Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sound, step-by-step guidance for positive meetings, October 26, 1997
By A Customer
Are you a beleagured group leader, suffering from energy lag, tough-to-handle participants, miscommunication, and/or confusion of purpose? If so, Jeanie Marshall's "Energetic Meetings" is for you. Weighing in at a little over 100 pages, this user-friendly volume is packed with bright ideas for handling all manner of meeting difficulties respectfully, effectively and with grace. "Energetic Meetings" is intended for gatherings of every stripe, including staff meetings, management meetings, corporate retreats, committee meetings, training programs, political gatherings, networking sessions, religious groups, and family pow-wows. Whether it's two people getting together to complete a class assignment, or a group of 300 assembling to decide the future of a major organization, Jeanie maintains that the same principles of mutual empowerment and skillful management of group energy apply. Her essential premise is "that the whole universe is composed of energy. Every person and every thing...is part of a whole, interconnected by a field of energy that is invisible to ordinary eyesight." This premise is not new. It is the foundation of Eastern mysticism, and has been popularized in the West by Fritzjof Capra ("The Tao of Physics"), Deepak Chopra ("Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine"), and many others. But what is new in Jeanie's presentation of this concept is its practical application to ordinary human interactions. Challenging us to go beyond old beliefs in competition, hierarchical structure, power over others, and other limiting concepts that are seen as major barriers to meaningful communication and decision-making, she provides the stepping stones to the New Paradigm in which "we allow life to happen, with a maximum of joy and a minimum of control and struggle. We receive instead of take. We collaborate instead of compete. We believe in abundance instead of lack. We seek to empower ourselves and to facilitate others' empowerment, instead of trying to take control. We put more faith in the invisible than in the visible. We know that we are interconnected. We trust our intuition." "Energetic Meetings" offers sound, step-by-step guidance for creating a positive meeting environment, for encouraging positive group interactions, and for addressing difficult behaviour such as domination, information-withholding, and argumentativeness. Chances are good that if a facilitator follows Jeanie's directives for setting the stage for a meeting, the difficult behaviour that plagues so many gatherings will occur far less frequently, if at all. Attentive readers will not be deceived by the simplicity and clarity of Jeanie's words, but will note that she is challenging group leaders and participants to leap far beyond their current beliefs about themselves and about how things work. In her generous, open-hearted, and gentle manner, Jeanie is urging all of us to operate from our highest intention and deepest integrity. Nothing less will do.
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