Events happen every day reminding me that I am living in times of profound transition. A couple weeks ago something happened at my work that was a harbinger of a continuing cultural transition from hierarchy to a circle of equals, from patriarchy to partnership, from power-over to power-with, or from directive to facilitative leadership… however you want to frame it.

I have been at my current workplace for over a year now, and I work with a great group of people and have a very progressive and egalitarian team manager. I’d call him the more colloquial “boss”, but many of the standard connotations of that term do not fit this person at all. In the anecdote I want to highlight in this piece, he led us through an exercise the other day that is typical of how he approaches his job but is stunning in terms of your typical hierarchical corporate culture.

Continue reading →