Author Archive
Just thought I’d preface this post with a note about my general relationship with technology. In short, I don’t like to be around it. I find computer monitors mind numbing. Keyboards send sharp pains up my right arm. I spent many years resisting pressures to buy a cell phone. True, I did organize my entire […]
Read More
Many of us are familiar with the phrase “Be the change you want to see in the world,” so much so that it has become a bit of a cliché. I’ve been wondering for a while now what else Gandhi said that relates to expressive social change, a concept that is at the heart of […]
Read More
I once worked at an advocacy and training organization where, in an effort to look more professional in the eyes of our funders and partners, it was decided that all correspondence would have a uniform look- even down to the font that we used in our emails. I could handle the idea of uniformity for […]
Read More
Check out this thought-provoking theory of social change that Debbie Frieze of the Berkana Exchange describes in this 7-minute video clip. I particularly appreciate the question that Debbie raises towards the end, one that she says has been an important point of debate and exploration for her organization: Is it possible to create pioneering change […]
Read More
I have to admit, my yearning for control often outweighs my yearning for a better world. My visions are large, but my daily interactions are laced with an urge to put things in nice orderly lines and boxes. My ‘shoulds’ outnumber my ‘what ifs?’ Literally. I use the word ‘should’ promiscuously (I had been doing […]
Read More
Several years ago, when I was in the thick of major organizational shifts at COCo, I came home one evening in a fit of tears and with a back full of knots. I felt horrible about how things felt at work and frustrated that my attempts to move things to a better place seemed to […]
Read More
Just thought I’d share this article that I wrote for the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) last June. ——– A couple of years ago when we first began our restructuring at COCo, we considered the possibility that COCo had run its course and asked ourselves the question: Was it time for the organization to end? And while we ultimately […]
Read More
“All human activity emerges from our inwardness…our outward work in the world is a projection of our inner condition.” These are the words of Patricia Thompson. In her paper Being the Change We Want: A Conversation about Vocational Renewal for Nonprofit Leaders she writes passionately about the connection between vocational vitality and social change. Through the […]
Read More
As a facilitator, I’ve spent a lot of time over the years experimenting with how to create organizational gatherings that feel especially vibrant and meaningful. Although I love this work, it has been feeling a bit stale to me lately, and I’ve had a hard time understanding why. This morning, I had something of an […]
Read More
I really enjoyed reading Alex’s recent post on Foulab. It got me thinking of how similar our relationship to technology is to our relationship to organizations. So much of our waking energy flows through and around organizations, yet we rarely take time to really understand how they work and to empower ourselves to tinker with […]
Read More
