September 3, 2012
Happy 130th Birthday, [Organized] Labor Day!
On this Labor Day, let’s remember its origins in the ranks of organized labor. But first, a look at which workers we’re celebrating today.
Who’s unionized now? (Source: Huffington Post: Labor Day History: 11 Facts You Need to Know)
Service station attendants 96,000
Musicians, singers and related workers 179,000
Bakers 183,000
Pharmacists 232,000
Firefighters: 258,000
Chefs and head cooks: 281,000
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs 286,000
Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists: 718,000
Farmers and ranchers 825,000
Teachers 6.5 million
Not to mention health care workers, police and many other professions.
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August 21, 2012
I’ve been meaning to tell you about Creative Change; the powerful intersection of artists and activists that has been taking place for the last four years. The Opportunity Agenda convenes the retreat, and I have had the privilege of designing and facilitating since its inception. This last retreat was the best one yet.
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July 31, 2012
If you are a frequent reader of our blog you know that I am privileged to be one of the facilitators of the Barr Fellows Network, one of the best network building efforts that I know of. The following is a blog post from the Social Capital Blog, it is written by Pat Brandes, President of the Barr Foundation and the one who conceived the idea.
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July 17, 2012
Marty Kearns, our friend at Netcentric Advocacy, tackles an important distinction and invites us to strategize with the difference in mind. I found this this to be an excellent piece for advocates.
Organizing and Mobilizing – 2 Distinct Strategies in Your Advocacy Effort.
I have been struggling lately to get more clarity on the concepts of organizing and mobilizing. These are terms of art in my world but often see the concepts mashed together. These terms do not mean the same thing in an advocacy context and BOTH are very important.
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June 5, 2012
Last week we started to take a look at Kevin Kelly’s take on the benefits of swarm systems. We are wondering what are the implications for movement builders. We looked at how important it is for us to be adaptable.
Kelly also says that swarm systems are evolvable. He says that these are:
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May 29, 2012
I’m a huge fan of Kevin Kelly. I really think of him as the prophet of the digital age. He has done lots around complexity. And he has spent time looking at swarms. In “Bootstrapping Comlexity,” Andrea Lloyd’s “remix” of Kelly’s book “Out of Control” we find a useful list of benefits and apparent disadvantages of swarm systems.
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May 21, 2012
I just read a helpful Upmarket blog post on the distinction between strategy and tactic. It was almost a relief to know that the business sector also struggles with the distinction. Confusing these two terms has led to a lot of trouble in our work for social change.
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May 21, 2012
You’ve heard that “it takes a village to raise a child.” It also takes a village to make an IISC engagement happen. I want to raise up a shout out and express my grateful for the excellence with which our colleagues do the detailed behind-the-scenes work that makes IISC’s practice possible.
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May 15, 2012
I’m just coming out of a mind bending, heart expanding retreat with Orland Bishop, Rachel Bagby and the Barr Fellows Network. It was one of those experiences that is hard to put into words. For lack of a better word, and I hope Orland doesn’t mind this, it was more like being with a shaman than with a facilitator.
Orland led us in an exploration of intention and attention as he invited us to question how we relate to reality itself. He led with the idea that our relationships – and therefore our human experience – can be radically redefined if we make it our purpose to truly understand the other; and to do it with radical acceptance.
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May 14, 2012
Two things reminded me of the power of design and physical space this week. First, in a workshop for Juvenile Justice leaders, the 12 participants were seated at three tables. It was a cozy arrangement and the tables were useful for handling the volume of materials they were using. After a morning focused on race, class and culture dialogue skills, we brought the chairs together in a circle in the front of the room to close a segment of the conversation. I asked folks how that arrangement felt and they say “Good!!” There’s nothing like removing physical barriers and enabling everyone to see everyone else easily to foster relational and conversational intimacy!
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April 25, 2012
Last weekend I had a most unique privilege. I facilitated the final retreat of a three-year process. I have been working with the Barrboletas, the Barr Fellows cohort of 2009, since their inaugural learning journey to Brazil in June of that year. We have a book worth of documentation. The fellowship as a whole will be highlighted in the May issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. This post is a celebration of their last retreat as a cohort – they will continue to participate in an exciting plethora of network activities as they are moved and able.
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April 24, 2012
The following post are 5 tips that will help in your Social Media strategy for any organization. These are just 5 easy tips out of 10 that can be used in order to strengthen any social media platform. We hope that you find these extremely useful.
Why should businesses bother with social media? From Twitter and Pinterest to Facebook and Google+, the social realm can bring the human element to a product or service. A Facebook page enables a company to share behind-the-scenes photos or answer consumer questions. On Twitter, that same company can offer coupons, or get in touch with a person immediately over a complaint.
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