Sitting Around the U-Shaped Table, Facing the Easels

Have you been there? Captive, subject to the whims of some facilitator? Well, I was there for two days this week, 100 miles south of here, helping an organization as a Board member. It is only fair, since I am often the easel jockey, the E.J., the moderator who has to keep it lively and on track.

This facilitator and her framework within which we worked were pretty good. We took a 30,000 foot view, which is refreshing, just getting down the generalities for the next three years. Previous encounters with the future, in my experience, have gotten bogged down with the minutia of tactics and objectives, and the dominance of the dollar as the important measure of success.

The CEO wanted to keep it this way. He had been reading some books, and used the term, "punctuated equilibrium", to describe how things are going to change in the future, most likely in ways that we cannot foretell, so let's not waste our time on predicting these shifts; let's just be ready for shifts. (I note that the term was initially used in evolutionary theory to say things stay the same for long periods of time, then all heck breaks loose and new species are formed, etc.)
A good working quote was "Change favors the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur)

Anyhow, I had a "the world is flat" (Thomas Friedman, and lots of people before 1492) ) epiphany of sorts as I was reading the label on my apple juice bottle and read where the juice within "contains concentrates from Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, Turkey, Brazil, China, and the US." This was apparently the United Nations of apple juice in front of me. I pondered how the Tropicana people could cost-effectively round up these apples from so many nations.

But then the smell of the markers brought me back into the discussion. These were the old-school, really smelly markers that, whenever uncapped, filled the room with a fairly horrid, chemical smell that begged the question, "Has the FDA tested these things for toxicity yet?" And then, "Since markers are neither food nor drugs, do they slip through the bureaucratic crack, and no one tests them?" In our office and when we are movin' markers, we use those fruity flavored ones. Probably just as toxic, merely hidden by the artificial strawberry or banana essence.

They put us up at the hotel in this conference center, and shuttled us off to a fine dinner at a place called Brio in the nearby upscale mall. I sat at a table of men, which struck all of us as odd once people had settled into seats, and then there was some peer pressure at the table to order the beef, which we all did except for one, who was harassed for the superficially unmanly nature of the penne in front of him. Then lots of harrumphing and asking the whereabouts of the brandy snifters and the cigars.

Actually, I did learn of one pretty cool thing while seated and carving my beef at the testos-table. There is this organization that has this website called kiva.org. It is an international micro finance organization that draws its capital from people like you and me, then channels the money to partners around the globe that perform due diligence and lend the money to small entrepreneurs who may need, for example, another $500 in inventory to make a go for their general store in Tanzania. The donor is in fact lending the money out through the intermediaries to the micro entrepreneurs, and reports are provided on the website or through email on the progress of the borrower and of the loan. The default rate looks surprisingly low, and the lenders can get in for as little as $25 through paypal. Check out the web site and you can get a feel for the types of businesses, borrowers, and needs that are out there all over the world. Seems like a pretty cool place to park some money to do some good.

The hotel room was your basic nicely done, sort of business oriented, room. The place had fallen for that latest fad that has befallen hoteliers everywhere: an incredible mound of tastefully arranged pillows where, ten years ago, just two pillows would be gracing the head of the bed. Now the guest has to toss a half-dozen of the things onto nearby chairs or the floor before settling in. I am not sure what the plethora of pillowage gets us, and I would have preferred a mint or chocolate up there. Depending on the tasteful arrangement, my son sometimes refers to this phenomenon as "bowling for pillows", as they are often arranged like ten pins up there.

The food was good and too plentiful. The conversation around the table was pretty much on track and to the point. One funny dimension that emerged was that it was decided on Day One that the day was brought to us by the letter, V, and that we were to use as many words as would fit the context beginning with that letter. I think I got in a "vicarious" and tried once for a "don't be so vituperative". Then one wag, toward the end of the day, said Day Two would be brought to us by "W". The facilitator was clever enough to start us out with a briefing that was just filled with W-words. "Okay, today we want to know not just the who, when and where, but the why..." The ploy worked, I think, and we tired of the silly word game, and got back on track after a while.

We finished our agenda an entire hour early on Day Two, which got us on the road before rush hour, just as soon as we filled out the inevitable evaluation form. It also let the planned (or prepared-for, or not) future begin just that much sooner. As always, it begins now.