Lauren Oliver
— 10th — (1981) Ronald Reagan
A perennial student? Sometimes I so fear. After alternating school and employment, my sojourn through UCLA's Clinical Psychology program has reconciled the two: continuous clinical practice while completing Ph.D. requirements. These are nearly accomplished, fostering hope that there is indeed life after the Ph.D.
Despite continued satisfaction and fascination with the practice of psychotherapy, my interest in dynamics of groups and organizations directs me toward a career in organization development consulting. Teaching a course last year and this in group dynamics and building support groups confirms the import of this area for the vision of my work. I would like to follow my dissertation research on feedback in work groups with a field application. So the threads of my future weave a pattern ….
My liaison over the last year and a half with a fascinating Korean man is another richly-colored thread. Ki Choong reminds me that my work is my first priority, as he asserts with equal vigor that he is second. His nurture is a welcome gift. Also, observing his work in corporate planinng makes more vivid the world of the private corporation into which I shall soon venture. Finally, recent work in conflict negotiation for a couple of local food cooperatives keeps my heart and my hand yet in touch with social change concerns. All these parts add up to a rich, stimulating, if often pressured, life. I like it, although I shall breathe much more freely post-doctorally.
— 15th — (1986) Ronald Reagan
Since receiving my Ph.D. in clinical psychology (U.C.L.A.) and years of work with small groups (in team-building, research, and counseling) I have concentrated my energies on larger organizations (professionally) and smaller ones (familially) — both with a cross-cultural theme. My current job in the auto industry is under the leadership of Toyota, a joint venture with GM. It's a fascinating experience in organization designed for quality manufacture.
With my husband KiChoong (born and raised in Korea), I have parented a delightful son Andrew who demands the best from us and helps us grow daily.
— 20th — (1991) George H. W. Bush
The last six years have brought me great challenge, in my task as architect of the Training and Development function for NUMMI, the Toyota-GM startup. My clinical psych, skills are useful, but far from the primary bag-o'-tricks I've needed to survive and thrive in this rough-and-ready auto manufacturing plant of 3000. And now we're growing again, adding a truck line and 700 team members!
I have received great support from the Japanese values and leadership, which, drew me and many others to the company, for creating a learning environment. And my own learning curve has been steep. Yet six years at this cutthroat pace has brought my workaholism into full bloom. Time for a cure! So now my husband, KiChoong, and son, Andrew, are on R and R in Tahiti, to let go the last six years and begin to envision the next six to ten years. Perhaps I'll have made a decision by June. See you then!
— 25th — (1996) Bill Clinton
I REMEMBER the day after graduation, packing up my VW bug and starting my drive to California —returning "home" to graduate school.
Well, UCLA—in Los Angeles—was a very different world from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yet, in L.A., I did get my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology as well as met my husband, Kichoong Kim, recently from Korea and getting his M.B.A. at UCLA. After having lived alone most of my graduate years, I was ready for a new life style.
Kichoong took a job at Advanced Micro Devices—a perfect reason to move north, back to the Bay Area. I then needed to decide my direction: set up a clinical practice, or get a job at an innovative company to utilize my organization development skills and interests. But first, an important pause … our son Andrew Sonu was born, and began—as he continues—to bring great joy to our lives. Just as I finished setting up a private practice in Berkeley, I was offered a job I couldn't refuse: to start up and manage the training function at NUMMI, the GM-Toyota joint venture.
I loved the eight hectic years at NUMMI, where "start up" fever never stopped. The regular elevenhour days sped by as I learned to manage in the joint Japanese—American—UAW culture, and was able to initiate new, experimental projects and programs on an everyday basis. I even spent three months working on the line as a supervisor to gain hands-on experience of the Toyota Production System—and as the first woman manager working in plant operations.
