overview of the others.

Trend Analysis

In order to have an idea of what the future may hold, it helps to be aware of the current driving forces underway. Though there are several ways to categorize overarching trends, a useful reminder is the acronym “STEEP” – Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, and Political. These categories can then be broken down into subcategories. (i.e. “Social” could be viewed at the levels of culture, organization, and personal). Once the trend is identified, we can look at both their causes and impacts. Also, since events and ideas do not exist in isolation, it is useful to think about the implications of trends across several or all of these areas. For instance, a rise in life expectancy might be caused by rising living standards, better medical treatments, and healthier environments. The corresponding impacts of this trend may be that a longer portion of a person’s life is spent in retirement, and so there will be an increasing demand in goods and services for the elderly, and perhaps a bigger financial strain on families to care for aging parents or grandparents.

Brainstorming

This is a favorite of mine, and I spend a portion of every day thinking of new ways to think about things. One of the features of building intelligence, some would say, is about being able to expand your context, see things through multiple lenses, and switch perspectives quickly and with fluidity. Being able to wear these different “hats” when thinking about problems is helpful for me to generate new ideas. Mapping out ideas and people also helps me to see “the big picture,” and think of new ways of combining information or aligning people. For instance, mindmapping software like Mindmeister or Compendium are useful online tools for creating a visual aid in problem solving. (paper or a whiteboard also work).

To show a personal example, I started putting together a map of my twitter connections a while back so that I could be more effective at network weaving. It made it easier for me to build bridges between people, and get exposed to interesting ideas that I could integrate and build upon. Map here.  The next major map we’re working on is a visual description of the components of the platform/environment that are necessary so Junto can exist and evolve.

Modeling

Designers and architects are familiar with the use of physical models to help people visualize future structures or products. As thinkers and philosophers envisioning our cooperative, technological future, we also create mental models to represent what this “thing” that we’re all talking about might look like. Call it fantasizing, engaging in a thought experiment, or running a simulation, we are able to think about potentials once we have constructed a model within which we can apply our theories.

Gaming

Called serious games or serious play when used in this way, gaming is a powerful way to simulate potential realities. The military uses them for training, and there are many projects going on to encourage people to take action and change the world, like Urgent Evoke. Players are able to role-play and simulate how they would respond in situations, interact with others, and create positive solutions in a group environment. The idea is to create cohesion and acceptable decisions that best serve the community. And then actually make it happen.

Visioning

From what I’ve experienced, clarifying a vision is one of the most powerful mechanisms for engaging an organization or community and getting them excited to unite. Each of the posts on this blog in some way is clarifying my own vision for the future, both my personal future and a greater future I would like to see for humanity. Creating a clear vision is a precursor to goal setting and planning, and as I see it, a key to mobilizing people. There is a nice guideline in the book Futuring that breaks down the process of “Preferred Futuring” into these eight tasks:

1. Review the organization’s common history to create a shared appreciation.
2. Identify what’s working and what’s not. Brainstorm and list “prouds” and “sorries.”
3. Identify underlying values and beliefs, and discuss which ones to keep and which to abandon.
4. Identify relevant events, developments, and trends that may have an impact on moving to a preferred future.
5. Create a preferred future vision that is clear, detailed, and commonly understood. All participants, or at least a critical mass, should feel a sense of investment or ownership in the vision.
6. Translate future visions into action goals.
7. Plan for action: Build in specific planned steps with accountabilities identified.
8. Create a structure for implementing the plan, with midcourse corrections, celebrations, and publicizing of successes.

And of course, it’s not about creating MY vision, but about creating a SHARED vision. So many of us are talking about creating a better future. But what does it look like? Have we defined it? Have we described it? Who are we within it? What does society look like? What does currency look like? What does interaction look like? I see so many people working on aspects of it, but how do we link these ideas together to create a clearer picture of this shared vision?

If we can see it, we can build it.

Scenario Development

This is where the power of the narrative comes in. Throughout human history, we are defined by the stories we tell each other and ourselves. We create meaning and understanding by the way we remember our stories, like personal cargo that we carry in our minds. When thinking about the future, whether it’s the future of society, the organization, or the self, developing a series of scenarios allows you to objectively deal with uncertainty and imagine plausible costs and benefits to various actions and their consequences. It is often suggested to create at least three scenarios when considering future events or situations involving decision-making, by identifying futures that are possible, probable, and preferable. Again from the Futuring book, here five sample scenarios are suggested:

1. A Surprise-Free Scenario: Things will continue much as they are now. They won’t become substantially better or worse.
2. An Optimistic Scenario: Things will go considerably better than in the recent past.
3. A Pessimistic Scenario: Something will go considerably worse than in the past.
4. A Disaster Scenario: Things will go terribly wrong, and our situation will be far worse than anything we have previously experienced.
5. A Transformation Scenario: Something spectacularly marvelous happens – something we never dared to expect.

