Patterns, Outer and Inner

Hi friends- 

Here are few things I found worth sharing from the week. 

1. The Power of Questions for Leaders, Consultants, Coaches, Family, Friends, and more. I'm still on an Edgar Schein kick. The influential organizational development theorist and consultant created a useful typology of questions for those in any helping professions. Here's a brief synopsis of what he unpacks more thoroughly here and here.  His approach to inquiry is valuable in virtually all relationships where you intend to help others. 

2. Remaining Open. With some clients, I conduct open-ended inquiries into the team experience. Such interviews are a way of allowing team patterns (both helpful and unhelpful) to surface organically. The tricky part is remaining consistently open to new information. Depending on the size of the team, after the first handful, it can be easy for me to believe I see an accurate picture of critical overt and covert dynamics. The reality is typically more nuanced than my imagined picture. Each new interview then requires the same degree of curiosity to hear more points of view about what appears to be a pattern while also allowing time to explore new material. The more I do that type of work, the more I am aware of the importance of remaining open in all relationships, not just clients.     

3. Transcription and Spreadsheets. Speaking of interviews, I'm thankful for the recent spate of transcription services. I've been using Otter.ai for transcription and then dissecting the text in a spreadsheet. This method of coding for meaning allows patterns to emerge. Depending on the source material, the patterns vary pretty widely. With working teams, it's common to discover themes around interpersonal relations, decision-making, power, time, and autonomy. But I'll sometimes code strategy documents, marketing approaches, competitor offerings. I find it illuminating to glimpse the underlying architecture of social systems, as it also reveals something about the structure of the mind.     

4. Some Reading. Speaking of patterns, here’s a book list that informed a recent meditation series I led. These contemplatives spent their lives charting the inner landscapes of experience. While our outer lives provide many joys and pleasures, never exploring the inner life is to miss half the show. 

   • The Inner Citadel The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Pierre Hadot 

   • Plotinus, or The Simplicity of Vision, Pierre Hadot 

   • Philosophy as a Way of Life, Pierre Hadot

   • The Neoplatonists, John Gregory  

   • The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila 

   • That Which Transpires Behind That Which Appears, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

   • Mysticism, Evelyn Underhill 

   • The Sufi Message, Vol 1, Hazrat Inayat Khan 

Thanks for reading! 

If you know someone who might find these briefs interesting, please forward along. It's a surprisingly big help. 

I also post shorter content on IG and longer content on my website. 

Warmly, 

Jacob