Conversations For Transformation: Essays Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard

Conversations For Transformation

Essays By Laurence Platt

Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard

And More

Terse Transformed Communication

Cowboy Cottage, East Napa, California, USA

October 4, 2016


This essay, Terse Transformed Communication, is the third in the tenth trilogy Questions For A Friend:
  1. Attracted To Dance
  2. I Told A Friend I Love You
  3. Terse Transformed Communication
in that order. 		The first trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Prelude
  2. Ask Me Anything
  3. Coming Around Again
in that order.
The second trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Familiar Unfamiliar Territory
  2. Interview
  3. Straight Talk
in that order. 		The third trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Dancing With My Mouth
  2. Cave Paintings
  3. Velvet Tsunami
in that order.
The fourth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Creating Creating
  2. Tell Me Something About Nothing
  3. Lucid Disclosures
in that order. 		The fifth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Closer And Closer
  2. Tête À Tête
  3. Dancing With Life
in that order.
The sixth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. What Would I Ask You If I Could Ask You Anything?
  2. Wonderings About Nothing In Particular
  3. Tipping Point
in that order. 		The seventh trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Beyond Breathing Underwater
  2. Bold Faced Truth
  3. What You Create For Yourself About Me
in that order.
The eighth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Once In A Lifetime
  2. Fireside Chat
  3. Whole And Complete
in that order. 		The ninth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Questions For A Friend
  2. Nothing Else I'd Rather Be Doing
  3. Free To Be And Free To Act
in that order.
The eleventh trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. A Context Worth Playing In
  2. Tie The Brush To My Hand
  3. Unimaginably Terse
in that order. 		The twelfth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. What Will I Do When You Die?
  2. Access
  3. The Newest Piece Of Work
in that order.
The thirteenth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. Worthy Of The Company
  2. Creating Them For Myself
  3. Standing With Masters
in that order. 		The fourteenth trilogy Questions For A Friend is:
  1. This Context Of Privilege
  2. I'm Not Going To Let It Go
  3. Questions For A Friend XIV III: Not Yet Titled (working title)
in that order.
This essay, Terse Transformed Communication, is the second in a quadrilogy on Communication:
  1. Communication
  2. Terse Transformed Communication
  3. A Certain Quality Of Communication
  4. When I Communicate Clearly, You're A Better Communicator
in that order.

Werner, in this our tenth Questions For A Friend exchange, is answering two of my ten questions before the scheduled duration of this occasion ends. Until then, he's spending some significant time answering them, arguably covering more detailed ground than he would have covered answering more questions in the same period.

For example, in his second answer presented below (it's his answer to my third question), he's essentially laying bare the entire Leadership course  in two holographic sentences.

It's an astonishing, jaw-dropping demonstration of terse transformed communication.

The Second Question



"It's often said no one is irreplaceable. In the work of transformation, you're arguably irreplaceable. When you look to your legacy, does a successor occur for you?"

I don't know what I'd do if I ever found out you won't be around any more. I think I'd take a slow walk on a long beach somewhere. And I may not want to come back. I'd just keep walking. I can't imagine a world without you. I can't imagine anyone replacing you. Yes I can imagine your work  going on forever. Nothing can stop it now. It's fait accompli. The genie's out of the lamp, and she ain't going back in again - ever. But no you? It's unimaginable for me.


<quote>

THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE PAYING THE PRICE TO MASTER WHAT HAS BEEN CREATED SO FAR, AND WHO HAVE EVEN MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO WHAT HAS BEEN CREATED SO FAR. SOME OF THESE PEOPLE WILL STEP UP TO BAT AND SOME OF THEM WILL HAVE A GOOD CHANCE TO TAKE WHAT HAS BEEN CREATED FAR BEYOND WHERE IT WILL BE WHEN I STOP BEING CREATIVE OR I DIE. SINCE I CAME OUT OF THE WOODWORK, THERE IS EVEN A CHANCE THAT SOMEONE UNLIKELY WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE THE WORK FURTHER.

<unquote>


I love the way you say "There is even a chance ...". You're right: there is that chance. I love it that you see your possible successor in this expectant way.

I also love the way you say "Since I came out of the woodwork ...". I love it that you see yourself in this Self-deprecating way.

