Resources

Learning a new language often involves as much forgetting or letting go as it does memorizing new words and creating new patterns of speech. On a recent trip to Mexico, I had a chance to renew my Spanish language studies. As I did, I noticed how my mid-life brain struggled to remember and retrieve unfamiliar words, and the surprising things it would do to meet the new demands. As a practitioner of human systems dynamics, I pondered what this experience could teach me about the role of difference in pattern formation. This blog explores some of my reflection.

We swim in a sea of noise. Images, words, sounds, and stories bombard us. Marketing tries to seduce us on city busses, bill boards, and buildings. News jumps from the black and white local newspapers. The 24-hour, almost unlimited, channels bring us news, shopping, stories, sports, and everything in between. Music, news, and talk radio keep us company wherever we go.

Human systems dynamics (HSD) prepares you to thrive in an uncertain future. When you see, understand, and influence complex, wicked issues, nothing is intractable. Join us for a new opportunity we will offer, starting soon and extending through the spring/summer of 2019. Are you interested in becoming a certified HSD Professional, but you cannot commit to the face-to-face portion of the program? If so, we invite you to join us in an all-virtual Human Systems Dynamics (HSD) Professional Certification program.

My 65th birthday isn’t the only reason I’m thinking about end of life. I’m hearing stories of death and dying from many people: Family, friends, friends of family, and families of friends. We also mark the passing of a generation that lived with the Holocaust, WWII, and the birth of TV and rock and roll. We experience the ultimate outcomes of the opioid industry, big oil, and the gun lobby, either in person or through the media. It would seem that death is all around us.

Today you need a planning process that is agile and responsive. It has to account for the challenges of complexity and uncertainty you and your organization face.

When my younger daughter was about 8 or 9, I remember watching her play with her friends in the park across the street. Her whole focus was on getting everyone involved in whatever game the group was playing, pointing out where they could get into the action, assigning roles, encouraging those who were more shy, and backing up those who were less confident.

What can we say to future generations about the patterns of generativity, equity, and inclusion we seek today? How would we speak with them about who we are together? How will we help them understand the power of the work we recognize as we stand in the world at the end of 2018? Recently I received this powerful essay from one of our HSD Professional Associates. She wrote it to share with colleagues in an organization-wide equity and diversity event, and then was generous enough to share it with us. I asked permission and she has, again, graciously granted permission for me to share it here, in its entirety. With deep gratitude to her, I offer this for your reading. –Royce Holladay