Experience – Michael Herman

I’ve worked with friends, colleagues, teachers and clients, on six continents, for more than thirty years. In 1990, I was an Outward Bound wilderness course instructor with an MBA in Finance from a top-ranked business school. From there, I followed a “road less traveled,” learning personally from more than my fair share of world-renowned thought leaders in organization development, leadership and transformation, agile methods, and more. These are the foundations of Inviting Agility, my own rigorous approach to effective organization, accelerating team learning and business agility.

I’ve supported leaders and change agents of all kinds. They’ve called me process lead, meeting facilitator, management consultant, project manager or agile coach. See below for more about my work, training and other adventures.

I can help you make incremental improvements and evolutionary leaps – starting where you are, adapting leading-edge practices to the people, systems and resources you have, building on what’s already working, and inviting everyone to make more of that.

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A Quick History

Studied economics, finance and healthcare administration. Entered consulting as a financial analyst and project planner.
Established Michael Herman Associates in 1991.
Learned from and practiced with more than my fair share of renowned thought leaders, innovators, and social change agents.
Worked with leaders of start-ups, small community organizations, large global companies, and everything between – on six continents.
Contributed to corporate reorganization, leadership development, business analysis, employee engagement, community building, and strategic planning processes.
Facilitated board retreats, large corporate and community summit events, and the successful start-up of new agile teams.
Supported community initiatives in food security, education, peacemaking, neighborhood improvement, public infrastructure, peaceful development, among others.
Served as interim manager, classroom trainer, workplace mediator, conference presenter, and business agility coach.
Trained open space facilitators around the world, created and managed OpenSpaceWorld.org, and played a leading role in introducing Open Space to the global Agile practice community.
Authored and edited a number of guides and papers on Agile and Open Space, see Resources. Editor, contributor, consultant or reviewer for eight other books.
Pioneered remote conference design and facilitation – five years before COVID.
See also some Short Case Stories

What People Say

Please keep sharing your experiences. It gives us tremendous energy. I have opened space in all my workshops since the Mumbai workshop October and it has really been well received. It has been working wonders... with doctors, nurses and others. Consultant, Mumbai, India

Michael‚ the seed that you planted has grown into many plants with many practitioners active in Singapore. The charts you left behind are still with me! (nearly ten years later) Internal Learning Champion, International Law Firm

…I tell them Michael Herman is one of those people you meet once and never forget, the kind of person you have one conversation with and it changes your life. VP Strategic Planning and Customer Excellence, Engineering Software

…you are the spirit of invitation, embodied. You created a kind of space, where I was able to spill out all the pieces of my story. You easily perceived the potential invitations and gave me a direct and encouraging experience of how inspiration and order emerges rapidly from a bit of chaos! Assistant Dean, Washington

…my work has more meaning. The number of connections I made (in two days) would have taken me four months under normal circumstances. Now I can help put ideas to work. It is no longer talk. Action will be taken. PASSION has been ignited. Statewide Summit Participant

It worked spectacularly at our division meeting. Twenty minutes after the start of day two, four work groups were deep into the work, with unexpected junior individuals standing at flip charts, driving the discussions. A home run! Thanks for all your help and insights. VP Consulting and Executive Education, Boston

…I appreciate your observing, articulating, living with, and working to change deep patterns …in yourself, in the groups you work with, in the world …and that you take relationships more seriously than anything else. Project Partner, San Francisco

I am so honored to know a peacemaker who gives his life in the service of greater peace in the world. Thank you for your commitment and contribution to Life. Director and Executive Coach, Chicago

I used the concepts immediately, in an innovation session with a product development group. It worked beautifully. They did not come up with any of the common, usual and expected ideas. They really went beyond the ordinary. So even in small doses, it works! Internal OD Consultant, Chicago

You run a wonderful workshop‚ I had a great experience! Learning by doing is always the way to go and this was no exception. I feel pretty confident going into this week's meeting, where I will use what I learned right away. Director, Teaching Excellence Academy, Chicago

…I'm just back from facilitating my first meeting and want to tell you how much I value your coaching. Your input boosted my confidence and my skill. And I had fun! Your coaching on the phone was the best workshop I never attended! Consultant, Halifax, Nova Scotia

…Our National Meeting was a roaring success, many said our best ever, universally appreciated and praised. I'm deeply grateful to feel the power within our organization and to have the seed of our new culture self-organize and take hold. Internal OD/Learning Specialist

…you really know how to bring people together. Business Owner, Chicago

Thanks for organizing a remarkable board meeting. I have been on countless for-profit and non-profit boards, but this type of working board meeting is unique in my experience. The best board meeting experience I have ever had. Board Member and CEO

Another big thank you for the exciting and expansive dialogue during our coaching session. There have been immediate results. I am sure that this happened because you helped me see alternatives and I allowed the possibilities to emerge in the group. Consultant and Facilitator, Chicago

Thank you for helping make yesterday's meeting an unqualified success. We should consider adopting this format for every meeting. It can be something our group is known for. There was so much energy and enthusiasm in the room. Entrepreneur and Network Organizer

