admin, Author at Plexus Institute

Plexus Partners Catalyze “The DNA of Collaboration” In New #Tweetchat Event

JOIN Plexus Catalysts Bruce Waltuck and Denise Easton for a Saturday morning #Tweetchat with author/consultant/change leader Chris Jones on the dynamics of collaboration through a complexity perspective. Since 2012,Chris has led a group of OD practitioners in monthly discussions on complex challenges in organizations. With Plexus, #orgdna is continuing its exploration of sense-making in complexity. Please meet #orgdna! As always, the Plexus Institute supports and partners with others around the world, working to achieve positive change through the application [...]

admin2019-03-26T21:32:43-04:00Collaborations, Tweet Chats|

Plexus Network, Meet #orgdna

Plexus Network, Meet #orgdna Our ongoing conversation on complexity has new energy. Plexus Institute has partnered with DNA of Collaboration founder Chris Jones and #orgdna community to expand conversations on social complexity. #orgdna is a self-selecting community of #orgdev and #complexity thinkers exploring collaborative aspects of the organization since 2012. As we encounter experiences that require new responses and ways of thinking to address complex structural and behavorial patterns in our working environments, traditional organizational practices routinely [...]

admin2019-06-17T15:16:50-04:00Collaborations, Engagement, Partners|

Creating and Distributing Value – Where to Begin?

The complex topic of "value" in human systems is the focus of Chris Lawer’s current work at Umio where he explores the difficult-to-grasp and oft-debated concept of value, with a particular focus on health and care (eco)systems. Chris begins with the main theories of value that have emerged over two millennia of debate, and the two primary forms of value – exchange and use - which for more than two centuries, have underpinned the prevalent neo-classical economic view. He will [...]

admin2019-03-02T16:26:10-05:00Complexity Matters Posts, Healthcare, Plexus Pop-Up Conversations, The Commons Project|

Researchers + Practitioners = Social Good

What Happens When Researchers and Practitioners Connect to Advance Social Good in a Complex World? Plexus Institute is all too familiar with the failure of social policies because outdated linear approaches are used to manage disruptive, emergent processes. The result can lead to institutional disarray and failure with direct consequences on the lives of individuals and their communities. CAPS 2019 is the 3rd International Conference on Complexity and Policy Studies. When: April 15-17, 2019 Where: Washington, DC The conference is [...]

admin2019-03-23T09:57:55-04:00Complexity Matters Posts, Conferences|

Is Your Mind Playing Games?

Why are family reunions and holiday gatherings so often prone to free-floating angst, irrational episodes and inexplicable outbursts? Such eruptions may have origins that are utterly obscure or only dimly remembered, but complexity science can help us make sense of them. In his extraordinary book The Developing Mind, How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are, psychiatrist and scholar Daniel J. Siegel talks about the family not only as a complex system, but as a supersystem, composed [...]

admin2019-02-14T16:14:24-05:00Awarefulness, Complexity Matters Posts, Neuroscience|

Witness a Self Organizing System at Pebble Ledge Ranch

A zebra chasing bubbles, a pony drumming, horses helping people heal, leaders listening from within, a herd running free - just another day at Pebble Ledge Ranch. Meet Toby, grazing in the field. If you look closely, you'll see Holly, the zebra, in the background of the photo above! The herd at Pebble Ledge Ranch shifts and changes with the cycle of the moment, the cycle of life, the cycle of nature. These horses are not kept [...]

admin2019-02-14T16:12:25-05:00Complexity Matters Posts|

“The Commons Project” Moving Toward a Feasibility Study

Over the past several months, Plexus Catalyst Mike Taylor engaged a diverse network of individuals, institutions and groups representing four continents and a variety of professional talents to support further development of our newest project “The Commons.” The next step is to create the strategy for a feasibility study which will seek funding and the launch of a pilot. By engaging large groups of people in a self-organized process, The Commons platform will allow participants to see the direct impact of individual and collective choices on [...]

admin2019-02-28T21:29:05-05:00Complexity Matters Posts, The Commons Project|

Parrots Think Like….

Scientists keep discovering important traits in animals that were once considered exclusively human. So when you hear references to bird brains, think about how our behavioral connection to parrots offers insights into addressing large scale social and environmental issues. A New York Times story by Natalie Angier reports researchers who study parrots report these birds rival great apes and dolphins in intellect and resourcefulness, and may be the only creatures, other than humans, capable of dancing to a beat. Parrots belong [...]

admin2018-09-21T16:14:43-04:00Complexity Matters Posts|

Conversations to Reduce the Discord in Our Country: Better Angels

This article was written by Plexus Network member Nancy Dixon, whose work focuses on the people side of knowledge management. "Our most effective knowledge sharing tool is conversation. The words we choose, the questions we ask, and the metaphors we use to explain ourselves, are what determine our success in creating new knowledge, as well as sharing that knowledge with each other." Like many others, I have been sorely troubled by the level of disrespect in our public conversations. For that [...]

admin2018-08-28T16:37:07-04:00Complexity Matters Posts|

For the Good of the Hive
Gallery
For the Good of the Hive

Catalyst Project, Complexity Matters Posts, Ecosystems

For the Good of the Hive

"The health of a honey bee is based on the health of the hive, not the individual bee. Collective action is necessary for growth and expansion. Humans are the same way, although we rarely act like it. Many of the issues we face today are not divided by borders. In fact, bee health or pollination issues are more likely to be solved by transcending them." Matthew Willey When Melissa Stephenson, a Plexus Catalyst shared information about the New Hampshire Honey [...]

admin2018-07-20T18:15:41-04:00Catalyst Project, Complexity Matters Posts, Ecosystems|

Why Bees Fascinate Us
Gallery
Why Bees Fascinate Us

Complexity Matters Posts, Ecosystems, PlexusCalls

Why Bees Fascinate Us

Bees and humans have been closely associated for a millennia. We have been fascinated by bees ever since our ancient ancestors tasted honey. Scientists have a wealth of knowledge about bees, their behavior and their extraordinary social organization, but mysteries remain. Researchers believe the mapping of the bee genome may hold clues to how inborn and environmental factors interact to influence what genes actually do in the brain to regulate behavior. In December 2004, Gene Robinson, wrote a compelling New [...]

admin2018-07-23T16:51:10-04:00Complexity Matters Posts, Ecosystems, PlexusCalls|

Dancing with the Bees
Gallery
Dancing with the Bees

Complexity Matters Posts, Ecosystems

Dancing with the Bees

It’s not only humans who derive symbolic meaning from dance. Honeybees use dance to tell each other about flowers and nectar and the best places to find them. In an extraordinary ritual known as the “waggle dance”, a scout bee finds a rich flower patch, sips some nectar, and then flies home. She (and it’s always a she) lights on the vertical surface of the honeycomb, near the nest entrance where she will have an audience, and dances a repeated [...]

admin2018-07-23T16:49:13-04:00Complexity Matters Posts, Ecosystems|

About admin