iGLOBAL:  Building Total Systems through Integral Design

 

Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Several years ago I indicated that we were developing the technology for iGLOBAL. It was apparent to me during the South African initiative that unless we learned to do things at the macro level, many of our excellent meso and micro programs would be difficult to both design and sustain. And, as many people are turning toward a world-centric perspective, these dynamics would become even more important.
 
We are now in the midst of two major case-studies to demonstrate this way of thinking, with quite promising initial responses. We are literally and figuratively writing the textbook on how to 'integrate' efforts and stakeholders to get them on the same page to build a critical mass of 'solutions' that align available resources, increase the size of the pie through collaborative actions, and then show how to synergize all of the efforts toward a common good.
 
While I am personally responsible for the introduction of the contributions of the late Professor Clare W. Graves in the global context, his advice to me during our long and in-depth relationship – I was a full professor at the University of North Texas when I first met with him in 1975 – was to refrain from limiting myself to his thinking alone. He wanted me to keep searching for innovative solutions and map the continuation of the spiral.
And right now we are being helped immensely by the work of Mike Jay and his Spiral-NEXT movement. Mike is providing the insight and energy to pursue that objective. So, in a sense, we are now using the richness of Graves' insights yet are moving on. (I think I just saw Clare smile.)

To pursue this innovative iGLOBAL objective, we have formed a series of Centers for Human Emergence literally around the world. The CHE structures enable us to coordinate and collaborate with a number of kindred spirits and movements (who may or may not be interested in Spiral Dynamics) so that we can have a much larger impact on the world system, both now and in the future. The first 'node' was established in Copenhagen with Teddy Larsen, who was president of Eli Lilly in Denmark.
At present, the most active expression of the CHE strategy has been led by Peter Merry and Anne-Marie Voorhoeve in the Netherlands. I suggest you examine the Dutch version of our global CHE website to see how a legitimate 7th Level (Second Tier) system can actually operate. It was CHE-Netherlands who designed and carried out a major effort to deal with fundamentalism in the Dutch culture. The third summit drew more than 900 Dutch leaders in a most remarkable gathering on this very difficult and timely topic. Peter, Anne-Marie and Arjan Kindermans are to be commented for their high energy, creativity, courage, and resilience.
This letter will focus on two other Centers for Human Emergence: The Middle East and Mexico & Latin America. More centers are being planned and are in various stages of development.

BUILD PALESTINE INITIATIVE
What will follow below is a recent announcement from Elza Maalouf about the development of our Build Palestine Initiative. Elza’s emerging websites will demonstrate to you how she is skillfully working with a number of young Palestinians who wish to break from the patterns in their society. We have a similar group working in Israel, but at this stage the initiatives are separate. Obviously, the problems stem from the history and contemporary dance between the two sides, and of course we are quite aware of their interconnectedness. We anticipate a significant opportunity to develop approaches for Arab youth in general throughout the Middle East in 2008, all sponsored by Arab leaders and resources. We are certainly not naive, yet we understand the vast potential for transformational shifts in that part of the world.
Our funding for these activities came from John Smith, owner of Hearthstone Homes in Omaha, and John Mackey, Chairman of Whole Foods Market.

MEXICO
Second, we have just returned from our initial application of iGLOBAL models with a Macro*Memetics focus in Mexico, funded by a generous Mexican business man. The effort is being led by Roberto Bonilla Nuñez and Karina Eichner. I have worked with Roberto over at least seven years and highly respect his intelligence, strong sense of ethics and integrity, and ability to work in both Spanish and English. Karina first attended a SDi event in Washington, DC, in January, and brings a rich background in psychology and counseling as well as a charming personality that draws people to her. We were all impressed with her networking capacity and she has some very close friends around the presidential office in Mexico City.

During this week-long activity we enjoyed most positive responses from the Rector of Monterrey Tech, Dr. Alberto Bustani Adem, as well as business leaders, several university presidents, and a number of leaders from Congress. MT has 50+ campuses with over 100,000 students, is privately funded, and has a massive cyber university outreach. In conversations with a group of MT deans and other academics on campus we learned of their intent to reach into the entire Latin American context, with solid and highly respected academic programs.

