Oliver wrote:
"The Foundation I would return to is not an organisation with a flat structure. In fact, it could be an organisation that looks a lot like this one, because I don't believe reporting lines or titles have as much of an impact on dynamics as we think they do. What *does* have an impact is how we recognise the value of emotional labour, how we recognise our implicit biases and advantages, and how honest we are with each other: not just in terms of what we *say* but in terms of how we *listen*. In other words, the litmus test for me is: what happens when the socially and politically weakest person in the organisation has an idea?"
---
My thoughts:
It was always clear that Oliver was a genius, both analytically and sardonically superior to most of us. We always had a leg up on him though, because he said some wacky and reckless things as a young lad as part of his relentless diatribes.
It has been an enormous privilege to watch him turn into a genius of culture and people as well. To see someone so smart apply the same rigor and ferocious focus to thinking about an entire systems (rather than only where they fit in it) and all of its links (especially those weakest or most vulnerable), is just phenomenal.
It also makes me sad, because we've lost him. His only kindness was leaving just as he was clearly going to surpass us all in both intelligence and humanity.
Bye Oliver. Keep your head way up.
-Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi)
On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 2:27 PM, Jake Orlowitz jorlowitz@gmail.com wrote:
Oliver wrote:
"The Foundation I would return to is not an organisation with a flat structure. In fact, it could be an organisation that looks a lot like this one, because I don't believe reporting lines or titles have as much of an impact on dynamics as we think they do. What *does* have an impact is how we recognise the value of emotional labour, how we recognise our implicit biases and advantages, and how honest we are with each other: not just in terms of what we *say* but in terms of how we *listen*. In other words, the litmus test for me is: what happens when the socially and politically weakest person in the organisation has an idea?"
My thoughts:
It was always clear that Oliver was a genius, both analytically and sardonically superior to most of us. We always had a leg up on him though, because he said some wacky and reckless things as a young lad as part of his relentless diatribes.
It has been an enormous privilege to watch him turn into a genius of culture and people as well. To see someone so smart apply the same rigor and ferocious focus to thinking about an entire systems (rather than only where they fit in it) and all of its links (especially those weakest or most vulnerable), is just phenomenal.
It also makes me sad, because we've lost him. His only kindness was leaving just as he was clearly going to surpass us all in both intelligence and humanity.
Bye Oliver. Keep your head way up.
-Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi) _______________________
How will he keep his head up now that you have made it so large and heavy? ;-)
But I agree - though we haven't interacted much, and only years ago, I have always observed him to have an incisive and insightful mind. It sounds like the projects will continue to benefit from his presence, so I'm happy to hear that. Who knows what else the future holds? Maybe in ten years he will successfully interview for the role of WMF ED.
+1 to Jake.
On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 11:27 AM, Jake Orlowitz jorlowitz@gmail.com wrote:
Oliver wrote:
"The Foundation I would return to is not an organisation with a flat structure. In fact, it could be an organisation that looks a lot like this one, because I don't believe reporting lines or titles have as much of an impact on dynamics as we think they do. What *does* have an impact is how we recognise the value of emotional labour, how we recognise our implicit biases and advantages, and how honest we are with each other: not just in terms of what we *say* but in terms of how we *listen*. In other words, the litmus test for me is: what happens when the socially and politically weakest person in the organisation has an idea?"
My thoughts:
It was always clear that Oliver was a genius, both analytically and sardonically superior to most of us. We always had a leg up on him though, because he said some wacky and reckless things as a young lad as part of his relentless diatribes.
It has been an enormous privilege to watch him turn into a genius of culture and people as well. To see someone so smart apply the same rigor and ferocious focus to thinking about an entire systems (rather than only where they fit in it) and all of its links (especially those weakest or most vulnerable), is just phenomenal.
It also makes me sad, because we've lost him. His only kindness was leaving just as he was clearly going to surpass us all in both intelligence and humanity.
Bye Oliver. Keep your head way up.
-Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi) _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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