DPLS 775 - Leadership As Vocation
Spring 2007                          3 Credits

Instructor: Bob Stilger, Ph.D.
Phone: 509 835 4128
E-mail: bob@berkana.org

Introduction
Leadership as Vocation. What if the challenge for each of us is to discover what truly calls us most at this time in the world? What if we are each asked to discover the leadership we can offer to ourselves, our families, our communities and our organizations? The question of vocation, or true work, tugs at many of us as we find our way one step at a time into our modern lives.

“I pay a steep price when I live a divided life,” Parker Palmer (2004) says. “Feeling fraudulent, anxious about being found out, and depressed by the fact that I am denying my own selfhood. The people around me pay a price as well, for now they walk on ground made unstable by my dividedness.” British poet David Whyte (1994) begs for our aroused hearts to preserve the soul of in corporate America. Irwin Laszlo (2001) writes of this as a time of shattering macroshifts which will change life as we know it on the planet. Margaret Wheatley and Myron Rogers (1996) remind us that “all organizing efforts begin with an intent, a belief that something more is possible now that the group is together. Organizing occurs around an identity – there is a "self" that gets organized.” Morris Berman (2000) suggests that this is nothing as small and inconsequential as a paradigm shift – it is about the very way we participate in the universe.

In this course we’re not going to be reading all the books and articles from which the above quotes were taken, unless you want to. They’re all excellent. But I mention them here to tell you a little bit about who I am and how I approach Leadership as Vocation.

We’ll be reading and discussing a variety of books and articles to explore the concept of Leadership as Vocation and we’ll be looking at different tools and processes to help you discern your own vocation as a leader. I plan on introducing you to different processes used to host deep conversation – circle, world café, open space. And I will be using a variety of processes which let more than our minds engage in the exploration of leadership.

My sense is that leadership exists in abundance in the world and in each of us. It is time for us to each find the leadership we will offer in our own lives, in our communities, and in our organizations. In this course we will be concerned about finding our way into our own leadership. This is a deeply personal journey, and one which must be undertaken in the company of others.

Instructor
Bob Stilger -- For the last six years my main base in the world has been The Berkana Institute, where I am now Co-President. I work with people and places around the world where community leadership is producing resilient communities. I help those who have stepped forward as leaders in these places to reflect and to learn from their work and to connect “translocally” with their peers around the planet. I also look for ways to bring want they are learning back into the belly of the beast – back in to the United States.

In 2004, I completed my doctorate at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Since 2000 my research has focused on a new leadership style which I describe as enspirited, appreciative, and emergent. I am part of Bainbridge Graduate Institute’s faculty academy where I help students learn about leadership and personal development. I also speak and write and host conversations that matter in many venues.

I have lived in Spokane, Washington, since 1973, having moved here to create the Environmental Symposium Series at the EXPO ’74 World’s Fair. In late 1974 I co-created Northwest Regional Facilitators, a nonprofit community development corporation where I served as Executive Director for 25 years. Please visit our two Berkana websites for more information on my work: www.berkana.org and http://www.berkanaexchange.net

E-mail is always the best way to get in touch with me: bob@berkana.org.

Anticipated Outcomes
In this course I will introduce you to resources and processes which I’ve found useful in my inquiry into new types of leadership coming emerging around the world. At the end of our time together I hope you will have more clarity about the leadership you have to offer in the world, the vision you work from, and the values that are most important to you. In this course you will learn more about how to access and clarify your own sense of vocation. This is, of course, an inner journey, but it is through terrain many others have explored.

In this course you will become acquainted with some of the landmarks others have found on that terrain and with personal practices and processes which can help you develop your own confidence in your capacity to explore the inner landscape of your leadership.

Flow and Form of this Course
The course is built around five areas:

• Beginning with Enspirited Leadership (Class: January 13)
• Delving into the Field (Class: February 17)
• Reflective Learning (Class: March 3)
• Centering (Class: March 31st)
• Where Is Your Vocation? (Class: April 14)

We will meet face-to-face less frequently in this class than other classes in the Leadership Studies PhD program. However, we will make extensive use of online discussion with a platform I have used for many years called BigMindCatalyst.

We will form two study groups at the first class session. We will be reading a number of books in this course. As noted in the chart in the Reading and Assignments section below, study groups will alternate responsibility for presenting mini-reflection papers to the class on each reading. Everyone in the class will be expected to read and offer substantial questions and comments on at least four papers on each reading.

In addition to these regular online reflections, one beginning paper of 5 pages, one mid-term paper of 5+ pages, and one final paper of 10+ pages will be required in the course.

The content we deal with in this course will be exciting and engaging. It is about each of us. It is about how we find and define our hopes and aspirations for ourselves and step in to the leadership we have to offer in the world.

Reading and Assignments

Enspirited Leadership
Leadership as Vocation will be grounded in my own work with younger leaders around the world who have started learning centres to help people improve their own lives and communities.

Our first reading will be the section of my dissertation which shares the life-stories and life-themes from these social activists. Stilger, R. (2005). Enspirited Leadership: Creating A Future of Possibilities. Spokane, WA, Berkana Institute, pp 65-209

First Assignment: 5 page Reflective Essay – Due January 6th

The first assignment is a 3-6 page reflective essay in response to the pre-reading. Specifically, I would like to begin our work together with each of you writing about how the six themes from my dissertation show up in your life and work. Specific questions are listed below. Some of these questions you’ll immediately resonate with; others may sound a little strange. Go with your resonances. Please find and use an authentic voice as your respond. We will discuss these questions at our first class on January 13th.

