I saw Ken Wilber’s blog this morning and there was a request for “turquoise CEO” applications for Integral Institute. From the blog:
Integral Institute is now searching for a CEO, which will be the first time we have officially filled the office of CEO since our inception. In other words, this is the chance to be the first CEO in the history of the first truly integral organization in history.
Sound interesting? I hope so, since that extraordinary significance and historical fame is what you will get instead of pay. Well, we actually pay, although it will not be what you are used to getting if you are a typical business CEO. What this means is that the office will very likely be filled either by somebody who is young and somewhat inexperienced, or older and possibly even retired. But, of course, we would love to hear from any and all who are seriously interested, and want to be part of an extended integral family that is already changing the world.
First official CEO? Well how come I thought there had been a CEO at I-I for almost 3 months named Steve Frezee? This from an e-mail I received that was addressed to the larger I-I mailing list on September 11th:
Well, it looks like something is going on. I don’t know what, but it doesn’t look good from the outside.
UPDATE: I’ve started a new post, Steve Frazee Responds… to continue this discussion. At the end of the comment section for this post (which was getting kind of long and a little bit unhelpful) Steve posted a clarifying comment, which is what I’ve re-posted. Head over there if you’re interested, as I’ve shut the comments down for this post.
Popularity: 11% [?]
November 27th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
yeah, I wondered about this myself. Kooky.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Weird, but hey, you said you were looking for a job.
November 28th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Hey V,
Yeah I thought I received an email a while back about Steve Frazee was the new CEO of II. WTF?
I’m also wondering how they are gonna determine if the new CEO is “turquoise”? If Wilber thinks he is or what? Interesting…
-Shawn
November 28th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Handled poorly, definitely. I hope there will be some transparency on this – but I doubt it…may be that is for the best, depending on the type of issue.
Still, another “tick” against Ken for explaining things straight up. “which will be the first time we have officially filled the office of CEO since our inception”.
The weasel word here is “officially”. That can mean any number of things, and probably how Ken is thinking of this, I would imagine.
For example, I could see Steve being a “temp CEO” for the first three months, as when you join a new job you are a temp until after your first three months. So in this sense Steve Frazee was an “unofficial” CEO, because it hadn’t been finalized.
But again, that is weaseling – for whatever reason Ken decided to express it this way, it doesn’t look good. I can see not wanting to go into too much detail about “personnel” differences – that is a private conversation. Still, there is always the “We tried it out with Steve Frazee at the CEO position, and – nothing against Steve – but it simply wasn’t a good fit.”
I think that would be better than simply pretending that Steve Frazee wasn’t around – disappearing him, so to speak…
November 28th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Frazee has been disappeared. His mother is is marching around I-I Headquarters, carrying a sign, reading “Where is my son!?”
I am sure his body will turn up, eventually. BTW, does anybody know what Ken ever did with Gafni? I haven’t heard from him lately. Say, Gafni’s in need of a job, right?
November 28th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Tom, Tom, Tom,
Your sense of humour is EEVILLL, my friend, EEVILL…
November 28th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
I heard a rumor on Gary Stamper’s website that someone at I-I got canned for having a liaison with Ted Haggard. Discuss.
ok, I’m bad. That was NOT my Higher Self speaking.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
there definitely is something going on (wrong)…. keep your eyes peeled. it’s gonna break out soon….
November 28th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
agreed, this shit is nuts. how could anyone ever trust ken after first the IU fiasco, then gafni and wyatt earpy, and now this!?
November 29th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Bob,
It will turn out to have all been a test — of us. Things will always turn out to be a test — of us.
Any time control-freak Ken does something knucklebrained he farms out the blame. Is there anybody close to Ken who is loosed from total obsequiousness who might be able to whisper a return-to-sanity plan in Ken’s ear?
November 29th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Joe, Joe, Joe….Didn’t YOU post that rumor on my blog? Damn….I’m in enough trouble the graphic!!!!
~G
November 29th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
I have to admit I was afraid to add even a wry comment to this thread, as it soon degenerated from a bit of poking and needling at a folly into “knucklebrained” personal attacks and know-it-all preening. It’s a very sad commentary not about Ken Wilber or I-I, but about the cynical and destructive sorts of discourse rampant in the “integral blogosphere” these days. This is second-tier, folks?