…our conversation was one of those signature events in my life. I'm not sure that I have words to articulate what changed, but in short, I began to understand at a gut level what large systems are all about. Business Professor, Chicago (five years after we talked)

see all comments

Some Clients and Contributions

CDC and NIH (NIEHS) – multiple online strategic planning summits, including NIEHS’ 3-month series to catalyze research action in Exposomics (think genome, but bigger) and strategic stakeholder gathering to update their five-year strategic plan.
Served as Scrum Master, Agile Coach and/or Trainer to new Scrum software development teams, pioneered the use of Enterprise Scrum with single teams.
Willis Towers Watson – employee involvement specialist, designed tools for increasing engagement, coached internal agile transformation, designed/facilitated large group collaborations.

Nepal National Network – supported over three years, the organization of a national peaceful development summit during Nepal’s ten-year civil war, 4 days/100+ collaborators.
USAID-Indonesia – managed summit to identify strategic issues, set priorities and strengthen working relationships for USAID programs in Indonesia, three days/200+ stakeholders.
South African Breweries, Ltd – managed annual senior executive forum for highest-level strategic planning and urgent response to major market shifts, three days/140 leaders.

General Commission on Race and Religion, United Methodist Church – facilitated national ChangeMakers summit on transforming fear, ignorance, oppression, inequity and apathy into love, grace, passion, justice, understanding and peace.
Peoria School District – facilitated community summit on future of education in Peoria, to identify issues and set strategic priorities for new leaders, three days/300+ stakeholders.
Chicago Community Trust – facilitated summit on the future of food security in Illinois, to initiate Chicago policy council and other projects statewide, three days/200+ leaders.
Fairbanks Alaska, facilitated Becoming Peacemakers conference and training for 250 youth and adult mediators.

City of Albuquerque, Economic Development – pioneered the use of the Enterprise Scrum framework for business agility in city government.
United Airlines – co-developed new leadership and planning processes for IT infrastructure.
MIATCO (Mid-America International Agri-Trade Council) – interim/turnaround manager for export assistance program, cleared nine-month backlog in annual program, served as product owner for digitization of entire program, trained new permanent manager.
University of Minnesota Medical Center – co-developed strategy for reorganizing 22 laboratories into four super-labs, to gain cross-staffing efficiencies and other cost saving.

Introduced the Agile movement to Open Space, facilitated Agile Alliance Board meetings, contributed to global Agile practice innovation and to five different books on Agile practice.
Facilitator Training – organized and delivered Open Space Technology training programs in the United States, Ireland, India, Nepal, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and Canada.
Teambuilding and Leadership Programs – New York City Outward Bound Center, Arthur Andersen professional development center, University of Chicago (Booth School of Business), Wharton School of Business, and Yale School of Management.

Schools and Teachers

MBA University of Chicago (Finance/Healthcare Administration)
BA Indiana University (Economics)
Outward Bound USA (Colorado, Hurricane Island and Voyageur Schools)

Enterprise Scrum Inc. Certified Business Agility and Software Scaling Coach and Trainer
Scrum Alliance, Certified Scrum Professional and Certified Scrum Master (CSM, CSP)
AgilityHealth® Enterprise Business Agility Strategist (EBAS)
ICAgile Certified Professional – Business Agility Foundations (ICP-BAF)
Agile Alliance, Scrum Alliance, Business Agility Institute, and multiple local practice groups

Open Space Technology, with Harrison Owen and the global OS practice community
New Mexico State University (participative work redesign)
High Performance Systems (systems thinking, mapping, modeling, simulation)
Center for Conflict Resolution (dispute mediation)
National Training Labs (human interaction and leadership)

Zapchen Somatics, with Juile Henderson
Meditation, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan masters
Vipassana Meditation with S.N. Goenka

Expeditions and Other Adventures

HIking the Pacific Crest Trail, 1500+ miles, northbound (aiming to finish in 2026)
Sailed two Chicago-to-Mackinac races (333-miles)
Colorado Outward Bound School (winter mountaineering)
Hurricane Island Outward Bound School (sea kayaking)
Led paddline in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota (w/ Voyageur Outward Bound)

Walked the Camino Frances (600 miles) across northern Spain
Rebuilt a classic Chicago bungalow
Retreating, teaching and trekking in Nepal
White water canoeing on the Rio Grande River
Completed Trans-Catalina Trail, backpacking
Winter mountaineering, Leadville, Colorado (solo)
Alaskan backcountry by snowmachine (solo)
Seven months living and working in a London meditation center
Lighthouse keeper, Tawas Point State Park
St. Louis to New Orleans by tow boat (pushing 30 barges)
Backcountry hiking in Mexico’s Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon)
Backcountry solo hiking in Glacier NP, Isle Royale NP, and Bryce Canyon NP
Completed three marathons and two (so far) Boise Trails Challenge (225 miles)

After 40 years in Chicago, my wife and I have relocated to Boise, Idaho, where we enjoy any excuse to be outside.