So once the story has been written that describes what each of these scenarios looks like, the conversation can begin. What is the likelihood of each of these? What is the desirability? What are the correlating values of the people? What actions can be taken today to steer the ship and influence the events that will create or avoid these various scenarios?

Other elements of scenario development include forecasting and backcasting. While forecasting starts in the present and projects forward into the future, backcasting starts with a future goal or event and works it’s way back to the present. In this method, the sequence of events or steps that led to that goal are imagined and defined, so that a roadmap to that desirable future is created.

Become a Fearless Futurist

So this is a brief overview of foresight and “futures thinking.” There are many many resources to learn more about these thinking tools, and I hope your interest is piqued and you keep exploring!

Here’s a few places to start:

Foresight Education and Research Network
Acceleration Studies Foundation
World Future Society
World Future Studies Federation
Global Foresight
Future-focused blogs

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image designed by gavin keech

As the months have gone by, I’ve become more and more committed to the work I’m doing on this blog, and developing these ideas and relationships. It started as just a blog for ideas in October, and now has been my portal to the world for sharing my passion with others. Ideally, I would like to continue to do this as my career or life work. As the months have ticked by and graduation is visible on the horizon (December, woo!), I’ve begun to feel an apprehension about what’s next. I don’t want to have to “get a job” – (i.e. do work other people want me to do) – but instead continue to follow my passion and figure out a way to have a sustainable income while doing it. I’d like to think that what I do here – discussing the evolution of technology, communication, social dynamics, culture, business, and consciousness itself – is a valuable and worthy pursuit. From the constant positive feedback I receive here, it seems others would agree. So, based on these observations, and some helpful suggestions from people who advise and guide me, I have a proposal for a business model that I think could work for many of us who are committed to advancing humanity for a globally cooperative, collaborative society.

Ever since my Future is Networks post, I’ve been thinking about how we can better identify our inner strengths/skills/abilities/gifts and then share them with others. I’ve been thinking about what “value” means, and how we can exchange this information with each other that could probably be described as tacit knowledge or wisdom, and how you could quantitatively define something that is inherently opaque. (i don’t think you can, so i’m not going to bother trying anymore).

All I have discovered so far is that the most effective means towards helping people along their path of self-discovery, or helping them redefine their mission statement for their life or their business, or constructing a vision for their future, or transcending past hang-ups and fear and illusions, is all through conversation. I posted my first recorded Conversation a few weeks back, and I’ve seen a tremendous response, both in the comments section, through personal emails and communications to me, and in writeups on other people’s blogs. (i cross-posted two of them here – 6 Tips for Open Collaboration & Guidelines for Engaging in The Conversation). This leads me to believe there is value in these types of generative dialogues, in order for people to clarify their goals and intentions, establish plans and frameworks, and move forward with action.

The conversation is also about creating a vision of the future. The future I am interested in manifesting is about cooperation, and if you read the writings of people like John Hagel, Umair Haque, Seth Godin, and other progressive thinkers, it’s clear that this “Shift” is already underway in corporate culture. Those that want to stay in the game will have to choose to understand this shift and adapt their organization to it, or take responsibility for what will happen when the structure they operate within no longer fits the business environment.

My understanding of these shifting dynamics is that they really begin within, at the individual level, with the ability to shift between multiple perspectives and adopt new ways of operating and seeing the world. This shift in mindset can then be shared with others, and slowly a shared vision is formed, and a new culture can emerge. The shift to a new culture is about redefining the operating system – internal and external. So it comes down to values, morals, ethics, principles, and trust. How do we want to live? How do we want to be? By what means do we want to earn wealth? How can we be successful without being exploitative? How can we live in accordance with our physical and social environments, with Nature and with society?

These are all contents of “The Conversation.”

I’ve been thinking along these lines for a decade, and really working hard to refine my ideas more recently. I’m surrounding myself with a community of intellectuals that challenges my notions of reality, and so my own perspectives are constantly broadened. No one can predict the future or can know exactly what will happen, but I feel as qualified as the next person to discuss the kinds of values that would be necessary (or desirable) in order for a healthy global society to emerge.

In the past weeks, my time has been getting shorter and tighter, as more people want to Junto with me or skype chat or gchat or communicate in some way. I love it, and am grateful that I seem to offer people something that is beneficial. Now, how can I make this my living?