The Third Question



"In the Leadership Course you promise participants will leave the course being a leader and exercising leadership as their natural Self-expression in any situation and no matter what the circumstances. What makes it possible for you to deliver this, the holy grail of leadership courses, where others fall short?"

Browsing some of the material that's out there on leadership, I get the sense the people who write the books don't really know what it is they're writing about, and the people who deliver the courses don't really know what it is they're delivering. Even more than that, they may succeed in pointing some course participants toward understanding  what leadership is. But to promise they'll all  come out of their courses being  leaders? That's just not possible. No one can promise that. Yet you do.


<quote>

A PERSON'S WAY OF BEING  AND WAY OF ACTING  ARE BOTH A NATURAL CORRELATE  (NATURALLY, NECESSARILY, CLOSELY CONNECTED; IN-A-DANCE-WITH) THE WAY IN WHICH WHAT THEY ARE DEALING WITH OCCURS  (SHOWS UP) FOR THEM. FOR THOSE PARTICIPANTS OF THE LEADERSHIP COURSE WHO MASTER THE CONTENT OF THE COURSE, BY USING THE COURSE TO DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES WHAT IS PRESENTED IN THE COURSE, THE COURSE LEAVES THOSE PARTICIPANTS USED BY  FOUR FOUNDATIONAL FACTORS FOR BEING A LEADER AND EXERCISING LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVELY AS ONE'S NATURAL SELF-EXPRESSION, AND USED BY  FOUR ASPECTS OF A CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR BEING A LEADER AND EXERCISING LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVELY AS ONE'S NATURAL SELF-EXPRESSION, AND FINALLY BY ELIMINATING OR AT LEAST SIGNIFICANTLY RELAXING THE ONTOLOGICAL FUNCTIONAL AND PERCEPTUAL CONSTRAINTS THAT GET IN THE WAY OF ONE'S NATURAL SELF-EXPRESSION.

<unquote>


There it is: the entire Leadership course in two holographic sentences.

Wow!

Concordance To Werner's Answer To The Third Question

Werner is speaking both masterfully and painstakingly ie in carefully constructed, pointed terms answering the third question. I'll flesh out some of them here from the Leadership course materials, to give you a greater, accurate context from which to listen him. That said, these expansions aren't intended as substitutes for experiencing him directly in the Leadership course.


A: The four foundational factors  for being a leader and exercising leadership effectively as one's natural Self-expression are:

 1)  Integrity (in Werner's model, a positive phenomenon):

Being whole and complete - achieved by "honoring one's word" (creates workability, develops trust);

 2)  Authenticity:

Being and acting consistent with who you hold yourself out to be for others, and who you hold yourself to be for yourself. When leading, being authentic leaves you grounded, and able to be straight without using force;

 3)  Being committed to something bigger than oneself:

Source of the serene passion (charisma) required to lead and to develop others as leaders, and the source of persistence (joy in the labor of) when the path gets tough;

 4)  Being cause in the matter:

By "being cause in the matter" Werner means being cause in the matter of everything in your life as a stand you take for yourself and life - and acting from that stand. This contrasts with it being your fault, or that you failed, or that you are to blame, or even that you did it. It is not true that you are the cause of everything in your life. Rather, that you are the cause of everything in your life, is a place to stand from which to view and deal with life.


B: The four aspects of a contextual framework  for being a leader and exercising leadership effectively as one's natural Self-expression are:

 1)  what leader and leadership are as linguistic abstractions;

 2)  what leader and leadership are as phenomena;

 3)  what leader and leadership are as domains;

 4)  what leader and leadership are as terms.


C: Ontological functional  constraints that get in the way of one's natural Self-expression are:
D: Ontological perceptual  constraints that get in the way of one's natural Self-expression are:
You'll discover all of the above terms fleshed out even further in

and particularly in

The Bottom Line:

The Leadership Course

Werner's promise for the Leadership Course is participants will leave the course being a leader and exercising leadership as their natural Self-expression in any situation and no matter what the circumstances.

For an expanding list of respected academic and business institutions worldwide for whom Werner has delivered the Leadership course and his current new work, click here.

To register yourself to participate in the Leadership course, click here.


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