Just returned from an event in Victoria to raise money and awareness for the first ever Authentic Leadership in Action Institute (ALIA) on the West Coast (May 19-22 at Royal Roads University, if you’re interested). Last evening, 120 people packed in to hear Meg Wheatley talking about leadership in uncertain times. She spoke mostly about the capacity for fearlessness, or a leadership stance that operates beyond hope and fear. It is something that she has been talking about for a long time, and in fact, she has a recent piece in the Shambhala Sun on this very …
Things to chew on from the last weeks newsfeeds. Viv McWaters writes a great piece on the role of facilitators in disastery recovery. Christopher Gohl‘s new blog, diagoal. Rob Ballentyne will take you to see the solar eclipse of a lifetime this summer (he’ll also show you a comet for free!) Jack Ricchiuto on using a moleskin to manage to do lists. Nancy White and others launch the Community and Networks Connection. Viv McWaters blogs about the community site for facilitators helping with the bushfire tragedy in Australia.
Over the years I’ve written about how convoluted strategic planning gets for most organizations. Most of the small non-profits I work with seem to think it’s wise to use mainstream business strategic planning frameworks to plot their way forward. Even though these frameworks are pursued with the best of intentions, for many volunteer Boards of small and meagerly funded organizations, it’s usually overkill to adopt highly technical frameworks for planning. It might just be too much. Even the process of vision, mission, goals and objectives is often too overbearing because it tends to force conversations into boxes, …
Work-In-Progress, is the new blog of Open Space Technology creator Harrison Owen. It’s taken many years, but I’m happy to see him in the blogoshpere. Harrison has always been generous about sharing his writing and his thoughts and of course, the process he created, and this is a nice extension of that spirit.
Scoured from the corners of the web this week: Luke Mitchell on the challenges of establishing universal health care in the USA. Courtesy of my friend Vera Wabegijig’s facebook page, a list of Aboriginal CBC personalities. Peter Rukavina finds a great site on mapping your childhood WFMU shares some blue excerpts from Obama’s autobiography. Great ringtone potential here.