• What is the work you are feeling called to do in the world? How clear is your sense of this calling?
• Who are your companions on this journey? This work that is calling us is not done in isolation. Who are your co-journers?
• How does diversity come into your life? Do you feel the presence of multi-cultures and many generations?
• How do you maintain a spiritual center?
• Do you have a regular reflective learning process which guides you in your life? What is it?
• Where are you, really, in terms of acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty?

Since many of you in this course may not know each other yet, I won’t ask you to post this paper online. Please e-mail it to me by January 6th at bob@berkana.org.

Delving into the Field

How do we each find our own enspirited leadership? What leads us to our vocation? How do we get greater access to the inner guidance which is our key to defining vocation?

During the five week period between our first and second classroom sessions, we will be doing extensive reading, writing and discussion online.

• A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life (Palmer, 2004)
• Stillness Speaks (Tolle, 2003)
• Turning to One Another (Wheatley, 2002)
• Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities (Kahane, 2004)

Students from the lead study group will post 2-3 page reflection papers by the dates noted in the chart above. All students will read and respond to at least four of these reflections.

Second Assignment: -- 5 page Reflective Essay – Due February 28th

By the middle of February, I hope that your heart and mind will have been stirred by this course. I want you to write about what’s stirring. What insights do you have about your vocation? What questions and fears do you have? What sense of possibilities is this material stirring in you? How do you journey into yourself?

Please write a 5 page reflective paper and post it online by no later than February 28th. By March 15th, please have read and commented on the papers of at least four of your classmates.

Reflective Learning
Leadership as Vocation requires reflective learning. It requires that we come to that place of wholeness Palmer describes, or to that place of stillness Tolle describes. Leadership as Vocation requires that we learn to act from that place of wholeness and stillness. And after we have acted, it requires us to notice what happened, and learn from it, so that we may deepen our capacities and processes.

We will use

• Presence (Scharmer, Senge, Jaworski, & Flower, 2004)
• Materials from Scharmer’s website (http://www.ottoscharmer.com)   Students from the lead study group will post 2-3 page reflection papers by the dates noted in the chart above. All students will read and respond to at least four of these reflections.

Centering
One of the themes that will come up frequently in this course is the importance of a personal practice which leads to balance and centering, if one is to find one’s vocation as a leader.

We will read

• The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration & Meditation: Ancient Skills for Modern Minds (Levey & Levey, 2003) to provide tools and guidance in this area.  

Students from the lead study group will post 2-3 page reflection papers by the dates noted in the chart above. All students will read and respond to at least four of these reflections.

Wrap-Up
We will use this last class for exploration of ideas and themes that have arisen for each of you as you have started to engage with your final paper.

Third Assignment: -- 10 page Reflective Essay – Due April 21st

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this course. The overall intent has been to help you think about your work as a leader. What stands out? What new clarity do you have about what you want to do? Which ideas and principles from the various discussions we’ve had, and materials you have read have resonated most deeply? Most importantly, what will you do next? How will you, in specific ways, apply your learning from this course in your daily life?

Grading 
This is a hard class to “grade” in any traditional sense. The class seeks to increase your capacity to access and use your inner knowing about the work you are called to do in the world. As your instructor, I will have some sense of how far you have come on this journey during this course. You, certainly, will have much more.

We will determine your final grade through a conversation about your work. We will look at how well you read and comprehended the various books and articles required for the class by considering your three papers, your online postings as part of your study group, your responses to other people’s work online, and the quality of your participation in class discussions and other exercises. All parts of the course are equally important. I

 suspect that we all know what excellent work looks like (A), what good work looks like (B), and what more marginal work looks like (C). We also know what it looks like when you don’t really show up at all. Towards the end of the class – after I have received and reviewed your final paper we will have a phone conversation and determine your final grade. If you want to talk about your progress anytime during the course, please send me an e-mail (bob@berkana.org ) and we will set up a time for a conversation.

Bibliography
Required
Kahane, A. (2004). Solving tough problems: An open way of talking, listening and creating new realities. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Levey, J., & Levey, M. (2003). The fine arts of relaxation, concentration & meditation: Ancient skills for modern minds. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications.

Palmer, P. J. (2004). A hidden wholeness: The journey toward an undivided life. New York City: Jossey-Bass.

Scharmer, O., Senge, P., Jaworski, J., & Flower, B. S. (2004). Presence: Human purpose and the field of the future. Cambridge, MA: Society for Organizational Learning.

Stilger, R. (2005). Enspirited Leadership: Creating A Future of Possibilities. Spokane, WA, Berkana Institute.

Tolle, E. (2003). Stillness speaks. Novato, CA: New World.

Wheatley, M. (2002). Turning to one another: Simple conversations to restore hope to the future. SFO: Berrett-Koehler.

Additional
Berman, M. (2000). Wandering god: A study in nomadic spirituality. Albany, NY: SUNY.

Laszlo, E. (2001). Macroshift: Navigating the transformation to a sustainable world. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Wheatley, M., & Rogers, M. (1996). The irresistible future of organizing. http://www.margaretwheatley.com.

Whtye, D. (1994). The heart aroused: Poetry and the preservation of the soul in corporate America. New York: Doubleday.

Various Articles: http://www.newstories.org/Gonzaga/Leadership05/Articles/