November 29th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Lately, I’ve been a little unnerved with the rashness that I-I has been showing. I recognize that there are many mouths to feed, now that the Institute is expanding and trying to go commercial, but all this color labeling, AQAL spouting, and Integral “so-and-so” is both boring and worrisome. I can’t remember the last time I actually read anything remotely interesting from Ken. I thought Integral Spirituality was a waste of my money, to be honest, and which he’d step back from his organization for a year or so and actually publish the rest of his trilogy before he and his business embark on some fantastical quest to save the world, etc.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
DId I mention that I’m pissed he’s decided to write Many Faces in the same way he did Boomeritis?
Any chances of this material being taken seriously are completely slim, given his inability to write fiction. I was hoping something more along the lines of Marriage of Sense and Soul, written to attract more mainstream critical appreciation for his genius.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
gary: I said I “heard a rumor”; didn’t say whether or not I STARTED the rumor.
just poor attempts at humor, I’m afraid.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
Morpheus
It’s obvious that Ken does not want a truely turquoise CEO. Instead he wants another rich disciple to read Ken’s mind and do what Ken wants –e.g. a loyal follower with high level cognition and very low level morals and values.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:29 am
Geez, people. This stuff will stay up on the internet forever. I imagine that Ken has very high standards–he’s looking for something, and he’s not seeing yet. I think Integral Spirituality is great–it pull a lot of stuff into a small, hardcover package. I’ve found it very helpful. I’ve found the ILP kit to be very helpful, too. The shadow work has changed my life after about fifteen hours of working with it. I could write several caveats to my statements above, but I’m just not going to–I think Ken and all the hardworking people at I-I are doing good things in the world, and that’s an understatment.
November 30th, 2006 at 10:58 am
Not only did the CEO resign, the COO was fired, the Marketing Director, Art Director, Customer Service Manager, ILP Kit Product Manager and Media Manager walked out with more considering it. What could this mean?
November 30th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
@Neo: it means the I-I ship is in trouble. and there’s more rough sailing ahead. i wish them well.
November 30th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Maybe when Yellow looks up and sees Turquoise values it tends to mistake Turquoise’s actions as Green, especially if a large amount of lower level shadow content still needs to be worked out. While KW talks that a person must go through Green to become Yellow, KW abhors Green in general and doesn’t include the healthy aspects of Green’s values and morals. In my opinion, it’s quite likely that KW is projecting his own green shadow onto the interpersonal aspects of Turquoise.
November 30th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Joe, Joe, Joe,
If the horse’s tail wasn’t in the way, I wouldn’t recognize you.
“knucklebrained” is actually a rather kindly thing to say.
But you are right — I’m not operating from K.W.’s second tier.
November 30th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
Neo is right in his facts.
Maybe a cognitive line reaching up to Clear Light isn’t enough to pull a man up from a red center of gravity.
