[Dialogue] An unanswered letter to the ICA USA Board of Directors and Executive Director

[David Dunn]

I sent this letter to the Board and executive staff on March 27, 2007. I
have not yet received any acknowledgement or reply.


Dear Carolyn [Antenen], Judy [Lindblad] and ICA USA Board colleagues:

I am writing out of deep regard and love for the two institutes for which
you, the EI/ICA Board of Directors and I now share responsibility. I hope to
offer, in a way that is both candid and constructive, several observations,
reflections and affirmations, then a request.

TWO OBSERVATIONS
While the Board has written and spoken about creating a network
organization, there is little of the communication and collaboration needed
to facilitate that new creation. Two cases in point.

First, from what I observe of the conversation underway with the ToP(R)
Trainers' Network, there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the
nature of a network organization, namely, that the components are distinct
organizations in their own right, united by a common purpose, vision and
mutual trust. I say misunderstanding because, while the TTN has been
speaking about its existence as a distinct, autonomous organization
collegially and formally related to the ICA, the Board has been speaking
about an entity that is 'integral' to‹in the sense of not distinct from‹the
ICA.

Second, while I have reached out, directly or indirectly, over the last
several months, hoping to care for and be included in conversations about
the future of the EI/ICA archives, I have been met with silence and
patronizing exclusion. I have been barred from the basement of 4750 N
Sheridan Road, Chicago; I have been excluded from a conference call to which
I was invited by Betty Pesek in response to the Board's request for the
participation of others interested in the Mathews Archive; and I have been
informed that it is too early for conversation about what we have called The
Global Archive because the Board has not yet formulated the required
'protocols.'

THREE REFLECTIONS. 
First, while it is manifestly true that the old forms were not working, it
is not self-evident that the players that gave the old forms what life they
had are not a potential resource of essential wisdom and creative energy.
Thus, to be precipitously expelled from one's office or to be secretly
excluded from conversations about the future on matters in which one has
both a professional and vocational interest seems short-sighted and
self-defeating. Colleagues who have been ill-treated or ignored will not
remain advocates or resources.

Second, when you, other Board members or Kirk Harris speak patronizingly to
those of us who share your interest in the future of the institutes, you
destroy the credibility of your message. Three examples: when you express
gratitude for my contribution but bar me from being of service, I understand
that your gratitude is hollow; when you write about participatory
partnership networks but discount the advice of the leadership of arguably
the most important partner network (TTN), you communicate disrespect; and
when you dialogue in isolation about the future, you communicate fear of
inclusion. None of this is 'ICA-like.'

Third, while I do not for a moment question yours or the Board's good
intentions, I have to conclude from my own and others' observations, that
the Board is exhausted, feels isolated and defensive, and therefore believes
that it must hide a life-threatening loss of institutional energy and wisdom
behind solely its own heroic effort.

TWO AFFIRMATIONS.
I believe that the Board can trust two fundamental understandings of the
EI/ICA that many colleagues certainly share and that indicate a potential
source of vast creative energy.

First, for the last 30 plus years EI/ICA has been the expression of a
disparate movement; it has been a network organization from the beginning.
Its unique legacy lies in the fact that, 1) it was created by colleagues to
offer various services to themselves and to the world; and that, 2) it was
intended by these diverse constituents to be a sign of what we all have
called the 'spirit movement,' the very network of colleagues (and beyond)
that the Board seems now to be holding at a distance while it attempts to
imagine the future in relative isolation.

Second, the EI/ICA has been an invention and project of an intentional
community whose members share a vocation of service to the world grounded in
the life of the spirit. I can only speak for myself, but I suspect that my
point of view is shared by many, namely, that I am not so much invested in
the future organizational form of these institutes as I am in the creative,
inventive process of the movement that bore then and grew up around them,
including the present Board of Directors, former staff and widely dispersed
colleagues.

A REQUEST.
Finally, I have a simple request that I hope you will take as an 'earnest'
of the positive potential of opening your creative process to a wider circle
of stakeholders, including former staff members.

Please give me your permission and blessing to examine the Global Archives
in the basement of 4750 N Sheridan Road, Chicago; to at least cursorily
survey and document its contents and condition; and to talk about its future
with any and all people who share an interest in its care and use. I believe
that the interest, good will and energy that will be generated by this kind
of collaboration will redound to the benefit and advantage of the EI/ICA,
better serve the Living Legacy project and further the care for the ICA's
Global Archives.

I expect to be in Chicago in the near future and will be grateful for an
early reply.

Grace and peace, trust and courage are my wish and prayer for all.

David Dunn

---
David Dunn
740 S Alton Way 9B
Denver, CO 80247
720-221-4661
cell: 720-314-5991
icadunn at igc.org




-- 
David Dunn
www.mirrorcommunication.com
david at mirrorcommunication.com
720-314-5991
Skype: dmirror

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