Applications now accepted for Alumni Board

Now that the dust has settled from OSR 14 graduation and the Annual Conference, please take a moment to consider serving as a member of the OSR Alumni Association Board of Directors. The board is a great way to get to know graduates from other cohorts and to help support our community of life-long learners.

Since it’s official formation in 2004, the generous contributions of time and creativity of alumni have contributed to the continued evolution of our OSR Alumni Association. Last year the Alumni Board and volunteers continued the development of the alumni organization and contributed several exciting programs including:

• Beyond What and Why, a 1.5-day hands-on workshop featuring Don Swartz;
• The fourth Annual Conference: Designing life and work in an upended world with David Baum<;/li>
• Completion of the planning phase for Guides on the Side, a new program for mentoring OSR graduates.

Everything is possible with the commitment and support of our community.

If you’d like to become a member of the Alumni Association board, please contact any current board member. You’ll find contact information and downloadable details on the Alumni Association Web page.

Our goal is to receive board applications by Friday, July 17. Thank you and have a great summer!

Conference resources and downloads

Conference program for downloading, .pdf 2.87MB
Workshop handouts for downloading, .pdf 6.2MB

Four rules to a simple life

By David Baum

This text is the basis of Baum's keynote for the 2009 Annual Conference, minus the juggling and fire-eating that are difficult to recreate on a Web page.

The psychiatrist Scott Peck wrote, "The paradox of life is that we are all trapped inside of a box, and the instructions on how to get out of the box are written on the outside of the box." Life can be a complicated process and figuring out a way through is often tough and confusing.

In a way, we are all looking for the “owners manual,” fumbling around in complexity wishing we could make things clearer and more direct. It doesn’t need to be this way. Angeles Arrien, a cross-cultural anthropologist, has spent a lifetime studying this subject and created four rules that can be found in many cultures world wide. I have found them invaluable, and know that whenever I am in a self-made pickle it is because I have violated one of them.

They are not complex. There is a reason for this. What Gandhi called, “means to ends consistency.” He advised that one's journey must match the destination. Thus, if you wanted a simple life, then a complicated process contradicts the goal. A simple life means you must use simple rules. But be warned. Simple does not mean easy. It just means clear, and without equivocation.

OSR 14 student contributes new mentoring program for alumni

Kathy Coronetz is leading the design of a new Alumni Association mentoring program called Guides on the Side.  As part of her consultation project, Kathy conducted best practices research and created a conceptual design which she presented to the alumni Board of Directors on June 9th.  Next steps will be to develop a pilot which will be launched in the Fall of 2009.

If you would like to become a mentor to a recent OSR graduate, please update your OSR profile and contact information.

The Alumni Association wishes to thank Kathy and her board sponsors, Bob Woodruff and Paula Brekke for the many hours and hard work they contributed to make this program possible.