Maybe a writer should just write.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:53 am
Sounds in line to the manifest insanity.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:05 am
Thanks Scoop. I agree. Burning off Karma at the Causal cog line doesn’t mean that Karma is being dealt with at Red level values, morals, and/or emotions.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:54 pm
I’m just throwing this out there. Have you considered that all the amazing, truly wonderful people out there who walked out on I-I were maybe being, oh, I don’t know–really whiny and immature? A la Matthew Dallman? Same kind of riff? Did they feel victimized? Did they feel used? Did they feel hurt? Maybe they were… I have no idea–I’m several states removed from Colorado. Thing is, though, I was an immature, immoral, little asshole-twit circa 25-years-old. Most of them are like late-twenties too, right? Have any of them had real jobs, ever? I nearly had a meltdown when I first got out of grad school. I fucking hated my job. I still do. But that doesn’t mean the problem was the job–it was me. It still is me. Maybe many of them have had a whole lot more contact with reality than me. But maybe they don’t understand something very simple (which I didn’t): You have to sub-optimize the local systems to optimize the global system. Achieving necessary results on a larger scale sometimes means that you, personally, have to do stupid shit. And your feelings might get hurt. Maybe you disagree. Oh, well. Maybe you dialogue and express youself very skillfully, and you still end up having to do stupid shit. Deal with it. (Maybe that wasn’t the problem, of course.) There’s two quadrants… now let’s focus on the insides. All these great, giving amazing people who’ve been largely creating the culture that I’ve been absorbing for like three years… Apparently, a lot of them disagree with Ken, etc. Well, it takes two (or more) to Tango. Instead of focusing on merely how screwed up I-I purportedly is, let’s acknowledge that Ken, etc. disagreed with everyone who walked out. (Again, I am 100% completely removed. I have absolutely no idea what really has been happening or has happened.) Everyone who walked out is just as responsible for things falling apart as Ken, etc. are. If things are even really falling apart, which I doubt. Maybe things are just changing. Duh. What irritates me, honestly, is how personally everyone seems to take all of this. I was briefly on conference calls for an I-I project. The project was dissolved with a single email, without warning. Given, I wasn’t particularly invested, but, in any case, I really didn’t care. I have a life. I didn’t think this particular project was being run very well anyway, and I can understand why it was axed. (But I’m not going to wildly extrapolate from my extremely, extremely, extremely limited experience with I-I, by the way!) Was their axing-without-warning a little irresponsible? Maybe, maybe not. Did it probably leave people hanging who had invested time and energy? Yes… Again, I have a life, and I was hesitant to commit in the first place because of careful questions that I asked. (And I was right.) Was it difficult for these people who left to separate themselves from I-I, hence, when things weren’t going well, things got a little mean? I’ll buy that. Did Ken, etc. make it difficult for people to have lives outside of I-I, and is that a little irresponsible, and is he probably very, very charismatic? I’ll buy that. Maybe. Fine. But I-I is not a cult. Every one of the people who walked out has probably stated that verbatim at some point. And, again, we’re talking (late) twenty-somethings here… Where’s the responsibility?? Are we adults? Too much to ask, maybe. Does I-I media, and related sometimes make me cringe in acute embarrassment? Sure. But Ken is impeccable and responsible enough in his writing to a point that sometimes brings me to tears. (Yes, I’ve skimmed all the nasty crap with regards to accuracy, etc, etc. They’re missing the whole point before they even start writing.) Again, responsibility. Ken. Doesn’t leave you hanging. Takes you all the way through, again and again, from many different angles. He cares, deeply. Sure, all that interpersonal stuff is some different Lines. But some of that care and compassion is gonna spill over, however you look at it. What angers me, again, is that this poison you’re putting out onto the web has a very long half-life. And I would like people to not be biased against all the gifts that Wilber, etc. has to offer. Perez, excluded, as he was very obviously making a friendly joke. And he’s likely a better man than me. Others of you are sorta neutral, but you’ll still enabling a medium for all the nasty stuff. And the rest of you? Honestly, grow up or get off the web. (Yeah right, of course. 99% of the web is people like you.) Hopefully people who are reading this thread will get another perspective. And, again, I have absolutely no concrete data about any of this. This is all wild speculation on my part too. You’ve angered me …all the way up and all the way down.
And you’ve hurt my feelings, somehow– I guess by lashing out at something I obviously identify with and care about, four states away. And I bet you’d be hurting Ken’s feelings, too, though I doubt he’ll ever read this. 
As he’s pointed out, he does have feelings. 
And I hurt for everyone who’s had to leave I-I, too. Very best, everyone. (And, by the way, does hurt feelings make me green? Puh-lease. 
I hope this does more good than harm. And, Hi, everyone who’s reading this and gets it the same way I do. Without sarcasm–amazing party, no? 
The end.
December 1st, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Does anyone else notice how much Mark L’s writing is JUST LIKE Ken’s?
Even if Mark isn’t channeling Ken somehow..
I love that he writes:
(Again, I am 100% completely removed. I have absolutely no idea what really has been happening or has happened.)
Mark sure has a lot to say for someone that has no idea, no clue, no data…hmmm….maybe Mark IS Ken.
December 2nd, 2006 at 7:51 am
Ha.
