Important Work that Needs to be Done Well

Also published on Art of Hosting Beyond the Basics
I am packing my bag and traveling to Ohio from NYC with my friend Allen for Beyond the Basics because it’s irresistible. When I heard that my friends were doing this series of trainings I said yes immediately and to the first one in Ohio.

The bottom line is that these four co-hosts are worldly practitioners and friends who have figured out how to get in the same room and learn and be of service together. Their field of strategic, conscious learning and connection is an invitation to join in the conversation because there’s important work that needs to be done well.
After signing up on Eventbrite and booking my flight I finally took a look at the invitation and web page, which is alive and generous. Among all of the many gems, the question that intrigues me most introduces the concept of friendship as a critical strategic pillar for societal transformation. These are the folks to ask and offer some signs of what is emerging here.
This question also creates an opening for something that has been bumping around in my head regarding our ‘ask for what you need and offer what you can.’ In my hosting experience, this simple invitation to practice a way of being in conversations and work together has, possibly, been the single most generative… intervention or transition point from old school facilitation and strategy processes to participatory, engaged communities. And lately, it has not felt like enough as it is and I think this has something to do with our growth as a community that learns from one another.
Lately, I have wanted to say ‘ask for what you need, offer what you can and k/notice who you are talking to.’  There is something about connecting this invitation to host yourself to include seeing, hearing and sensing the other. There is something about the self practice being continuously linked to the group that feels like what is needed now. It’s possible because we have evolved a little bit and are pretty good at making friends.
Looking forward to thinking and learning together with all of you and your edgy inquiries…