The Premise

I have an ability to speak with clarity, describe things from multiple perspectives, add in some intuition and insight, and at least make you say “huh. i never thought of it that way.” This is valuable for expanding consciousness and seeing a bigger picture, perhaps providing glimpses into opportunities that would otherwise have been invisible. So let’s talk about it.

I will reserve blocks of time every week where I will make myself available for ‘The Conversation.’ I’m thinking that 1 hour is probably a good upper limit time, as a lot of these ideas can be exhausting to work through mentally, and there needs to be time to digest and integrate them.

The only conditions: With your permission, I would like to record and post these conversations, and do a writeup about the highlights and insights I gained from them, so that others can also learn by viewing them. (This again is part of the premise of Junto – when the platform is functioning at that capacity, all conversations will be recorded, timecoded, transcribed, and summarized, so that anyone can have access to the knowledge and wisdom that is shared through conversation.)

The Payment

I charge nothing, and here’s why:

There are two things that I have to offer: time and attention. Both of those, to me, are priceless. And so any money I receive is a gift.

You donate what you feel the value of the conversation was FOR YOU. This is based on your judgement, and your means. So, if you can only afford to give $10, there is no shame in that, just as there is no pride in being about to afford $1,000.

Paying It Forward

Now, here’s the beautiful part.

Because I believe that a cooperative society involves gifting, I think a Pay It Forward system of wealth distribution is beneficial for the entire society.

So, at any given time, I will choose a person that is on the path to empowerment – people who are serious about wanting to follow their passions, have identified what resources they would need to make it happen, and are willing to take the risk of going for it, even if it results in failure. (failure, in my mind = temporary setback, learning experience, opportunity for readjustment of methods for achieving goals).

I will make the amounts of the donations I receive transparent (if the donor wishes to remain anonymous, I will respect that. otherwise I will list their name/organization). I’ll then donate a percentage of each of those contributions to my Pay It Forward Person, and continue to help them financially until they have the basic resources they need to get their business going. Kind of like Kickstarter, but peer to peer. I would then only suggest that the person I have helped would eventually do something similar for the next person, once they are stable. They don’t have to, of course, but that is how this chain of trust and resilience would grow.

For me, the people I will choose to pay forward to will have to also be interested in a business proposition that is “for the greater good.” For instance, the person I have chosen is a local friend, Dean. He is interested in developing a sustainable handmade furniture business. He has been in contact with local tree businesses, and is collecting wood that has already been felled, and is transforming it into unique pieces of art – from benches to end tables to chairs to custom pieces. He has identified a variety of tools and equipment he needs, the largest expensive being a portable sawmill that goes for nearly $12,000. We’ll work towards that, but just helping get the other basics going, as well as a website and an education on how to use the web to highlight these products will be huge. And not only do I help a friend, but I also support the local economy by helping him help himself.

Here’s a pic of a sweet endtable he made for me to show what he’s been up to. Love it!

Modify The Model

So, that’s it. In its simplicity, I think this model has tremendous flexibility to be customized. There are many, many intelligent people who are Organizational Change Agents or work on personal development or coaching who could adapt this model for themselves. A part of this also blends beautifully with the ideas we’ve been discussing about growing our trust networks. When I am unavailable to have a discussion, I can have my list of trusted allies and colleagues whom I can recommend as an alternative to myself. We’ve also been toying with the idea of multiple participants as facilitators and participants of these conversations. So far, I’ve been speaking with Bernd Nurnberger (@CoCreatr) and Michael Gusek (@mgusek555) about the possibility of this, and we’re still on the front end of exploring what this might look like. The more conversations we have, the better informed we’ll be about what each of us has to offer, and what the most productive mix of people might be to have emergent, creative, innovative dialogues.

Anyone who adopts this model can choose what their Pay It Forward part looks like. Maybe for you, it’s not an individual, but an initiative. Maybe it’s a local nonprofit. Whatever it is, is your choice, based on your values of what is important. I like the idea of empowering individuals, because I can directly see the impact. And how gratifying to know that you are doing something that has the potential to change the life of a person you care about?

The percentage you offer is also your choice. 10%? 30%? 50%? Perhaps it varies based on each donation. Or maybe for you, the idea of a donation model is too risky, and you want to have at least a baseline charge for your time and services. I get it. Then do that. But pay some forward!

