“Human Operating System Literacy” and “Systems Literacy” presentations – Jan 21 and 28 in Seattle

The “Tools For The Journey” set of Foundation Stones presentations will be on the last two Wednesdays in January. If you are (or will be) in the Seattle area, save the dates — 6:30 pm on Jan 21 and Jan 28, 2015. If you know people in the area, please encourage them to come.

These presentations will be videoed and made available for free here on context.org, just like the What Time Is It? videos.

Human Operating System Literacy

We begin on the 21st with a deep look at the ways our minds (including our emotions) work, so we can becoming better Planetary Era catalysts. Some of the questions we’ll explore are:

  • What are the practical consequences of our minds being pattern processors?
  • What’s the dance between your conscious and subconscious, among various parts of your brain and body, and among your various sub-personalities?
  • What is your optimal consciousness zone, how can you spend more time there and how can you help groups spend more time there?

Lots of great stuff about how we humans really work.

Systems Literacy

Then, building on the Human Operating System, on the 28th we will get to see “systems” in a whole new psychologically-grounded light as we explore the role of systems literacy in the Planetary Era.:

  • We’ll pull back the curtain of confusion and mystique around “systems” to discover that “systems thinking” is fundamentally just a consciousness of relationships.
  • We’ll explore how system models can provide a wonderful blend of the best of our visual, linguistic and kinesthetic capabilities – perhaps as important for the Planetary Era as literacy was for the Empire Era.
  • We’ll get to see “maps” and “stories” and their relationship with fresh eyes.
  • We’ll get familiar with tipping-points, time-lags, shifting constraints, strategic leverage points and other helpful tools and concepts from the world of systems.
  • We’ll explore how these tools can be applied in easy but potent ways in daily life.

I’m really looking forward to sharing these two great liberating literacies through this pair of presentations. For more on these topics, please look at Two Essential Literacies.

The event will be in Hildebrand Hall at the Plymouth Church in downtown Seattle. The church has a great lounge if you need a place to hang out between work and the event.

¿Qué hora es?

I’m delighted and grateful to announce that the “What Time Is It?” videos have been translated into Spanish! Rafa Giménez has created both subtitles and voice-over dubs for the whole series. Take a look at Vídeos de ¿Qué hora es? to see what he has made possible – and then let all of your Spanish-speaking friends know! Muchas gracias, Rafa!

Now that we’ve learned how to do it through this first translation, we are ready for more languages. If you are interested in being involved in translating to another language, to whatever degree, please contact me.

Systems Thinking In Action
Online Conference

I’ll be one of the keynote presenters in the first online Systems Thinking In Action Conference. The conference runs for five weeks – from August 5th to September 4th – with a fresh keynote presentation each week and lots of ways to engage – Plenary :: World Cafe :: Open Space :: Podcasts :: Forums. It’s being recorded so you can choose your own pace and timing from any timezone. And you can even choose your own price!

My keynote on August 19th is called New Tools for the Journey: The Human Side of Sustainability. It’s just one small piece in a rich feast of content and interaction. The other keynotes deal with topics like:

  • The habits and skills essential for 21st leadership
  • How to thrive in a hyper-connected, socially-driven world
  • Making systems visible in a complex world
  • A paradigm of plenty

Add to this all that will emerge from the World Cafes, Open Space sessions and Forums and it should be quite a five weeks. I encourage you to check it out.

PS – You can listen here to a podcast interview that Chris Clark (the conference host) did with me as a preview of my presentation.

Context Institute’s Long-term Strategy

CI exists to help birth the Planetary Era. That’s its heart-song. It sings to me each day and lifts my spirits when the work gets hard. It connects me to all the previous generations who would have loved to have had our opportunities to make a difference and to all the generations yet to come who will live with the consequences of our choices. It is a wonderful sweet longing – but how does it translate into meaningful action and how can I share it so you can hear this heart-song too?

Those questions have inspired me to create a 9-minute video about CI’s long-term strategy. I encourage you to watch it and discover how, as the pieces of the strategy are put in place, Context Institute will be able to help you and others worldwide become effective Planetary Era change agents – all for the sake of moving into a brighter future as quickly and gracefully as we can.

“What Time Is It? Part 5” is online

Just in time for Earth Day, this 16-minute video completes the main presentation by exploring how we can work with the momentum of history to move as gracefully as possible into the Planetary Era. (We still have the video of the Q&A time after the presentation to complete but this will need to wait while I attend to other tasks.)

You will find it and all the previous videos on the “What Time Is It?” Videos page.

Now that all of the videos from the main presentation are complete, I’d like to ask for your questions and reflections on the series. What thoughts have they stirred up in you? What other effects have they had on you? Do you have any “yes, but what about …” questions?

I look forward to writing an article with responses to your questions and another article with your reflections. Your comments and questions will also help me to “upgrade” the content in the transcription-based articles.

Your response, short or long, means a lot to me and really helps to move this work forward. Please send it to me via the comment form.

“What Time Is It? Part 4” video is online

This latest 18-minute video looks towards the future of the Planetary Era as well as the challenges in the remaining Empire-to-Planetary transition. It completes the arc of exploring Tribal to Empire to Planetary.

You will find it and the previous videos on the “What Time Is It?” Videos page. This page also has links to PDF versions of the slides used in each video. As always, your reflections and/or questions are welcome. You can use the comment form on the the video page.

We have two more to go: one for the last section of the presentation on “Working with the momentum of history” and one for the Q&A time after the presentation.

“What Time Is It? Part 3” video is online

The next one is up. In this 19-minute video we start to identify the key characteristics of the Planetary Era. It begins with a brief look at the changes during the Empire Era and then takes a closer look at the Empire-to-Planetary transition. We peek into the future by looking with fresh eyes at what is already happening around us.

If you haven’t yet seen the previous videos, you will find them all on the “What Time Is It?” Videos page. We’ve been getting lots of good feedback, such as:

  • “I thoroughly enjoyed this history lesson and the notion of discerning the future by looking at the previous shift in domain.”
  • “Eager to see the rest of the story unfold!”