Inspiration from Richard Wolff, in an interview with Marianne Willamson

Marianne Williamson interviews Prof. Richard Wolff, and it was brilliant.

I am liking the thinking of Prof. Richard Wolff a lot, and the cooperative concept has potential, however, what does not work for me is the democratic one person one vote, which includes a veto right.

The crucial improvement of Consent Management (Sociocracy), is that it focuses on making decisions only based on the absence of reasoned objections, thereby preventing stalemates and creating a true learning organization.

Once you understand that, the only challenge is to structure your company correctly to ensure that the right people are always included in decision processes at every level.

Like Wolff, I hate the labels, for they prevent intelligent conversation. This is one reason I did not like Endenburg's term sociocracy. The principle is very clear however, and it is clearly the better answer to what Wolff proposes, for the cooperative concept has always been stymied by decision stalemates, just as much as the consensus style decision making is. It was Endenburg's brilliant contribution to define consent as "the absence of reasoned objections."

Consent Management Blog © 2021 by Rogier Fentener van Vlissingen is licensed under CC BY 4.0

State of Grace Document

The State of Grace Document is truly an inspired idea.

I have recently gotten to know Maureen McCarthy, who developed this idea originally with her partner Zelle Nelson. Their joint website www.maureenandzelle.com is also a pleasure to study, as there they bring together lots of themes from their work in management consulting and personal development, including their practice of Byron Katie's "The Work," which is a powerful tool to help people to learn that the only thing they can change about a situation is themselves, so that progress is possible only if we are willing to entrust ourselves to the possibility of change.

The consent practice based on Gerard Endenburg's Sociocracy, which I've always preferred to call Consent Management, provides an organizational platform for enabling dynamic change, which has been proven over the years to release a very powerful force in creating true self-learning and self-organizing organizations. The system seems to be slowly catching on in the US, but it has proven its value in many organizations in Holland, as well as internationally in many countries.

Soon, on October 9th & 10th, they will be hosting a seminar on this methodology by John Buck, who wrote the book about it - Beyond Democracy - Of course John Buck calls it something else again, Dynamic Governance, or Dynamic Self-Governance. So, if you're in the Asheville, NC area around that time, it may be worth your while signing up for that workshop.

Back to the State of Grace document, I can only say that I took to the idea immediately and I'm now looking to bring it into all my major business relationships. I am simply tired of the whole notion of all the normal misunderstandings which wreck perfectly good relationships over time, when there is a way to invest more in the quality of the relationship up front, and provide a mechanism to overcome all the bumps in the road, which you will encounter. And, what's more I'm beginning to think that if you encounter resistance on this point, it might be better not to entertain the relationship at all. Life is too short for lousy relationships!



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