Organization vs. movement vs. philosophy
Seth Godin is a luminary of the new paradigm, it is often tempting to re-blog him here, this time it was inevitable. If we want to build movement we must transcend our organizational constraints.
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Love is Beautiful
In remembrance of our dear friend Jeff Stamps.
Leave a commentLife, 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 More
Leave a commentPositivity 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.”
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 More
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 More
Leave a commentFacilitating 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.
Leave a commentWe 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.”
Leave a commentSystems Thinking and Racial Justice
“Moving from a transactional to a transformational paradigm requires structural change.”
– john a. powell
Systems Thinking and Racial Justice Featuring Professor john powell from Bella Celnik on Vimeo.
Much appreciation goes out to our friends and colleagues in the Leadership Learning Community for hosting this May 16th webinar with esteemed Professor john powell, Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study on Race and Ethnicity, and the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. IISC has been privileged to have partnered in the past with staff of Kirwan to shed light on the complex systemic nature and inter-sectional realities of racialized outcomes in our country. You can also check out other interviews, like this one, with Professor powell.
Leave a commentRe-Gifting the New Economy
So many new and interesting tools out there with the potential to use the virtual sphere to reconnect us person to person, and perhaps fuel the new economy. You might also want to check out this article by Bill McKibben on some neighborhood developments using technology in Burlington, VT.
Leave a commentThree Levels of Conversation
Julie Auger’s post to Rethinking Complexity speaks directly to our central concerns here at the Interaction Institute for Social Change . What do you think? How might this inform your organizational strategy? Read More
Leave a commentHow do you feel (About Art)?
How Do You Feel (About Art)? from svanes on Vimeo.
Leave a commentGetting Listiki With It
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I am just getting familiar with this new tool that is still in beta (the creators would appreciate any feedback about it). Wondering what applications you may see to collaborative social change work. I am imagining polling people in a system for key resources, ranking the best sites to hold a convening, possibly doing something related to stakeholder identification . . . . And while you are pondering this, check out Kare Anderson’s list of collaboration related sites and books, add to it, or create your own.
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