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Glass Ceilings & The Core Group,
by Art Kleiner
"Whatever the particulars of the group it excludes, the Core Group sends a message that it's not just all right, but mandatory, to treat some people as innately worth more than others .... Over the course of time working for organizations, some people tend to internalize this attitude. They come to believe it about themselves ."

Art Kleiner, who for many years has been a behind-the-scenes pillar in the organizational learning world — for example, as the editorial director of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project — steps into the spotlight with the publication of his new book, Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege and Success. This month, The Core Group is one of Fast Company's five candidates for the next "Reader's Choice Award." To vote, click here.

Read this article (PDF) ...
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More on Spirituality in Business and Life
To read this article click here (PDF) ...

Includes:
Whispering Around the G-Word. Response to Peter Senge's article in issue no. 1, by John Shibley
"Business cannot abide a conversation about God for the same reason our culture marginalizes the Holy; we love the idea of being in charge. We're Number 1, not some deity we can't market to or manipulate."

Response to John Shibley, by Judy Brown
"I think the lack of the word [God] in organizational life is not because it is an undiscussable, but rather because it is a concept that is limiting."

To Ponder:
Theism and Nontheism, by Chögyam Trungpa
Read this article (PDF) ...
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From the
Field
Communicating with Clowns :
Innovative Research with the
Cirque du Soleil
"Managers and artists don't seem to live in the same world, so how do they create magic together?"  Read this article ...

Also:
Cirque du Soleil, a poem by Judy Brown

Authentic Breakfast:
The Most Fulfilling Meal of the Day
"From this small group of people, we all gain a great deal of strength and sense of belonging."
Read this article ...
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Shambhala
Insights
Meditation — It's Not What You Think, by Cynthia Kneen
 "The purpose is not to dwell on a particular state of mind. It is to be, in a simple and straightforward way, with the everyday beauty, boredom, tension, joy, lethargy, and speed."

Read this article ...
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News
Summer Program Updates

Register by January 20 and save C$395 (US$305) off the full program fee.

 Invitation to health care professionals: Jeffrey McIntyre and Philip Cass invite you to join them for a day of dialogue before the core program, focused around this question: What three shifts or transformations would create a healthcare system that works for everyone?

Invitation to education professionals: Micah Fierstein, who has been helping transform the organizational culture of schools and classrooms for 28 years, will host a dialogue focused on these questions: How do we support transformative change in our education systems? How do we move from rhetoric to reality?

See Community of Practice Dialogues.

Open Space Workshop
Halifax, Nova Scotia February 2-3, 2004 with Judith Richardson
Open Space Technology is an innovative and deceptively simple approach that has helped large organizations and small groups in over 80 countries become more engaged, inspired, and productive. This two-day experiential workshop is for leaders, change agents, and facilitators who want to learn how to plan and lead their own open space session. Judi's clients have ranged from leaders in Fortune 500 companies to health professionals in every field, educational professionals, and general audiences who aspire to develop their own capacity for leadership and success. Judi was nominated for International Coach of the Year in 2003 and works with organizations across North America, Europe, and Russia. To find out more and to register click here.

Certificate Program in Authentic Leadership
at Naropa University
This 15-week program encourages deep, personal learning, fast assimilation of conceptual models, and practical application in the workplace while enabling participation from anywhere in the world. It consists of 15 weeks of internet-based instruction, two five-day on-site seminars held in Boulder, Colorado, on-line interaction with instructors and colleagues, action-learning projects in the workplace, and individual coaching with experienced professionals. Faculty includes Fred Kofman, Susan Skjei, and Barbara Lawton. Online component begins January 12. For more information, see here. Note that the Naropa University is organizationally separate from the Shambhala Institute, while being similarly rooted in the principles and practices of the Shambhala tradition.

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Management Circa 2004 Made Easy
A New Year's Greeting from Art Kleiner
Conventional management:
Make them scared enough,
and they'll do what we want.

Performance management:
Make the numbers scary enough,
and they'll do what we want.

Balanced scorecard:
Not just THOSE numbers,
but ALL the numbers

Materialism (early industrial era):
Give them running water,
and they'll do what we want.