Finally, the number of tears I shed in the shower on yet another day when I would leave for work without seeing my darling Andrew shifted the balance and I accepted an exciting offer at Pacific Gas and Electric as an internal Executive Consultant. I teamed up with external consultants I introduced to the company to bring GE's "Workout" process to PG&E to restructure work processes and reduce costs to increase competitiveness. Over three years, we helped save millions of dollars and position the company for deregulation.
I'm glad I changed jobs when I did. I needed more time for personal issues in the last three years. First the 'bad' news … my parents each suffered a bout with cancer; I had my own health problems; but hardest has been the death this last April of my brother from cancer. Now in middle age, we need to expect these losses. Yet I wasn't prepared—especially for the ripples of pain and exhaustion which run throughout the family.
And the 'good' news … we made a wonderful "joint venture" agreement with Kichoong's brother and his wife: their dear eldest son, Songu, would come to the U.S., to live with us and go to school. He came in February, 1992, with his grandfather and our niece Minsun. They stayed for most of the next year, and Songu is with us still—fulfilling our dream for a second child. My parents are alive and well today, and plan to join us for the Twenty-fifth Reunion festivities. Last weekend I managed an end-of-season camping trip with my brother's sons (two and five) while their mother Kathleen continues to make Oliver's Books her business.
This year I'm in another new 'job': I've joined forces with my husband K. in the business he started to assist U.S. firms to enter the Korean market, through representation or joint venture. I bring my consulting and strategic planning skills and auto industry background to the mix. I'm getting a stretch in this new realm of small business, plus the challenge of twenty-four hours daily with my dear K.
Andrew and Songu are top students in their seventh grade class, as well as excellent athletes. They play sports all seasons. As for favorites, today Andrew was listed for the 'A' team in basketball, and Songu wins awards in track. Most important, they are best friends to one another. They are different and complementary in many facets, and I am so grateful for this richness in my life—my "best outcomes," hands down. I look forward to your meeting them.
— 30th — (2001) George W. Bush
I've been enjoying the high school years with my sons: drama, a capella singing, track, soccer, and many other glories. They are readying for college; Songu will study electronic engineering at California Polytechnic, and Andrew will probably study history at Vassar. After traveling for several years of consulting, I took a local position with Personal Decisions International, heading up the executive coaching practice area. Most of my colleagues are psychologists, so after years in business, it feels like I've returned to my roots as a clinical psychologist. I'm enjoying the one-on-one coaching as well as a new coaching group I'm starting for women executives. With the lengthy divorce nearly complete, I'm anticipating dating and having a little more fun in my life.
Can't wait to see you all at the Thirtieth!
— 35th — (2006) George W. Bush
Living in the country for the last four years agrees with me. In Shelter Cove, Hamboldt County (two hundred miles north of the Golden Gate), I built a house with views of the Pacific. The ancient redwoods, changing tides, and the slower pace of rural living have renewed my spirit and given me clarity about next steps.
It's one way to deal with the empty nest! I left just after my son, Andrew, went off to Vassar and my son, Songu, settled at CalPoly, San Louis Obispo. Now Andrew has graduated (in psychology and history) and is visiting me as I write before he goes to Korea to study his second language and then probably onto the Peace Corps. Songu is finishing his B.S. in engineering and applying for jobs. I am grateful for fine friendships with these future leaders and gentle yet powerful men. Leaving the corporate world behind, I've been coaching individuals, couples, families, and businesses ready to develop the enterprise with employee participation and creative solutions. Using Shinoda Bolen's idea of the millionth circle, I'm cooking up a new project, Circle Works: to train and empower women's circles and other collaborative groups with the tools of cooperative work, decision-making, conflict resolution, and other skills to lay the sustainable foundation for our shift from the dominator-culture to the partnership or circle way. Power to the peaceful!