This takes a leap of faith and some trust in the greater good, but I see genuine people all around me who are trying to create something better for themselves, and all they need is some resources and a support network. I offer both. I know many people who do also. I think this is one model that could quickly make significant change in the lives of people all around us, and I’d like to at least give it a shot. It’s a form of wealth redistribution that works in tandem with the “old system,” while creating opportunities for people who are ready to stop talking about what needs to change, and instead be the change they want to see.

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Image designed by the awesome Gavin Keech!

This post is another personal development experience, detailing a healing session I had yesterday with a local practitioner in my area, Eileen O’Hare. If you’d prefer to just read about technology and the future of the web, wait for my next post. If you’ve never participated in an energy healing session and are curious what it’s like, read on!

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today i went to eileen for a healing session. a lot of things have been cropping up, and it felt time to let go of some things that were no longer serving me. we started with about an hour and a half long conversation, centered around the topic of aloneness and isolation.

she asked me how i felt about being alone.

i said that i enjoy my isolation, that i need that time to think and reflect, that it makes me a better person for others when i have time to myself. though i spend much of my time behind a computer, it is not done aimlessly browsing the web. i am actively engaged in conversations all day – either on twitter, google chat, or in video discussions on skype. though i am alone in physical space, i am not lonely.

she asked if i feel alone.

i said that i have always felt different, since i can remember. not fitting in. always looking at things differently than other people, and being punished for it. often feeling misunderstood, which led to frustration, anger, loneliness, and despair. feeling that i must conform if i am to be accepted. feeling that i must apologize for who i am, or just hide that person altogether.

i said that i have found myself, reconnected. i want to be authentic all the time, be real, to live in accordance with my fundamental values, and never apologize for it. i said i am tired of feeling not worthy, tired of this lack of self-respect. i am surrounded by people who cherish my existence and the things we are able to share, and i see the highest good in all of them, but not in myself. i can’t do this Work and call for an open, globally cooperative society, and talk about the values that are necessary in that system, if i can’t embrace them myself. and it does start with the self. within. acknowledging the expansiveness and beauty of who we are, but also doing so without ego – having a love of self that is almost objective, humble, respectful, and timeless.

and once that recognition is made, and we see ourselves, we are able to see others too. others who are always around us, but we have been blind to. i see now what it means when they say you can’t love others until you love yourself. the love is not a self-indulgent arrogance, it’s a healthy respect, awe, wonder, and gratitude for our capacity to be.

she said she felt this self-isolation was strong within my lineage, on both sides. she asked what the relationship between my parents was like growing up.

i said i saw that my parents lived their lives in parallel, but were clearly on separate paths. perhaps out of fear they chose to stay together, but neither seemed happy with the other. my mother was a reiki master and practiced meditation and holistic medicine and wanted to be healthy and grow and expand. my father liked to drink after work every night, and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, and stayed out late b.s.ing with friends, and was overweight. both loved their lifestyles immensely and neither apologized for it….. but they were not able to share their ideals and values with each other. it was like they spoke two different languages. neither inherently a bad person, and neither lifestyle inherently “wrong,” but simply not harmonious or in resonance with each other.

i said that i observed these things, and they seemed quite clear to me, though maybe my parents were deluding themselves about it. each was isolated from the other, yet still essentially carrying out the lifestyle they truly wanted. but doing so alone. by choice. i said that i did not want to repeat that pattern, that it was not enough to live a life of passion, that i wanted a partner who i could share these things with. some people say your partner doesn’t have to be on a similar path as you, and it’s not fair for you to force them to. i agree. at the same time, it is our choice if that type of relationship is acceptable to us. is it ‘good enough’? is it desirable? preferable? ideal?

deconstructing things already built seems like it would be excruciatingly painful and cruel. and without patience, communication, and an open heart, i’m sure it would be. but i saw their unhappiness, and it caused me pain. i asked them to get a divorce, so they could each be happy in the life they chose to live. they were afraid. it never changed.

maybe this pattern has gone back for generations, each child watching this behavior in their home, and repeating it themselves into adulthood. i don’t want that. i want to break that chain. i want to be free to live in my truth, and for it to be transparent, not hidden. for it to be celebrated and shared. to not be ashamed of who i am and what i believe in, though my thoughts may be “fringe.”

creativity exists on the edge of chaos. i accept that. i live there. my way of thinking and living frightens those who choose a more conventional lifestyle. i understand that. i don’t want to push my “ideologies” on others. i just want to live in accordance with the values i have identified as fundamental to my well-being without compromise. if people are unable to handle this, then i will respectfully choose not to engage. but no more hiding.

she said we were ready for the healing to begin. i had identified my issue. a repeated pattern of self-imposed isolation, of feeling alone and misunderstood, even when surrounded by those that care. i could break the chain now.

