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)