Archive for May, 2011

May/13/11//IISC//Inspiration

Sung from the Soul

“I write because I am a Black woman, listening attentively to her people”.- Maya Angelou, 1984

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May/12/11//Curtis Ogden//Learning Edge

Positive Leadership and Sustainability

A couple of weeks ago I was an enthusiastic participant in our sister organization Interaction Associate’s most recent offering in their LeaderLens webinar series.  The featured presenter was Erik Gregory, a specialist in positive psychology.   With roots in the theories and practices of Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm, positive psychology focuses on the study of human strength and virtue, rather than pathology.  This includes looking at what explains resiliency, courage, optimism, and hope, even in the most daunting of circumstances. Read the rest of this entry »

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May/11/11//Curtis Ogden//IISC:Inside

Embrace Paradox

Coming off of a couple of powerful days exploring power and privilege in the internal life and external work of the Interaction Institute for Social Change.  So much still to process, and one of my immediate take-aways was our facilitators’ invitation to embrace paradox in the form of different perspectives and experiences, intentions and impacts, stated and espoused values.  As one of our process agreements for our time together stated – “All of us, individually and collectively, embody paradox- identities, beliefs, and experiences that seem to contradict each other.”  As has been stated elsewhere on this blog, and more elegantly by my colleague Gibran Rivera, the invitation is to hold apparent contradictions and tension long enough for something new to emerge, that moves us down the evolutionary path.

I leave you with the words of Gunilla Norris, from her book Sharing Silence, that came our way via OpenSource Leadership. Read the rest of this entry »

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May/10/11//Gibrán Rivera//What We Are Reading

Design for Serendipity

I am thoroughly enjoying The Power of Pull: How small moves, smartly made, can set big things in motion.  Here is a quote I just read:

“Shaping serendipity requires bringing together three elements:  environments, practices, and preparedness.” Read the rest of this entry »

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May/09/11//Gibrán Rivera//Collaboration

As Inside so Outside

Here at IISC we are fond of quoting Bill O’Brien’s adage that “the success of an intervention is directly proportional to the interior condition of the intervener.”  Personally, I strive to turn this quote into a way of life.

I believe that this also holds true at other levels, that the success of an organization, its effectiveness in the world, is directly proportional to that organization’s interior condition.  This Monday and Tuesday, the Interaction Institute for Social Change will be tending to its own interior condition.

I am proud to say that all of our staff will be working with Gita Gulati-Partee of Open Source Leadership and with Maggie Potapchuk of MP Associates on Power, Privilege and how these play out in our organization.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

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