I AM worthy.

she took me through a guided visualization process. she asked me to imagine myself on a deserted island, and to let her know when i had the image. i saw myself sitting on the beach, toes dug into the sand, arms wrapped around drawn up knees, looking out to sea. i said i had the image. she said she felt arms wrapped around knees drawn up – did that resonate? i said yes, exactly how i pictured it.

she said it was time to reconnect with those aspects of self that i have suppressed, to find them and welcome them back. she said to imagine diving into the water, diving deep to the bottom, where those pieces of myself were laying, waiting to be rediscovered. she said to see if there was a girl there, and what she looked like, and how old. i saw a girl around 5. tanned from the sun, barefoot, with dirt on her body and feathers in her hair. i took her hand and pulled her to the surface. we looked at each other, and she smiled, delighted. she was filled with wonder, curiosity, and mischief. a wild child. running, pointing, exploring, discovering. i got down on one knee, and we hugged. i had her back. i can embrace my childlike fascination with the world without fear or apology.

eileen told me to dive down to the bottom again, and this time look for a woman. i saw her. fierce, like an amazonian warrior. (my legs actually started to shake as i visualized it). i was in awe, terrified, enthralled. i was afraid to touch her, but finally reached my hand out and pulled her to the surface. she was beautiful, proud, hard, self-sufficient, seemingly invincible. her body was covered in symbols, her hair wild and unkempt, a knife strapped to her leg, a quiver of arrows on her back, her eyes clear and firm but kind. i put my hand on my heart and bowed to her. she did the same.

eileen asked if this woman was trying to please her mother to show her worth. i thought, yes, this was the case. she was so strong and frighteningly beautiful, but still had a hidden insecurity, that even in all of her strength and accomplishment, it was somehow still not enough in her mind. maybe this mythological me really existed at some point in time, and this pattern has repeated. but i understood what i was showing myself – that i carry an inner being that is beyond comprehension, and it does not need external approval in order to be real or worthy. we already have what we need to carve our path in life, and it is our ability to acknowledge that we are creators and manifestors. we don’t have to be afraid of this if we don’t want to be. we can embrace it and run with it. we can choose to be the change we want to see in the world. and so i reclaimed that woman, who was strong, determined, and wise.

and finally, eileen said she saw a skeleton in the water, and that i should pull it up and see what it said. (i felt myself energetically recoil at first, but i forced myself to continue). i pulled the skeleton out, and it stood before me. she asked me if it had anything to say. i just imagined it with it’s hand on its hip in a casual posture, almost comical, as if to say, “why do you fear death? that is so silly!” i laughed out loud, because suddenly, it did seem silly. it was just another version of myself, one that this body will be one day. it’s inevitable, why fight it?

she asked if there was anything else it wanted to communicate. i pictured it pointing out at the landscape, and when i looked, suddenly there were many beings there. it felt like it was saying that there are others here, waiting, watching, and it is safe to receive their wisdom, if i choose to. it indicated that perhaps i was ready to become multidimensional.

eileen asked, but how will you protect yourself when interacting on these levels? and i thought, good question! and then i saw myself in a capsule of light, emanating from the crown of my head, and showering down around me and enclosing me. she asked what color it was. at first i said white, but then i said rainbow, because it looked like the colors that are projected on a wall when sunlight hits a prism. she said ‘good.’ so i know how to make myself safe when going to these places.

it was time to integrate. i stood in a circle with my two other selves, the curious child and the fierce tribal warrior, all holding hands and making a circle. then i looked at the girl and opened my heart, and she became a wisp of smoke and entered in through my heart chakra. then i did the same with the woman. and i felt very complete. i reembraced those aspects of myself, while leaving behind the notion of not being worthy and not having self-respect. i noticed that the sense of isolation is only an illusion, one that we can choose to destroy once we are able to see it. all of my ideas are based around an interdependent society…. if that is something i *truly* believe in, then i must become interdependent. i am not alone. none of us are. we then went through an exercise to visualize that.

we returned to the original scene of me on a deserted island. she asked me to envision all the people who were kindred souls, fellow travelers on this path, and to connect with them. i thought of people i know ‘in real life,’ as well as the amazing people around the world i’ve met through my blog and the web. i imagined standing there with arms open and head tipped back, and that rainbow light extending out from my head and heart out around the world, touching all those people dear to me. (it was such a nice moment, and even if it only happened in my imagination, my heart ached with the joy of it). i felt very connected to what i’ve been referring to as my “trust network” – beacons of light around the planet.

