Free Space: Field Guide

In the middle of high speed communication, effortless connections and ultra-short meetings, we notice that we cannot do without conversations. Free Space – Field guide to conversations makes a wealth of inspiring and practical guides available to anybody who wants to start and conduct conversations which are rich in content, depth and reflection. All the practical guides foster personal and mutual inquiry, in small and large groups, in formal and informal settings, ranging from the boardroom of the CEO to a local café around the corner. Philosophers-in-practice, Jos Kessels, Erik Boers and Pieter Mostert have developed them over the past years in all kinds of organisations.

This book offers an extension of the practical guides in their previous book, Free Space and Room to Reflect (2005). In their daily work with many different groups and in many different situations the authors have developed more than 80 different formats for practising and facilitating conversations. For the first time such an abundance of varying approaches has been collected in a single book – hence, a true ‘Field guide to conversations’.

Conversations rich in content, depth and reflection do not arise by themselves. If we truly want to think together, then forms of conversation are needed, forms of engagement which enable us to stay with a question in a pleasant and a strict way. The practical guides in this book outline these forms. All are introduced briefly with an easy-to-read, practical description of the steps to be taken.

This book celebrates the development and use of the free arts, the joy of inquiries and reflections in a free space. It is a serious and necessary kind of playing – demanding and challenging. It may even be useful, if you want it to be. But above all, it is a beautiful and fulfilling play, fit for free spirits.