Author Archives for Curtis Ogden
Keep Dancing
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I read a quote earlier this week that I had seen before that went something like, “We need to act our way into a new way of thinking.” Indeed, increasingly what seems to be called for is the practice of prototyping and risk-taking, breaking the more linear and often drawn out process of plan-act-reflect-refine. This poem by Mary Oliver, from her book A Thousand Mornings, captures something of this spirit for me: Read More
Leave a commentJarche on Networks
A few of us here at IISC are avid readers of Harold Jarche’s blog, Life in Perpetual Beta. IMHO, he is a fount of wisdom and helpful information about the connected age and economy in which we find ourselves. The past couple of weeks, I’ve gleaned the following gems from his writings, which I take with me into the network building work we do at IISC: Read More
Leave a commentA Network View of the Future
In her new book, futurist Marina Gorbis references an inspiring passage from a document created in 2007 that supports the values of the Institute for the Future (IFTF):
“Valuing open collaboration, independence, and the ability of anyone to rise to the endeavor, we draw on network leadership models that provide a platform for self-organizing structures. The value of these self-organizing structures is that they can act quickly, responsively, and creatively from the edges. The guiding concepts in this view of leadership are openness, self-election, continuous prototyping, robust platforms, and low coordination costs. Leadership skills focus on community building, consensus building, mediation, commitment, and humility.”
Leave a commentThe Power of Words
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
-Mark Twain
Some version of reflection on the power of words has been coming up frequently in various networks lately, including the power of the right phrase, the right question, or the right story to become an attractor that galvanizes collective action. This seems a critical function in networks, tapping memetic resonance. What have you seen in net work that helps unleash the lightning?
Leave a commentNetworks and Power
I am just coming from a convening of the Northern New England Networks Community of Practice in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. The theme of the gathering was “Power and Networks,” and very timely in that a few network building initiatives with which I am working are reaching a fever pitch in terms of working out issues of power and privilege. Borrowing from something my IISC colleague Cynthia Silva Parker has said in the past, while power is always at the table, now it’s on the table! And I wanted to share some of the gleanings from the overall session. Read More
3 CommentsHow Story Moves the Mind
|Image by Pietro Zanarini|http://www.flickr.com/photos/zipckr/4688416205|
The following is a segment of a blog post from Pamela Mang that appeared on edge::regenerate. Pamela references the newest book from Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. In particular she highlights a section on the Pixar formula for storytelling, and how this can help us to frame our change work in engaging ways. I have also found it very helpful for getting people to open their minds to complex initiatives and imagine what it would take to really shift things. This can often be a humbling experience, in positive ways, and can lift up the importance of reaching out to others, taking a holistic approach, and speaking to both hearts and minds . . . Read More
2 CommentsFeeding a New Economy
This beautiful video speaks to the importance of will, community, and creativity to transform an otherwise unused asset into a new engine for local economic vitality. In the words of catalyst Greg Cox, “This is an evolution. . . . You come up with an idea. The human animal reacts with fear almost all the time. And you go, ‘Ah, it can’t happen. It’s Rutland. It’s not going to happen here. It’s been too difficult. We just don’t have the capacity.’ This is the way the story is. We looked at the outcome we wanted and we’re trying to rewrite the story.”
Leave a commentHopping to Justice?
“Problems require solutions. Questions must be lived into. We often do not know the difference.”
– Krista Tippett paraphrasing Jacob Needleman
I recently had a lively and illuminating conversation with an unexpected teacher. He came in the form of a well-spoken and measured man who works in the field of emergency food. We were talking at a state-wide food system convening about the causes of and solutions for hunger and he mentioned the idea of the “two footprints.” Read More
Leave a commentOpenness is Opportunity
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Sometimes people call openness in group process and social engagement “disorganized” or “unstructured.” I find this to be a misperception and, frankly, unhelpful. Openness is differently organized and structured. It is different from many of the talking-at, entertainment-oriented, consumer-creating, and being-numbing settings to which we have grown accustomed.
Openness can certainly create discomfort, in part because it calls on us to step up and reach out, not hunker down and hide. It asks us to take responsibility and consider questions like, “What do I value?” “How do I want to contribute?” “What can we create here?” Openness is opportunity if we choose to act, knowing that through the perceived risk and any felt discomfort lies greater purpose, meaning and vitality.
2 CommentsNetworks Building: No Small Change
|Photo by Paul Downey|http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/3003392453|
In the past few weeks, I have heard some interesting and divergent comments about networks as they relate to social change. In one case, someone in philanthropy declared that the “network experiment” was over and it was “back to funding individual organizations.” In another case, I heard tremendous enthusiasm expressed relating to the “paramount importance of building trust and relationships” for change to happen. To the first – “No!” To the second – “Yes, and . . .”. We are still in the midst to waking up to the reality and potential of networks in our lives, present company very much included. Here is some of what we are seeing and hearing with respect to where network approaches and tools, at their best and very much with our intention, can take us. Read More
9 CommentsHarmony
“This will be our reply to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before.”
|Image by DIAC|http://www.flickr.com/photos/diacimages/5475648506|