No, I’m not Ken. Heh. This is the last thing I’ll say: I should not have used M.D.’s name up there. That was a pretty hypocritical and stupid thing to do.
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:40 am
If he is not Ken, then he’s very likely another who wants and tries really hard to appear insightful from an upper vision logic ’stance’ while doing all he can to skip lower level cognitive levels, especially lower vision logic -e.g. contextual abstractions. Ken abhors Green so why ‘stoop to such a level’ to actually go through it as Ken says we must –to at least get to yellow? In my opinion, disassociation runs ramped throughout Ken’s ability to walk the talk, so why wouldn’t his disciples follow his example to the end and beyond? ;-!
December 3rd, 2006 at 2:12 pm
btw, Kenwilber.com got updated. the first paragraph now says:
“Integral Institute is now searching for a CEO, our first official CEO (not a temporary and acting CEO, as we have now). In other words, this is the chance to be the first CEO in the history of the first truly integral organization in history.”
go figure
~C
December 4th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
I just got the email below from KW. Seems Frazee’s management style didn’t allow Ken to host cult orgies. I wonder if the good people subsidizing Integral Institute know they are donating their money to this lunatic and his “loft boys”. I’ll be seeking different employment ASAP.
(email sent from KW to staff, etc.)
As you all know, one of the first things that prior management did was try to control speech in the office by, among other things, forbidding everybody from using the F word. And then meddling in people’s private affairs, literally. You all know the extraordinary pain that caused.
Well, there’s a new sheriff in town, and staff can say whatever the fuck they want in the office. And if you want to have an affair, that’s your goddam fucking business, not mine. Let’s get a little care, warmth, trust, and basic sanity back in the workplace, whaddya say?
Say all the negatives about me and/or management you want, and that will not get you fired. Shit, I put up with Casey for two years, and only let him go cuz of the necessary downsizing, and then not because of the negatives. So please, you can talk to your friends again, and you say what you like, so let trust and care return—but please do your best to make it from your Big Mind, Big Heart, Big Brain, Big Hands, Big Everything you have…..
We will gently introduce an ongoing office ILP, with joy and lightness and an infinite ocean of ease all around, and we have a fantastic space to do it in….
Thank you very much, and fucking-A bubba………, K
December 4th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Inside Scoop: “Seems Frazee’s management style didn’t allow Ken to host cult orgies”
KW (allegedly): “Let’s get a little care, warmth, trust, and basic sanity back in the workplace, whaddya say?”
Inside Scoop, that’s warmth? That’s trust? That’s basic sanity? If you do work for I-I, I can see why I-I has such problems with staff. Try a little harder.
December 4th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
I’ve been wondering what’s been going on at I-I and why Steve was fired.
This explains the latter: “As you all know, one of the first things that prior management did was try to control speech in the office by, among other things, forbidding everybody from using the F word.”
Wow. I worked at I-I from Jan 05-Aug 05 and can’t imagine that type of office environment.
The downsizing is a necessary and painful step for I-I. Ken has known for a long time that the conventional advice would be to downsize staff and stick with profitable projects like Integral Naked. However, Ken didn’t want to fire anybody or limit project criteria to making money.
I personally thought we needed to downsize. Too many projects would be started then abandoned. Integral Naked could easily be maintained by 1 or 2 people.
I think part of the problem was that everytime Ken wanted something done, if no one on staff had the expertise, a person was hired full time to do it. That’s how I joined the team. Ken wanted Integral naked’s archives to be searchable. I had previous computer programming experience and was hired full time. After making IN searchable, I wrote code to automate the updating of the web site. The code never got implemented and is a worthless heap collecting code dust.
As I said, I-I needed downsizing. I sometimes thought to myself “Who would I lay off?” One of the first people I would have fired would be myself. So I did the only honorable thing I could do: I stuck around for a couple of months hoping to change my mind before quiting. Actually, the communication problem between myself and the crew in India had more to do with my decision to quit than anything else. Phase I is done, so I won’t go into the amusing details.
Still, I love I-I and want nothing but success for everyone over there. I-I is not a sinking ship in my eyes. To the contrary, I think this shakeup is necessary for the growth to come.
