Exploring Complexity and Purpose with George Pór

The interview was originally published on Flowstate, written by Jiro Taylor.

George Pór is a mentor and strategic learning partner to visionary leaders in business, public service, and civil society, and a mentor to aspiring evolutionary agents.

He is one of the most respected voice and presences in the field of evolutionary transformation in individuals, organizations and systems.

George is riding a wave that began long ago but has been recently re-energised.  In recent years the fields of organizational development, complexity science, ecology and many more have converged into what feels like a new emerging edge.

In 2015, George founded Enlivening Edge as a “collective sensing and meaning-making organ of the ecosystem of next-stage organizations. It’s a vision of conscious, intentional evolution of people, organizations, and social systems. Pulled by a future, where all institutions are designed for supporting people to become their best, and inspired by Frederic Laloux’s “Reinventing Organizations,” with my friends we’re growing EE into a synergistic hub for next-stage organizations.”

George is riding this wave- in his own words:

“Who would have thought that the beginning of my seventh decade would usher in the most fruitful season of my life? Such is the power of surfing the frothy edge. I feel the same zest for life that I experienced as a student revolutionary in the 60s, and later as a mystic in an ashram in India in the late 70s. I feel whole again; all parts of me are connected and aligned with the evolutionary impulse flowing through me.”

Over the past three decades, Goerge has pioneered such theoretical and methodological frameworks, as knowledge ecology, knowledge gardening, innovation architecture, and Chaordic Chat. He has served as a Research Fellow at the Universiteit van Amsterdam Business School, founded several businesses and advised the European Commission and the European Investment Bank.

My dialogue with George

I was excited to connect with a man with such expansive wisdom and experiences. It boggles my mind to consider the richness of George’s life experiences as he grew through the past 7 decades, a period of such rapid change.

George describes the world we live in as one of “galloping complexity…. we know more and more about less and less”. We spoke about the statistics we have all heard: the 87% dis-engagement rates of workers globally.

George called this epidemic of dis-engagement “a slow holocaust of the soul”.

That sentence hit me hard.

But there was never any chance of us wallowing in despair. George countered my question of “what can we do?” by reminding me that “we” has no agency, no power.

“What can I do?” is the question to start with. For George this question evolved over time to “What does life want me to use my life for?” and “what does life want me to be today?”.

We skirted on edges of Teal organizations but a deep dive will have to wait for another dialogue. This one was all about George sharing how he has ridden the wave of galloping complexity, through commitment to spiritual practice and constant evolution of his perceptions of the world around him.

I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to connect with George.

You can listen to the entire podcast here.

By |2019-01-24T10:00:53+00:00January 24th, 2019|Uncategorized|

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