National Network for Equitable Library Service

When spirit forms and transforms in people, they become strong, focused, and vibrant-and wonderful things can happen. But when the spirit is down, nothing else seems to make a difference-because not too much happens. Many of us today find ourselves trapped in just such organizations. The spirit in our workplace, to say nothing of our own spirit, is getting a little tattered, showing the early stages of what Harrison Owen calls "Soul Pollution." Those in the advanced stages may find themselves plagued by exhaustion, high levels of stress, and the abuse of just about anything in sight, including spouses, substances, and fellow workers. So what is the secret to transforming organizations? The answer, says Owen, is simple: we must consciously be what we already are-natural, open, self-organizing systems. In The Power of Spirit: How Organizations Transform, Owen examines the world of Spirit/Consciousness in organizations and offers help to those who find themselves dreading another day on the job in an organization seemingly bent on its own destruction, as well as the destruction of its members. He draws from what we are now learning about self-organizing systems to provides a practical application to the world of organizations, revealing the ways in which Spirit shows up in new, emergent organizational forms. Widely known for his Open Space Technology, a broadly used meeting management tool, Owen now pushes well beyond that surface appreciation and suggests deeper applications and implications, showing how what has been experienced in a typical "great meeting" with Open Space can actually be a 365-day-a-year reality. For all those interested in Spirit and spirituality, particularly in the workplace, individuals who are feeling down and out and buried by Soul Pollution in the workplace, and for current practitioners of Open Space Technology who are wondering what comes after a "great meeting," The Power of Spirit will offer a pathway to positive transformation.