Best,
Frank
December 4th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
a note on that F-bomb ban: ken kinda portrays it as this fascist thought-control thing, but really it was a way to make things seem a little more professional, and to be treated as a small mindfulness practice. and guess what? it fucking worked! oh wait….
December 5th, 2006 at 12:30 am
The downsizing is a result of investors pulling money out with the resignation of Frazee.
December 5th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Looks like I misintpreted the F-bomb ban and reason for downsizing. Sometimes I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. At least my mistakes won’t be on the Internet forever. Oh, wait a minute…
December 5th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Hello all.
A friend sent me this thread today. I thought it was best to write something here. I’ll try to be brief but complete.
First, I’m alive and well and my mother knows where I am. That bit that Tom Armstrong wrote was really funny. I-I’s current offices are an old yoga studio in Boulder and just a small open space filled with used office furniture The idea of my mother wandering around that tiny space carrying a sign is hilarious.
I gave my resignation to Ken and told him I would work through January 31st. I resigned because Integral Institute under Ken’s leadership is not the type of organization that I want to be associated with. Ken’s theories are beautiful and I am eager to see them actualized in an organization and embodied by that organization’s leadership. I didn’t see that happening with Ken. Once I tendered my resignation I was immediately asked to leave. Ken has said complimentary things about my business skills and asked me to stay around consulting. I declined.
Ken has given the world a great gift with his maps. To ask him to be a good leader as well as a genius author may just be too much to ask of one human being. Isn’t his writing enough?
As of the time of my leaving, only one person was fired, and that was Rich Fegley the COO. Rich is a talented businessman and gave service to I-I with enthusiasm and humility for almost two years. Ken fired Rich. Ken and Rich can share their own perspectives on that event.
A number of other people have left or are leaving. The attrition is architected as layoffs, but it is my understanding that all these people desire to leave for the same reasons I resigned, but they should post here for themselves.
I am encouraged that these good people are going “into the world” to both learn and teach. Not much is happening at I-I, so the more Integral and opened hearted people that venture “out there” to offer healing and leadership in this world…well I think that’s a good thing. Ken has suggested that these people are leaving because they were in allegiance with me. It is an insult to suggest the good people that are leaving I-I are doing so for any reason other than it is best for them at this time.
I deeply disagree with Ken on a number of topics in the realms of professionalism, organizational planning and financial management, but the ultimate reason I left is how Ken treats people.
My interest is leading I-I was to quickly bring a number of concepts into reality such as fully functional centers, an annual Integral conference, a salons support plan, best in class web systems and professional financial and project management processes. Tax, legal and other issues needed immediate attention too. Improved staff environment including salary, insurance and suitable workspace took a high priority. Additionally, I was hoping to help I-I become an organization that was known for under-promising and over-delivering.
The Phase 2 plan included a strategy to grow I-I into what I was calling a “world class” institution. We had already begun planning a Multiplex relaunch that would make the website more useable and professional. A new 10,000 sqft office was also being designed. A real board of directions including AQAL seats to insure the quality of the products and services was in motion too. The executive team and staff were really putting their backs into bringing I-I up to a level of sophistication that was/is seriously missing.
Ken has said many times that he did not trust the plan nor understand how the revenue model in the plan was to be achieved. That trust and understanding was critical to making the plan work. In the end, I would say that personality and style conflicts between the builder (me) and the founder (Ken) led to the demise of the Phase 2 plan. The recent massive attrition I believe is due to more systemic leadership and integrity issues at I-I.
In closing, I would say this:
What is it that we expect of Ken that we are not fit to do ourselves? Ken has drawn the map; that is his genius. We should use the map to serve the world. Maybe many of us are using Ken as a reason to not encounter our own power and highest purpose. Ken may never be successful at turning Integral Institute into a healthy and professional organization. Let’s not use his failure as our excuse. I for one will be reading Ken Wilber for the rest of my life and using his work to serve the world in all I do.
Any of you are welcome to contact me at:
steve.frazee@yahoo.com
I will not engage in maligning Ken or mud slinging, but if I can help answer questions and give guidance I would be pleased to do so.
Love and light!
Steve
December 5th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Well done sir!