Materialism (early 1960s America):
Give them a coffee percolator,
and they'll do what we want.

Materialism (late 1990s America):
Give them a seventeen-room house,
a suite for the au pair,
a first-class travel budget,
four cars,
five incompatible consumer-electronic systems,
a bonus based on the stock price,
and a cappucino machine,
and they'll do what we want.

Materialism (1999-era Silicon Valley):
Make them think we're about to go public,
and give them all the cappucino they can drink,
and they'll do what we want.
Materialism (post-2001 America):
Well, so much for the stock price.
How about a Starbucks gift certificate?

Knowledge management:
Give them a web page,
and they'll do what we want.

Servant leadership:
Do what they want,
and they'll do what we want.

Diversity management:
Let them think we're doing what they want,
but keep them out of the executive suite.

Supply chain management:
Squeeze them hard,
and they'll do what we want.

Complexity theory:
They're already doing what we want.

...and then there's Core Group theory...:
They're already doing what they THINK we want;
so be careful what we wish for.

Holiday cheer management theory
Whatever we wish for,
I hope we all get it.
May you have a great 2004.

January 2004, No. 2
. Visit the new Fieldnotes blog .

Summer Program Update

Register by January 20 and save C$395 (US$305) off the full program fee.

God and Meditation

[Roshi:] “Tell me, what about your Zen? What are you doing?”

[Johnston:] “I’m doing what you, I suppose, would call ‘gedo’ Zen.”

“Very good! Very good! Many Christians do that. But what precisely do you mean by ‘gedo Zen’?”

“I mean that I am sitting silently in the presence of God without words or thoughts or images or ideas.”

“Your God is everywhere?”

“Yes.”

“And you are wrapped around in God?”

“Yes.”

“And you experience this?”

“Yes.”

“Very good! Very good! Just continue this way. Just keep on. And eventually you will find that God will disappear and only Johnston San will remain.”

This remark shocked me…. I said with a smile, “God will not disappear. But Johnston might well disappear and only God will be left.”

“Yes, yes,” he answered smilingly. “It’s the same thing. That is what I mean.”

—William Johnston, Christian Zen (Harper & Row, 1971)

 Letters

"This looks tremendous. What a great way to refresh the things we learned at the institute, and to continue with the inspiration it offered." —Bill Boyle (Michigan, USA) "

I really appreciate receiving this thoughtful moment during my busy day." —Yvon Bastien (Ontario, Canada)

"I love Fileldnotes. The short, sweet, yet rich and thought-provoking articles leave you wanting more. " —Frances Baldwin (Georgia, USA)

"Fieldnotes is fantastic. It is put together so well and inspiring from beginning to end. Well done." —Alan Sloan (Nova Scotia, Canada)

"At first glance, your newsletter is stunning. At second glance, I was delighted to start reading Peter Senge's article. Thanks, this is great, and very needed." —Marilyn Paul (Massachussets, USA)

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Why Fieldnotes? This newsletter arose from the inspiration to make visible what is now invisible — the rich field of connection, dialogue, and activity that is arising around the Institute's Authentic Leadership programs. This field now extends far beyond the programs themselves, in both time and place. This newsletter also provides a forum for people who are pioneering the emerging field of what could be called "authentic" or "transformative" leadership.

We'd like to hear from you. The editorial team invites your feedback, letters, and submissions. We are especially interested to hear how you have been applying your learning and insights in your own field of work. The submission deadline for each issue is the 15th of the previous month. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and space. Please include your daytime contact information. We look forward to hearing from you.

Editorial Team: Susan Szpakowski, Lyn Hartley, Masud Sheikh, Dinah Wakeford & Barbara Zielinski. Welcome Masud!

Appreciations. Many thanks to our volunteer editors, and to Barbara Bash for her beautiful masthead calligraphy. Thanks also to web designer Bernardine Wood for her cheerful and thorough work, and to Barbara Zielinski for ongoing assistance with e-mailings and everything else. Fieldnotes is a publication of the Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is published September through May, at the beginning of each month. The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the Shambhala Institute.