the last part of the session was the letting go of the perceived isolation that we’ve carried for generations. she asked me to imagine myself lifted off the island and floating high above it. what did i see? it was just water in every direction, as far as the eye could see, with beautiful patterns and reflections bouncing off the ripples. she said to imagine all those people dear to me, as if they were floating there with me. then we watched as the island slowing sink beneath the surface of the water until it was as if it never existed. it meant that being alone is fine and healthy, but does not require loneliness and isolation, or a disconnection from the rest of humanity. those negative feelings are just a mental projection that do nothing to serve our highest good. then we sent the rainbow light to the water itself, the expansive waters of our consciousness, and sent it love and gratitude for providing the space for this self healing.

the session wound down from there, and i returned to the room and my body. (of course, there were many other aspects that weren’t mentioned here, but this is just a snapshot of the flavor of the experience.) it was my first time really allowing myself to be creative in such a session, and playing with my imagination as i was guided through the experience. i left feeling both grounded and elated, and felt that a great healing had taken place. and though i am so grateful to know a person like eileen, who is able to perform the work she does with such love and compassion, the real work happens with the individual. this type of “therapy” is not mainstream by any means, and can seem confusing or strange. (it did to me at first). but when i chose to let go, and just *try* to welcome a new experience, i found that i already had many of the answers i was looking for, and i was just waiting to tell myself about them.

this blog is starting to reflect different pieces of myself and these ideas, and i only share these intimacies because of the value they have provided me in contextualizing my life experience and understanding who i was, who i am, and who i aspire to be. i think we all carry a lot of pain and hurt inside of us – even if not something overtly violent or traumatic, it does seem that much of what we believe about ourselves and the world are based in reaction instead of creation. there is much healing to be done inside before we can extend ourselves out to each other and offer support. perhaps a shamanic healing ceremony is not for you, but there are many many different kinds of practitioners these days. it may be worth exploring which works for you. i’ve found for myself that it is wonderful to have friends who will lend an ear and let me talk things out that trouble me, but that healing takes place at a deeper level when i’m able to interact with someone with a higher level of intelligence and clarity of mind than myself, who can guide me to my answers by knowing how to frame the questions.

i think there is a lot of trickery in the rational mind, and the mythologies and stories we weave for ourselves don’t always make sense for our hearts. i am a big believer in the need for us to tap into that emotional/intuitive aspect of ourselves, and reconnect with a wisdom that is already there and always has been. and what does any of this have to do with technology and the web? well, i think the web is this amazing communication tool, and i’d like to see how we can use it with more intention and purpose. there is a lot of work to be done around the world, in our minds and hearts, if we are to redefine what is truly important and then lead our lives from those values. this process doesn’t have to happen alone anymore, or even laying on a couch in a sterile office. we are capable of extending ourselves out to one another via the web, connect with people who share our desire for authenticity, and help each other learn and unfold.

i think it’s a very exciting time in history, and i’m glad i can share my process with you, and i’m grateful to all of you who have chosen to engage with me too.

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Eileen O’Hare bio: Eileen O’Hare is a shamanic practitioner and teacher in the Andean Tradition; a legacy carrier in the Peruvian medicine way. Eileen is a Chakaruna – a bridge person. She helps herself and others heal by accessing wisdom, power, guidance, healing, light and love from etheric realms. She is committed to helping herself and others reach ever higher states of consciousness and is grateful to have sat with many teachers in the US and Peru. She is in the lineages of Don Manuel Quispe and Don Benito Quoriwaman. She works out of her home, The Healing House, in Beacon, NY with a private practice in NYC. Eileen travels and teaches at private homes, yoga centers and Wellness Centers. She taught families at Omega last summer. She’s recorded a CD, Love and Gratitude to the Water which she gives away in love and service. She leads sacred chanting every Sunday night. Holds meditation circles every Thursday night. And a Women’s Manifestation Group every Monday night. Her next shamanic intensive class starts this Sept. She offers QT classes as well. 845-831-5790. www.medicinespiral.com. eohare@mindspring.com

image from here

[This article is crossposted from Jorge Jaime's blog, in response to my video post a few weeks back about "The Conversation." I recorded an hour long chat on skype with Scott Lewis (@jazzmann91), broken down into 5 minute clips, in which we discussed the concept behind Junto. Namely, it is a conversation platform we are inspiring to be built around the intention of creating a respectful space where people can engage in generative dialogue and come to a place of understanding and shared meaning. Scott and I discussed what that looks like, and what kind of core values people may embrace in order to have meaningful, productive conversations that lead to positive action. In the comments section of that post, Jorge suggested someone break down the content of the discussion so that others could learn from it. I suggested he do it. He did. And here it is below! Very thorough breakdown, thank you Jorge. Original post here.]

