Creative Emergence

Location(s)

What does it mean to "improvise"? What is the essence of "spontaneity"?

Heck, should we even value improvisation? Some might argue that living a well-planned life is a good thing. How can you plan well yet commit to spontaneity?

Well, first, what is it? My dictionary says that improvisation is "a creation spoken or written or composed extemporaneously (without prior preparation)."

First of all, I feel like arguing with that definition. I certainly like the use of "creation" -- my every encounter with improvisation tells me that it is an act of creation. It is the parenthetical part of the definition with which I differ: "no preparation".

No preparation? Are you kidding? When Parker and Coleman met in a dark bar in Chicago and made magic, can we say there was no preparation? When Jonathan Winters walked through a room full of junk, picked up an odd item, and made us laugh, was there truly no preparation? When a Zen teacher and student engage in dharma combat and, thereby, reach a new understanding of the Ultimate, is there no preparation?

Let's do that again!

That's my reaction to yesterday's "Integral Leadership in an Emergent World" one-day workshop. We had a perfectly sized group (16) of spectacular participants and, by all accounts, the first-ever (according to Ken Wilber) workshop dedicated to the integration of Integral Theory and Creative Emergence was a success.

As I've mentioned in earlier blogs, this workshop was an exploration of how the broad framework of Integral Theory and the Principles of Creative Emergence can be used by leaders to create breakthroughs in the workplace.

My co-facilitator, Michelle James, CEO of the Center for Creative Emergence, is a veteran facilitator and an expert in creative emergence. While I've led more than my share of Integral Theory-based workshops, seminars, and Intensives, it was Michelle's expert infusion of emergent principles and processes into this jam-packed workshop that set this workshop apart from other Integral Theory educational experiences.

For reasons beyond my understanding, I have run into conversations about coaching in all its various forms (integral, life, business, executive, creativity, etc.) at every turn. I’m sitting with a friend over dinner, and he asks me about my coaching practice. I turn on the radio, I hear magician Penn Gillette talk about his Showtime series “Bull Sh*t” exposé of the charlatans in the coaching business. I sit down with one colleague (then another, then another) and, in nearly every such conversation, the topic of “coaching” shows up.