— 40th — (2011) Barack Obama
Hello, classmates. Shortly after I saw you at our Thirty-fifth, I partnered up with Jefferson Parson, singer-songwriter and sculptor. We are homemaking in Harris (another small burg in southern Humboldt County, California) and in northeast Brazil, where we are building in a rural seaside town — with room for guests. Still practicing psychotherapy, especially with couples; I'm shifting gears to: writing a book on Circles; learning Portuguese; more gardening. Current local battle is to prevent CalTrans (-portation department) from "widening the road" through our beautiful Richardson Grove State Park, threatening ancient Redwoods. (See saverichardsongrove.org; listen to Jefferson's RG songs at YouTube music videos; write Governor Jerry Brown.)
I bid final farewells to both my parents in the last two years. Still seeking to keep my ninety-threeyear- old aunt healthy, despite the scourge of urinary tract infection (UTI) — an asymptomatic, subterranean saboteur of elders, with suppressed immune systems. (Medical professionals, if you can help me with diagnostics and treatment for UTI, probably blood infection now, not visible until its toxic, I'd be most obliged.) Solid, intimate relationships with my two sons are sources of evernew joy. Listening to Dr. Vandana Shiva this morning on the Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth just presented to the UN; good work by many nurtures my faith we will shift our relationship with Mother Earth and be able to sustain the lives of my great-grandchildren.
Some of you joined me in Circles at our Thirty-fifth. What's a Circle? A group of eight to ten, gathering consciously to generate evolutionary growth and high-creativity results: for individual participants, for the Circle as an agent of change in community. Central to the CirclesWork model is a toolkit for managing the heat. We imperfect beings usually lack a common language and common praxis for clearing the air: those inevitable misunderstandings, irritations, and lack of clarity that do generate heat and unrest. We choose to set aside time in every meeting to contemplate and address any emotion-laden matters so oft ignored. Uncleared emotions swept under the rug — or mattress — will eventually be noticed, even by those with less sensitivity than the "Princess and the Pea." They can blow a group to smithereens; or, folks drift away due to disillusionment with "one more committee" bogged down and absent creativity. Tools of Cooperative Work offer high functionality for a self-managing Circle. Still on my mission for a peaceful world, I look forward to seeing you in September.
— 45th — (2016) Barack Obama
The last three years have been full and rich. After eight years of getting to know Jefferson Parson deeply — and laughing a lot — we tied the knot at Machu Picchu on November 2, 2013. My sister Janet and her husband, Mike, joined us to climb Machu Picchu mount and then to dodge guards and hold our ceremony in that amazing location. We flew from northern Brazil, where we had just finished building a house in a tiny fishing village.
In 2014 we decided to move from Humboldt County, California, to be closer to medical resources to treat my Lyme disease and its impact on my heart. So in 2015 we moved to Ashland, Oregon — and we love it! After a two-and-a-half-year gap, we just returned from two months in Sagi, Brazil, where I swam each day in the warm ocean, mother of us all; my health is much improved. I have the energy to teach CirclesWork! tools (e.g., shared leadership, group dynamics, conflict prevention, communication skills and practices) to a couple of nonprofits, Pachamama Alliance and Community Rights, who are determined to be high-functioning, productive groups. I'm field-testing my new revision of CirclesWork! Guide, designed for self-leading, self-guided training. Getting excellent, helpful feedback, so I'm rewriting as we go. Readying another book for publication. My son Andrew is slaving away on his PhD in physical therapy, and my son Songu has set a wedding date for August 6. Much love, joy, and good fortune abound. Now, if I could just get Bernie elected, my world work would get a big boost.
— 50th — (2021) Joseph Biden
I look out on woods, with deer grazing, mountains traversed by the Pacific Crest Trail, and await the parade of turkeys and evening appearances of fox and bear. I am privileged to live outside Ashland, Oregon in an artfully crafted wood home – a space of beauty. My husband Jefferson, now 79 years old and a survivor of last year’s stroke, says he’s so glad someone built a perfect home here, so he doesn’t have to do it. When he and I met 14 years ago in So. Humboldt County, we each lived in homes we had built. My father built 3 homes over his family’s lifetime; my two sisters each built their homes. I never thought I would, but after moving to Humboldt when my sons left for college and my marriage had failed, I did just that, on the ocean at Shelter Cove.
