Michael Doyle

I just received word that an old friend of thirty years, Michael Doyle, died at home in San Francisco.  The wake is this weekend.

When I first met Michael I was working on San Francisco public education and he was finishing up the research and writing of a book that became a significant force in modern commerce: How to Make Meetings Work (co-authored with David Strauss). We were in the same building.

Michael was a warm, kind and generous man.  His contribution to commerce was immense (Bio 1, Bio 2).  Few meetings in America are conducted without using the elements that Michael introduced in his book and his training company from "facilitator" to "public note taker."  It is hard for us to remember the pre-Michael Doyle era, when meetings were run on an authoritarian model, largely based on experience with Roberts Rules of Order...a legacy of Congressional political structure.

Michael transformed the way businesses work and significantly enhanced the creative potential in any group by giving voice to the "seldom heard voices" that are important to group vitality.

Michael worked with Arthur Anderson when the computer consulting section was out-earning the CPA section. The problem was never resolved and the competition within the company led to confused ethics and its ultimate demise in the Enron scandal.

Michael was comfortable with CEOs and was effective in his role of working with top management. He spent much of his life trying to migrate his brilliant discoveries about running meetings to the meeting room computer world. 

I will miss Michael and so will everyone who knew him. The world of commerce will some day honor Michael Doyle with the appreciation he deserves for a major and pervasive contribution.

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A Life of Tribute to Possibilities
From Jim Kouzes and Tae Kouzes
April 27, 2007

Recently, I came across a photograph and sketch of Michael Doyle on Flickr — an Internet photo sharing site -- posted by Dave Gray. From what I can gather, Dave took the photo and drew the sketch at a 2006 gathering of the Meshforum in San Francisco. In the photo, Michael was holding a card on which he had drawn the word “Stories.” Beneath the photo, Dave wrote a brief bio of Michael. It began with the line, “Michael is an innovative thinker, executive, software designer, and information architect.” Dave ended the list of Michael’s work history with this comment: “He is also my friend and mentor.” The sketch of Michael, drawn by Dave, had on it this quote: “I believe that the true creativity is in the people.”

There is something eerie about these two images. You see, I met Michael back in the late 1970’s, and back then he was information architect and friend, innovative thinker and mentor, guru and brother. There’s always been this part of Michael that was both professional and personal. He was never really just one or the other. He was always both. For me, and I believe for a lot of others I know, Michael always found a way to weave into relationships the possibility that we are capable of working and producing together as well as enjoying and confiding in each other. Michael saw in each of us a story. A story of creativity. A story of possibilities.

I vividly remember the time in 1978 when Michael and I were engaged in this intimate conversation about planning the 1980 OD Network Conference to be held in San Francisco. We talked about how we could involve ODN members in conference planning, and Michael had the audacity to suggest that we could involve every single member—and any other interested person, for that matter—in the process. At first I was stunned by that notion, but Michael opened me to the possibilities. And he made me a believer when he described in words and pictures a collaborative approach to design. The 18 months that followed our meeting were the most exhilarating of my professional life, and during the days, weeks and months that followed I formed some of the most lasting and significant relationships of my life—relationships that continue to this day. Michael is responsible for changing the course of my life. Michael is responsible of creating the possibility that I could do more than I thought I could. For that, Michael, I am eternally grateful.

And, I might add, it was at that conference in 1980 that Juli Betwee also first encountered Michael Doyle. While it would take a few years before Michael and Juli formed their lasting bond, I marvel at the serendipity of it all. Michael’s life just seemed to be like that.

Michael’s life was all about the possibilities. The possibility that people could come together and create something much greater than one could produce alone. The possibility that one leader could realize more by collaborating than by competing or through individualistic achievement. The possibility that the young can teach the old. The possibility that technology can serve us and not enslave us. The possibility that creativity comes as much from the outside as it does from the inside. The possibility that indigenous peoples have a wisdom that we may not understand but can learn from. The possibility that diversity can foster wholeness. The possibility that our true love is right there with us and we don’t always see her when we first encounter her.

My wonderful wife, Tae, when reflecting on our more recent times with Michael, remembered how Michael had designed the constellations into his and Juli’s living room ceiling in their San Francisco home. As Michael told the story of how this came to be, a story of his childhood experience with his father, we could feel his pride and joy. And then Tae said, “His blue eyes danced.” This is the image of Michael that we will carry with us forever. Farewell Blue Eyes Dancing. Farewell friend.