A New Approach to Dialog: Teaching the Dialectical Thought Form Framework (DTF)

Can you imagine being part of a dialog in which you not only listen to what your interlocutor is saying but also to the underlying structure of his or her thinking?  If you had knowledge of the thought form structure of human sense making, this way of listening, called “dialectical”, would enable you to point to what is missing (absent) both in your own and others’ verbal communication. It would thereby help you deepen your and others' thinking in real-time dialog. Your critical listening would then not be restricted to content but would equally focus on underlying thought structures used by your interlocutors. In a team and group context, you would be able to point to interlocutors’ thought gaps in a compassionate, inter-developmental, way. Such gaps are not “academic”. They are more serious than that since they translate into gaps between how people think and how reality works. It is this kind of dialog that the present article introduces. The article paves the way for an intelligent reading and teaching of the Manual of Dialectical Thought Forms (DTFM), which in the near future will become available in pdf form on this website under Publications. The article introduces cutting-edge thinking tools... Read More...

A New Era Begins at the Interdevelopmental Institute, Gloucester, MA, USA (IDM)

As the Interdevelopmental Institute (IDM) enters a new era, it wants to communicate what it has learned and what, based on its learning over nearly 20 years, it can now deliver to CEOs and Boards. Find out how the Institute's main methodology, called Constructive Developmental Framework (CDF), addresses contemporary issues such as the digital transformation of businesses in all of its facets. Take note of the critical realism CDF tools embody (thanks to Roy Bhaskar's work on a dialectical ontology), and IDM's critical theory practice that now provides a new home for Frankfurt School insights just in time ... Sincere thanks to the international community of students who have made IDM widely known through their own work over many years! A New Beginning at IDM Read More...

John Stewart Reviews Otto Laske’s Work on Dialectical Thinking

Reviews of my work on dialectical thinking since 1999 are far and few between and have been long in coming. This delay has to do with the fact that my work on this topic responds directly to Bateson's perceptive view that "the major problems in the world (today) are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think" (as quoted in this paper). Bateson's perspective, much detailed philosophically by Roy Bhaskar, is a view of no interest in the present, entirely logic-based, global economy and its associated cognitive and social sciences. In this clear and incisive article, John Stewart, organizer of the First Planning Meeting for the Second Enlightenment, explains in more detail why the topic of dialectical thinking touches upon the issue of the evolution of the human race and may well concern its survival. John Stewart on vol. 2 and Primer Read More...

What Everybody is Losing Out On by Bypassing 40 Years of Research on Adult Development

There is a vast lack of knowledge about how one's own level and phase of development as an adult uncanningly and forcefully causes the kind of suffering one feels most keenly. This short article is meant as a pointer to what is missing in all of the "helping" literature and the well-meant helping activities in a society which continues to be characterized by master-slave relationships in a multitude of forms. What is everybody losing out on     Read More...

Einladung an deutsche Berater und Coach ihre berufliche Praxis höherzuschrauben

Warum nicht mit alten Vorurteilen brechen die aus der positivistischen Tradition stammen und alle im Flachland landen? Dazu ist im Zeitalter des distributed leadership mehr Anlass als je. Die alten Kompetenzschablonen sind tot, und nun wie weiter? Vielleicht hülfe es, sich zu erinnern dass Menschen sich ihr ganzes Leben lang entwickeln? Das würde auf die Erwahcsenenforschungen führen, die in diesem Buch von Otto Laske (übersetzt von Rainer v. Leoprechting 2010) dazu verwandt werden, neue Einsichten und Werkzeuge in die Weisen des Umgangs mit ‘human resources’ einzuführen. Das Buch zeigt die Stufen der lebenslangen Entwicklung der persönlichen Erfahrungen, die jeder in seiner Arbeit und seinem Leben macht, und die zu stets grösserer innerer Freiheit und Selbständigkeit führen. Das Buch gibt dazu neue Werkzeuge an die Hand und zeigt auch, wie man über die Verwandlung der Arbeit durch neue, z. B. holakratische Umgebunglen, nachdenken sollte.  Humanpotenziale erkennen, wecken, und messen: Pay Pal Dazu Weiteres auf: Gateway auf deutsch Read More...

Invitation pour les consultants et coach français de renouveller leur profession

Comment les consultants et coach francais peuvent-ils renouveller leur profession utilisant le CDF (Constructive Developmental Framework)? https://www.paypal.com/webapps/hermes?token=5MN6985866069092K&useraction=commit&mfid=1488977403882_1d069d5a8c123#/checkout/login C’est là la question qui se pose se livre sur la découverte du potential humain, allant plus loin que les abstractions des sciences sociales contemporaines. En recherchant de nouvelles clefs pour l’engagement de l’adulte dans le processus de développement (non seulement dans les organizations commerciales), ce livre ouvre la voie a l’évolution du professional aussi bien que de l’être humain. C’est un livre important pour tous les professionnels qui accompagnent les adultes dans leur croissance et la réalisatin de leur potential, introduisant a la fois une perception profonde des “clients” ainsi qu’une réflexion sur soi-même. Dans cette facon, le livre peut induire chez soi une transformation profonde de son être, donnant un nouvel élan dans sa vie professionnelle ainsi que privée. Vour pourrez réévaluer tout ce que vous avez appris jusqu’a maintenant d’un point de vue tres personnel, et aurez l’opportunité d’analyser votre propre développement. Programme Francais CDF Philips-Laske 2009 Read More...