Archive for June, 2011

Jun/10/11//Curtis Ogden//Inspiration

Life, the Universe, and Awe

“Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life . . . “

Albert Schweitzer

The Known Universe from AMNH on Vimeo.

One year ago I blogged about my experience in the GeoDome, “a portable immersive environment” that allows participants to experience interactive simulations derived from scientific data provided by the likes of NASA and NOAA.  Think of it as a traveling planetarium that provides tours of our planet, solar system, and/or the universe through the lens of different observable phenomena – electromagnetic radiation, population growth, plane travel, etc. The purpose of the  GeoDome is to provide visceral ways for people to experience shifts of perspective that might support their efforts in embracing and promoting more sustainable behaviors.

Given this anniversary, it is quite appropriate that the video above come to my attention.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Jun/08/11//Curtis Ogden//Learning Edge

Positivity and Expanding Truth

“Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.”

André Gide


I’ve spent a few blog posts over the last year or so looking at how the research around positive emotions and outlooks connects with more effective collaboration and change work (see “Accentuate the Positivity”: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Just a couple of weeks ago, inspired by Erik Gregory’s LeaderLens presentation, I considered the connection between positive leadership and sustainability, looking at the way in which the creation of positive environments might lead to greater adaptive capacity.  Having recently explored more of the research of psychologist Barbara Frederickson, I see a greater case to be made for maintaining positive outlooks, individually and collectively, as they increase our ability to engage in creatively adaptive and regenerative work at deeper systemic levels. Read the rest of this entry »


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Jun/07/11//Gibrán Rivera//Structural Transformation

Power and Priorities

“You don’t understand, the United States will not be making cars.”  The film Climate Refugees quotes President Roosevelt speaking to auto executives at the outset of World War II.  Most of us know about the mobilization of American industry to build a war machine capable of defeating the Axis Powers.  Fewer of us understand what it took. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jun/06/11//Gibrán Rivera//Facilitative Leadership

Facilitating an Emerging Network

Photo by: Juanfox94

This post originally appeared as a guest blog to the Leadership Learning Community Blog.

In my last post I shared observations on building a leadership network and lessons from the Barr Fellowship.  What is the role of a facilitator in such an effort?  It is not an easy role to fill.  The facilitator has to be able to design and hold a space that makes it possible for the group to move, to shift, to grow, while fully trusting the group’s capacity to do so.  The facilitator must be able to rely on the passion and purpose that is already present among the leaders who are coming together.

Read the rest of this entry »


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Jun/03/11//Curtis Ogden//Inspiration

We Are a Part of Each Other

“We are all androgynous, not only because we are all born of a woman impregnated by the seed of a man but because each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other — male in female, female in male,  white in black and black in white. We are a part of each other.”

- James Baldwin

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