I am most grateful for my relationships: Jefferson, an artist of many stripes; close and happy connections with my sons Andrew and Songu (with Julianne, Daniel & Irene); eldest sister Janet – last remaining sibling of four - with Iron-man Mike in Seattle, and Kathleen, wife of my brother Robbie (sons Thomas & Carroll). My parents both lived to be 89, so I am planning on a long life.
As a clinical psychologist, my fascination with the diversity of human beings – tho' we are all more simply human than otherwise – has led me to engage with folks and organizations with capacities to nourish and sustain community. My first job after getting my PhD at UCLA was manager of organization development and training at NUMMI, first Toyota plant in the US. What? Work in the auto industry? Yes, I learned so much from the Toyota Production System, recognized as one of the finest organizational systems in the world. Auto workers who worked decades in GM’s alienating and often unsafe environment seized opportunities for meaningful teamwork, pride in building a truly safe, high-quality vehicle, and sharing their ideas to improve how they do their jobs, with the authority to shut down the line if safety or quality was not assured. 10 years in that management position gave me opportunities for steering organizational design, management development and training programs that lifted skills and confidence in a humane working environment.
That was my best job - until I returned to convening circles for safe, vulnerable, meaningful, action-oriented dialogue, able to accomplish innovative projects in a democratic social environment, and founding CirclesWork!
My recent book, Six Rings to CirclesWork: Choosing the Art of Cooperation, offers tools to build strong wise individuals, healthy community, and to wage peace. Using shared practices at start-up prevents having to re-create the wheel; building blocks include a common lexicon and fostering a group identity, shared mental models, and trust.
The CirclesWork culture of cooperation enables a shift from power-over to power-with, a shift from hierarchy to democratic practices of egalitarian, shared leadership; tolerance and respect for differences, and a values net nurture connection, mutual respect, care and belonging. “Hot” issues – e.g. healing our national pandemic of loneliness; and, finding the path to anti-racism– require the safety to speak openly, make mistakes, and express our needs without blame. Circles, like many health care teams, have adopted tools from the Toyota production system such as “stop the line,” which empowers team members to interrupt processes when a situation is in question.
A feedback-rich environment for creative breakthroughs, Circle atmosphere cultivates compassion and discipline, celebrates diversity, reveals common purpose and well-being while engendering trust through transparency, straight talk, self-reflection and humility about one’s own imperfections as well as one’s strengths.
A recent report from a Circle member declares:
"I experienced CirclesWork first in a Game Changer Pachamama group [an ethical and ecological leadership program] that met for two years, following the CirclesWork guidelines. In a short time, the nine of us became fast friends who could easily communicate our deepest thoughts while feeling seen and heard. We emulate the core team of the Pachamama Alliance – Ashland, an action-oriented group that has organized global warming Drawdown and Game Changer [ethical ecological leadership] programs for hundreds of people, with incentives for healing our planet and ourselves from the modern nightmare our society finds itself in. I greatly admire the work of these people and the collaboration of their individual commitments for a better society.
Participating in a CirclesWork circle helps me to integrate my daily self with my larger aspirations. I find support for healthy habits and deep communal energy. The circle structure encourages me to live my best life and to work with others for common goals.
CirclesWork is the way I see for our society to confront our social ills and evolve into a regenerative community--using these circles which touch us all personally, to encourage democratic consensus in communal decisions. CirclesWork offers critical tools for becoming a balanced egalitarian society."
I enjoyed facilitating several circles at our 25th Reunion, along with Dr. Bonnie Burstein, co-founder and co-author of CirclesWork! books. Inspired by the success of circles, I continue to collaborate with organizations doing peace work in the prisons, working for social and environmental justice in diverse communities, and to encourage empowered citizens in cooperative action in US, in Brazil, and in Kenya. I will energetically encourage their proliferation, keeping love and faith alive.
Looking forward to seeing you all again.