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A week ago Venessa Miemis shared a conversation where she spoke with @jazzmann91. In that conversation they talked about how to have The Conversation and some key points that we needed to take into consideration while participating in ‘The Conversation’. I suggested that it will be good to have all of the points treated there organized into a post so that we could go back and read when we were about to participate in ‘The Conversation.’

‘The Conversation’ is a debate where people discuss ideas around a topic, problem or area and try to make an impact and change the reality of that particular theme. Here’s the post that I hope will help us create a ecosystem for collaboration and will help us develop ideas a bit further.

The Internet is the ultimate human communication tool, yet communication needs certain guidelines to be really effective. In international business the cultural differences are studied in detail in the negotiation workshops. This is because communication is key to build open and honest relationships. In fact that is one of the core values of Zappos: “Build honest & open relationships with communication”.

The power of the web could be enhanced if communication could be made easy. The web is a way to accelerate serendipity, people from around the world will gather together and collaborate, something that was impossible some years go. This on-line social gatherings could help us form tribes of people willing to make a change. Take for example the myriad of collaboration tools created to help Haiti where people from different countries gathered and made projects work in days.

We’ve given a tool that can help us drive change faster. The Internet if used with the right purpose can help people gather and work towards a shared higher purpose. But for this awesomeness to happen we need to nurture and create long term trust relationships. The guidelines in this post were conceived so collaboration could flow.

These guidelines are often thought as obvious and you’ll probably think all of these points are, but it’s good to have it written down as a reference point in case we forget them. The human mind gets distracted or carried away easily and having guidelines could help reshape the way we think and in this case collaborate.

Believe you can make a change

We often believe that our experience or capabilities are not enough to make a change. The truth is that we don’t need to be academic luminary or have super powers to make an impact in the world. What we need to do is set the example and take action. If you read the Heath brother’s last book Switch (here’s a review from Chris Brogan) you can see some examples of people that make change without political power or extra developed brains. In order to make a change we just need a couple of things, the firm believe we can make it happen and the energy to work towards it.

Build Trust

A interaction where everyone is comfortable sharing their opinions or construction a solution for a problem can’t be achieved instantly. The process of creating trust takes different amounts of time for every person and we need to be patient and interact until it’s built. When new members join our conversation we should welcome them, introduce ourselves and let her integrate at her own pace.

To create trust there needs to be a fair amount of interaction between the parties or group. This interaction will provide many social events where the parties involved can demonstrate their honesty and fairness and be granted access to further information.

Building trust means that there needs to be a shared belief in the honesty and fairness of the other party. This is why sometimes seeing each other’s faces is required. The Internet allows for this to happen and the trust building process never ends, as a minor misstep can bring down all the trust we’ve built through years of interaction.

Always have a goal

If we are gathered together we should have a clear perspective of what we want to achieve with the conversation we are having. Setting up a goal is good even if we don’t know what to achieve yet. Maybe what we are trying to do is to find out what questions to ask so that could be the goal. An example could be, “find out what points we need to figure out to fix the economic inequality” which is basically finding out set of questions on how to challenge the current free market model. That should start other conversations that will make an impact.

Never Assume

The biggest misunderstandings come from assumptions. The best practice is to ask people to clarify their point. Chances are they really meant another thing. Many of the great problems that rise withing communication are because one party assumed something about the other, instead of asking.

The main problem with assumptions is that we assume according to our background, thoughts, believes and context. Usually, and specially on the internet, comments are made in totally different backgrounds and from people with diverse experiences which mold their believes in a different way. For this not to be a problem we need to sit and try to understand every point of view and from where it comes from. Empathy is a key social skill to stop assuming and understanding that your community is very diverse.

Just ask. A simple “Can you explain me that idea in more detail?” can make a huge difference.

Never stay “Not Sure”

Many times when we have conversations we end up “not sure of what he/she said”. Never stay like that. In order to understand and enrich your experience it’s key that you get all the message as it was intended. This could help prevent future misunderstandings. When you feel you’re not sure about something just ask for the clarification of that point.

Rather than slowing the conversation this will help make it go in the right direction quicker and with out needing to go back if the misunderstandings develop more.

