AEC Ch. 4 Discussion Questions

You are preparing for and about to blast off into a workplace culture, and you are going to be part of many work settings over the course of your life. Some research suggests that millennials are likely to have three different careers and eight different positions of employment over the course of their lives. How will you contribute to your culture?

1. What are some of the practices that you find interesting? What are the micro, meso, and macro practices at Bridgewater, Next Jump, and Decurion? Do you see common principles that undergird these practices? If so, what are some common principles or themes that emerge across these practices? How might we apply these principles towards psychological development?
2. What are some practices that help you move your thinking and behavior from subject to object? How might you invite others to engage in similar practices? In what ways might you make the growth of others more intentional and public? How did Decurion make the growth of everyone a shared, public, and intentional activity. How do you feel about public feedback? Public feedback like the Baseball Card (ratings and evaluations like Ratemyprofessor, etc.) are here to stay.
3. One of the five qualities of practicing in a DDO is “Language is a practice, and it creates new tools for a new paradigm.” Consider how language expands and shapes meaning. Discuss a time when a word or phrase made you think about something in a new way that helped you to grow and develop. Consider and discuss some of the language or themes that you have seen in other families and then consider some that you might use in your family.
4. People rarely feel well-held vulnerability in life and especially at work. Where have you felt well-held vulnerability in your life? Discuss a time when that was the case. What was that like for you? Do you think we are capable of creating such conditions in work settings?
5. As we discussed in class one’s “holding environment” also known as the “culture of embeddness” provides the three primary functions of Holding On (Confirmation), Letting Go (Contradiction), Sticking Around (Continuity). This can be observed in our families and work settings, etc. Review and discuss each of these three primary functions. You might want to examine two jpeg images in Canvas titled Kegan Stages 1, Kegan Stages 2 images and review pages 152-154 in the book. The two images have each stage and describe the way in which each stage tends to engage each function. Next consider ways that your current holding environment (aka culture of embeddedness) is Holding On (Confirmation), Letting Go (Contradiction), Sticking Around (Continuity)? Continuity is the hardest to understand; I want you to focus on the first two

SKIP CH. 5

AEC Ch. 6 Discussion Questions

Immunity to Change & Making Subject Become Object

The Greek word “atia,” which is translated as cause, is best understood as what “bears responsibility.” We are embedded in (i.e., subject to) what is causing us and eventually come to take responsibility (i.e., to make object) for our prior subjectivity.  Taking responsibility for one's subjectivity seems to be one of the crowning hallmark of adulthood (and self-authoring). Taking responsibility emerges in relation to others in roles. Jean Paul-Stare and others play with the word responsibility, which also implies a kind of response-ability, an increasing ability to respond in different ways, to utilize our agency in increasingly beneficial ways. In order to do so, we gradually uncover (to make object) what we are subject to, and the Immunity to Change activity discussed in Ch. 6 can help:

The Greek word “atia,” which is translated as cause, is best understood as what “bears responsibility.” We are embedded in (i.e., subject to) what is causing us and eventually come to take responsibility (i.e., to make object) as the crowning hallmarks of adulthood (and self-authoring). Taking responsibility emerges in relation to others in roles. Jean Paul-Stare and others play with the word responsibility, which also implies a kind of response-ability, an increasing ability to respond in different ways, to utilize our agency in increasing beneficial ways. In order to do so, we gradually uncover (to make object) what we are subject to, and the Immunity to Change activity discussed in Ch. 6 can help:

The Greek word “atia,” which is translated as cause, is best understood as what “bears responsibility.” We are embedded in (i.e., subject to) what is causing us and eventually come to take responsibility (i.e., to make object) as the crowning hallmarks of adulthood (and self-authoring). Taking responsibility emerges in relation to others in roles. Jean Paul-Stare and others play with the word responsibility, which also implies a kind of response-ability, an increasing ability to respond in different ways, to utilize our agency in increasing beneficial ways. In order to do so, we gradually uncover (to make object) what we are subject to, and the Immunity to Change activity discussed in Ch. 6 can help:

An Everyone Culture- Ch. 6 Uncovering Your Biggest Blindspot takes the reader through Kegan's "Immunity to Change" work. Download this Immunity Map Worksheet.pdf and complete this form based on a goal you select. Ch. 6 describes this process with examples of how one might complete this exercise. It is due before we cover this material in class- so please try to work on this, but if you have trouble with it we will go over it in class and you can submit it 1 day late without penalty.

This is one of the hard questions you need to consider as you complete this assignment: Consider the behaviors that you are engaged in to accomplish a goal that is important to you. What would you worry about if you were doing the OPPOSITE of the behaviors that work against your goal? This is your worry box (be honest about exploring your concerns and fears here). It takes real honesty to explore your own competing commitments and worries.