In addition, a group of film and television producers sought out a meeting with us, and offered their professional talents to use our conceptual models in full-length movies, television dramas, and other media-rich events to promote emergence in the many Mexican cultures. They proposed the use of celebrated and highly visible actors in Mexico that everybody recognized. It was truly an exciting meeting.
Last but not least, we have been in conversation with the Mexican Teacher's Union (membership: 1.4 million teachers) for several months now. They asked Roberto and me to help them design education for the whole society, indicating that they intended to move out of their traditionally adversarial role and contribute in a positive way to the education/training of 110 million Mexicans in the country plus 30 million who are now living outside their borders .
 
They are keenly aware of the drain of intellectual capital that will be devastating to their future. We met with a commission set up by MTU leadership just to assess the value of our offering, and the results were, in a word, outstanding.

SDi CONFAB WEEK 

A number of Mexicans will attend the upcoming SDi series (Level One May 27-29; Level Two – the 8th Annual Confab – May 30 to June 1-2, here in Dallas-Fort Worth. This year's theme is on Education & Training: 'How should Who Teach Whom to learn/become/develop What, with Which students coming from Where?' 
While we will use the Mexican opportunity as a case-study in large-scale systems change, we will also feature a number of neighborhoods and private elementary and high schools who have implanted our technology in their design and management. Other presentations will come from education managers at Esalen, representations of NEA and the Retired Teacher's Association from Washington, DC, as well as a number of practitioners in business, industry, the military, and higher education. We will reveal how each of the key value systems (vMeme codes) actually learn and how to create intelligence 'fields' in each of the communities.
All of these activities are designed to build the theory, construct the models, and then implement the programs with real people dealing with real issues.  

FOR CONFAB EVENT AND LOGISTICS INFO, AND TO REGISTER NOW,
click here

 You will note that in contrast to a proprietary self-interest, we share our technology and experience with 'indigenous' people to both empower and support their efforts because it is their country, their culture. When I first starting visiting with Ken Wilber, Ichak Adizes, John Petersen, Dr. Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Andrew Cohen – as well as many others – I indicated that I was interested in starting and enhancing a movement, rather than simply create a profit-center or an exclusive and restrictive business where participants in workshops had to sign a nondisclosure clause.

That strategy is beginning to produce results as we have moved from 'training' to the implementation of this powerful conceptual model in entire societies. This is what Professor Clare W. Graves really had in mind, and I am pleased to see how we can mesh so many stakeholders, sectors, domains, and elements within complex cultures to focus like laser beams on the developmental gaps, to benefit all.
Please consider joining with us in this very first educational effort that is Integrally informed yet set within an iGLOBAL context.
~ Don

FROM ELZA MAALOUF, PRESIDENT OF THE CENTER FOR HUMAN EMERGENCE-MIDDLE EAST:
Dear All,
 
It is amazing be able to witness the emergence of the 7th level system that Graves described with an amazing precision, and to celebrate the work of the SDi constellation in the Netherlands, USA, Germany, Denmark, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, Australia and more...
 
And there is Mexico!! The ground breaking work that Don, Karina and Roberto initiated in Mexico is demonstrating again  and again the depth of this framework and its wide scope.
 
CHE-mideast is adding a new thread to the tapestry of the emergence fabric: please check out the phase 1 of the CHE-ME website at http://www.humanemergencemiddleeast.org or www.buildpalestine.org. We designed it with the help of a good friend, Dr kevin Kells, who volunteered his time and expertise to help launch phase 1. your feedback is welcomed! Kevin recommended that we link to the website from various websites and blogs to bring it up on the google search. I would really appreciate your help with that.
 
Don and I leave to Israel/Palestine on Friday and will blogging from there, so please check out the blog periodically.
 
Salam,
Elza

The Spiral Dynamics Group

Don Edward Beck, Ph.D
Co-founder, National Values Center, Denton, TX.
Founder/CEO, The Spiral Dynamics Group, Inc.
Founder/President, Global Center for Human Emergence.
Faculty, Adizes Graduate School, Santa Barbara.
940.383.1209 / 940.300.6363
Email: DrBeck@attglobal.net
General SDi Inquiries: info@spiraldynamics.net
Visit us on the Web: www.spiraldynamics.net