Create a No Judgement Zone

Sometimes even if we understand someone else’s context we may disagree or have diametrically opposite opinions on one subject. The Conversation environment needs to be 100% non judgmental. For this it’s imperative that we understand that there is a myriad of faiths, religions, philosophies and ways of living. For us to understand each other and get to the point where we can answer the questions we’ve asked we need to incorporate all the possible point of views and encourage people to share them.

In order for all the point of views to be shared we need to create a space of tolerance where no point of view will be diminished or mocked so that the person sharing feels safe to express herself.

Remember always accept there’s more point of views than ours. We should embrace the idea that there is the possibility for two views to live together without colliding. Why does it has to be one way or the other? Can it be both?

People that seem confused or to not be getting it need some patience. Remember this is a no judgement zone so don’t rush on making conclusions and rather than that try to understand the point of view and find points of agreement.

Being tolerant will lead to more openness and to a better understanding on foreign points of view.

Know yourself

Knowing ourselves, our points of view and goals in the world is key to stating where we are now and what limitations do we have in our areas of interest. Knowing what we belief in implies giving a test run to what we believe. For example, Jason Fried has a different approach to making business and he tests it within his company 37 signals. After testing it he writes about his experience and looks for feedback, he then adjusts his way of doing business according to what it works and the feedback he gets.

Knowing exactly why we do something is a key point to be prepared to accept criticism and make points clear. If we know the reasons why we do it we can give a clear explanation and set the context properly to avoid unproductive criticism of our point of view.

Part of knowing yourself is know where you stand in many of the points of the conversation. What your opinions are and how they relate to the current state of things in what you want to make an impact. Remember it’s fine to be the one that doesn’t fits in.

Be an example of what you say

If you endorse or support a way of living that you think could have an impact in changing the world and making it a better place be sure to live by what you say. It’s very common to find people that preach certain point of view but live by other. Being an example is a better way to lead as you can inspire other people, share the results and assess what is not working. Part of our contribution to the conversation needs to be our experience and for that to happen we need to experiment what we think it’s right.

Solve yourself first

When trying to help other people figure out the answer to a question or help them in the search of their higher purpose make sure you’ve solved this questions for you first. This by no means intends you to have definitive conclusions, but at leas have a clear approach to what you think and what steps are you going to follow. If you find out that some minor arrangements could be made to your plan, do them, but the core needs to be defined so you can also help others find their own path. If you’re joining the conversation to seek more information or broad your perspective make sure to enter informing people of your goals. Knowing each other’s purpose and intent is key to letting other people know how to help.

Be a guide – Help People Get there

When having a conversation we usually try to convince people to accept our proposals, goals and points of view. Instead we should try to help each person to figure out by themselves what their answer is to the question they’re asking. Whether it is their goals, objectives or purpose everyone needs to find this by themselves. What we can do is provide guidance.

Being a guide requires that we don’t try to push our point of view, but rather take into consideration the initial mindset of the other parties and put out our point of view so the others can gather from it.

Don’t give advice. Give the tools so people can figure the answers for themselves.

When solving a problem, find the bright spots

Usually when we see a problem we focus on what’s making it wrong instead of on the small isolated cases where things are working fine. These are the bright spots. For example, what’s working so well in cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai that is making them work so well compared to rest of China. The answer to that question is the rise of charter cities. Focus on the things that are working well and try to replicate them. And as the Heath brothers say on Switch, finding the origins of the problem is a waste of time because it’s information that it’s true but useless.

Challenge the status quo

As part of the conversation we need to be able to challenge what’s established in order to change it. Questioning every single process that is blocking our efforts in making a change is key to understand what new approaches we need. Questioning the set of fundamentals by which our societies are driven is also a good thing, because it’s the only way we can develop. Take Umair Haque’s Betterness Manifesto which is a call to change the fundamentals of life and economy in order to achieve the a higher goal of improving life quality. No matter what the main purpose of the conversation is we should not be afraid to question the status quo in order to succeed in making an impact.

Make a Call to action

When closing a chapter of the conversation make sure to leave a clear call to action so the participants can engage and spread what’s being said. Whether it’s a invitation for the next stage of the conversation or a specific action that they can perform in the online or offline world. The conversation will be useless if it didn’t inspire action so make sure you have a call to it that is designed so that people can go there and get feedback on what they do. Let’s make sure you get people moving. An idea that we fail to execute won’t help us make a change in the world.

When it’s time, move on

The conversation can’t last forever. When you’ve reached a point where you have found your path and can’t go any further either at finding your answer (or question) or helping others find theirs, move on.

Move on to new conversations where you can gain deeper understanding of new fields and move on to act on what you’ve been discussing. Let’s say you found your purpose in life, go and live it.

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