To see the artisal, we need to develop an awareness of the micro cultures that provide a personal and social context for the artisan. Here in the US, The Woodwrights Shop has served as a guide to people who love to work with wood. https://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/. Roy Underhill has been the host and artisan for 38 seasons. How many people, I wonder, started shaping wood, and then took it to a richer depth of speciality as they learn the disciplines of being an artisan. We need examples and mentors. Richard, I really like where you are taking us. Thanks.
Thanks Ed. It’s an interesting line in inquiry. What does an artisan in the digital age look like? What are their materials? What are their tools? Much to go at.
Maybe part of the answer to your question is to push back against the digital and reclaim the analog of the physical world. I saw this in an interaction that I had with a guy on my book tour in 2018. He was a welder with a mining company in the Salt Lake valley of Utah. He told me that he wanted to do more at work than just weld things. They refused to expand his work load. I offered the thought that he should go to the local technical college and learn metal fabrication. Then he could make metal sculptures. I have a friend who has taken this tact. I own one of his sculptures. It hangs in a restaurant in Jackson, Wy because it was too big to move when I relocated. We begin by taking what is available and do something with it. I began write when I was asked to write a monthly community column for the local newspaper. Twenty four years later, my life is mostly writing.
Yes. Most of us, whatever we do are normally constrained by process, protocol or politics. That doesn't stop the artisan in us teying to find its voice however. Almost everyone I talk to harbours a wish to put their own mark on what they do.
I've just been out and bought a writing desk (watch my writing improve :-)) and the gut who sold it to me is a qualified bespoke tailor, selling desks because tailoring has moved elsewhere, and we spent most of the time talking about his love of the craft.
We have an opportunity, maybe a duty even, to give these conversations a home.....
As you start the year, I’d love to know what your sense of your craft is, and who you serve in practising it. Not looking for polished answers, just a sense of what feel, so I can get an idea of what might be useful to feed into these posts that might take you somewhere....
Richard, my sense of my craft continues to evade my description, hence my interest and delight in connecting with this community of practice. It has something to do with creating space for reflection and sense-making, working in the HERE AND NOW as much as in the ‘There and Then’ and ‘The Future’. I’m interested in the liminal space in which we engage in generative and potentially transformative conversations. That’s all I can articulate for now. Thanks.
Thanks Pauline. It’s one of things that excites me; moving away from feeling must know, to having the freedom to just walk around things and let what is out there find us. It will be a good year.
My intentions this year are to explore with others what it means to be awake, sovereign and autonomous in the world. I want to work with senior transnational teams in large orgs who want to regenerate, and Gen Z leaders in growing social business who want their businesses to flourish in regenerative ways. The people I work with will be interested in creating flourishing, resilient local communities. It's taken a long time and a lot of searching to come to this 🙏
The thing that intrigues me is whether we work with “teams”- however they are constructed- is less important than helping fired up individuals. There something about Pirates :-)
... different experiences perhaps. I've worked with transnational teams for years and seen them grow consistently and considerably, in awareness, understanding, stance, maturity, capacity...across organizations who invest in collective development. Clearly some individuals find this more interesting and easier than others.
Nudging, influencing... perhaps also more attractive to some cultures, enabling and empowering the collective in others.
Personal growth, recognition, career progression, improved sensemaking, innovation, regeneration, value creation beyond the transactional for their customers, organisational health...
To see the artisal, we need to develop an awareness of the micro cultures that provide a personal and social context for the artisan. Here in the US, The Woodwrights Shop has served as a guide to people who love to work with wood. https://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/. Roy Underhill has been the host and artisan for 38 seasons. How many people, I wonder, started shaping wood, and then took it to a richer depth of speciality as they learn the disciplines of being an artisan. We need examples and mentors. Richard, I really like where you are taking us. Thanks.
Thanks Ed. It’s an interesting line in inquiry. What does an artisan in the digital age look like? What are their materials? What are their tools? Much to go at.
Maybe part of the answer to your question is to push back against the digital and reclaim the analog of the physical world. I saw this in an interaction that I had with a guy on my book tour in 2018. He was a welder with a mining company in the Salt Lake valley of Utah. He told me that he wanted to do more at work than just weld things. They refused to expand his work load. I offered the thought that he should go to the local technical college and learn metal fabrication. Then he could make metal sculptures. I have a friend who has taken this tact. I own one of his sculptures. It hangs in a restaurant in Jackson, Wy because it was too big to move when I relocated. We begin by taking what is available and do something with it. I began write when I was asked to write a monthly community column for the local newspaper. Twenty four years later, my life is mostly writing.
Yes. Most of us, whatever we do are normally constrained by process, protocol or politics. That doesn't stop the artisan in us teying to find its voice however. Almost everyone I talk to harbours a wish to put their own mark on what they do.
I've just been out and bought a writing desk (watch my writing improve :-)) and the gut who sold it to me is a qualified bespoke tailor, selling desks because tailoring has moved elsewhere, and we spent most of the time talking about his love of the craft.
We have an opportunity, maybe a duty even, to give these conversations a home.....
As you start the year, I’d love to know what your sense of your craft is, and who you serve in practising it. Not looking for polished answers, just a sense of what feel, so I can get an idea of what might be useful to feed into these posts that might take you somewhere....
Richard, my sense of my craft continues to evade my description, hence my interest and delight in connecting with this community of practice. It has something to do with creating space for reflection and sense-making, working in the HERE AND NOW as much as in the ‘There and Then’ and ‘The Future’. I’m interested in the liminal space in which we engage in generative and potentially transformative conversations. That’s all I can articulate for now. Thanks.
Thanks Pauline. It’s one of things that excites me; moving away from feeling must know, to having the freedom to just walk around things and let what is out there find us. It will be a good year.
Mine often also flows into something else 😆
My intentions this year are to explore with others what it means to be awake, sovereign and autonomous in the world. I want to work with senior transnational teams in large orgs who want to regenerate, and Gen Z leaders in growing social business who want their businesses to flourish in regenerative ways. The people I work with will be interested in creating flourishing, resilient local communities. It's taken a long time and a lot of searching to come to this 🙏
The thing that intrigues me is whether we work with “teams”- however they are constructed- is less important than helping fired up individuals. There something about Pirates :-)
I don't see one as more or less important than the other, both and. Just where I choose to put attention and energy.
Agree, though I tend towards from where things move. Somebody has to go first. Teams rarely do. Not a truth, just an observation...
... different experiences perhaps. I've worked with transnational teams for years and seen them grow consistently and considerably, in awareness, understanding, stance, maturity, capacity...across organizations who invest in collective development. Clearly some individuals find this more interesting and easier than others.
Nudging, influencing... perhaps also more attractive to some cultures, enabling and empowering the collective in others.
Agree. Key question though. In your experience; in service of what?
Personal growth, recognition, career progression, improved sensemaking, innovation, regeneration, value creation beyond the transactional for their customers, organisational health...