Overlap 09 - The Confluence of Old and New
What struck me most about Overlap 09 is the confluence between what I’ll call “ancient approaches” and new ways of thinking. Overlap represents a new or innovative style of gathering and working together. It involves collaboration around big problems in a free-flowing, open, highly communicative, creative way. Our typical ways of working see us pounding out deliverables or outputs from our box in the sky and mainly interacting with, or through, machines like computers and mobile devices. For me, experiencing Overlap was like entering a new world. Having my eyes opened to new ways of collaborating and ultimately, getting work done.
But, what struck me, is the activities we did at Overlap are not new. In fact, a lot of them are rooted in ancient approaches to solving problems. For example, the telling of stories and sharing of oral histories from “elders” or those at advanced levels of life experience with other, less life-experienced members. I learned a lot through this approach. Mainly, that good storytelling is a critical skill to learn in order to be an effective communicator.
Another ancient approach was the physical activity incorporated throughout the entire experience. Tai chi, yoga, acting, dance, etc. This taught me to be self-aware, but more than that, it forced me to switch cognitive focus throughout my entire body thus freeing up thinking space in my head.
I see the overlap between old and new as representative of a critical element of practice for how we might work and learn in new ways: what are ancient approaches to interacting in the new world?
