NurtureGirl

Tranform or be complicit July 9, 2008

I deeply believe in the work of the nonprofit/social benefit sector. And there are urgent issues of the day that need charity to address them, as change takes time. The idea of change-not-charity really appealed to me many years ago when I heard the phrase. YES, change the way things are so that we have different outcomes.

I was reading a site on philanthropy the other day, and they told a story of people saving babies floating down a river…that is charity. And then someone starts to run up the river–and the helpers beg them to come back to help save babies. But they shout back–I am going up river to see what to do about the babies going into the river to begin with. …that is about making change. Yes well…the river is there…and the babies are getting placed in it. Some are not helpless babies, but children and adults caught in the current. And going upriver to address the issues of how they are getting in the river is a huge improvement with leveraged impact over the band-aid result achieved by pulling people out of the river…but it still accepts–takes for granted–that there is a river.

Huh? Who made up this crazy metaphor?

My point here is that as long as we collectively empower the systems and structures; we aren’t really ending the problem. Micro-finance is not really going to end poverty. Different people might be poor, but it doesn’t end poverty. It might even change the dial on what is poverty…the new poor will live on $5 where last year they lived on $1, but their expenses will be higher, so it will go just as far. [Note: when I started writing about these issues 5 years ago, the stat was a $1 a day...now I see $2 a day...for example]

Farmers trying to deal with erosion could try to reclaim top soil (charity)…or they could try different farming practices that decrease erosion to begin with (change). But I would advocate that they look into the system that makes them farm in ways that are imbalanced with nature. Why do they grow so much corn and soybeans? [Read Biomimicry] What is the market driving the behavior that leads to erosion? [What are the policies governing international exchange and rewarding overabundance of some and wasting the production of others.]

Are you following me yet? The very rules of the game need to shift.

Fiat-currency –which we use pretty much universally, although it goes by different currency names, depends on someone being poor. Someone has to lose. Someone gets to win. The winners get to feel good about taking care of the unfortunate. This is the work of traditional philanthropy. I dream instead of transformative philanthropy where everyone involved leverages their wealth (social connections, knowledge, community strength and resilience etc) to shift systems. In this dream, there are no givers and receivers–only collaborators sharing the responsibility and benefits of improved communities.

What would workable ecosystems that enabled people to flourish be like? If we don’t ban fiat-currency–but instead see it as a stepping stone to our evolution, what is the next step that both includes and transcends this force in our world? Working toward that is transformative. Anything else results in being complicit in the very system that creates and maintains poverty.

New Activists, Cheating, and Millenials May 19, 2008

Several links out folks.

1. New Activists article in ODE is fabulous.

2. Cheat Neutral is brilliant with video.

3. Blogging conversation between thrivability (my other blog) and gifthub about making change and millenials.

Abundant courage May 2, 2008

Some things come to you as soon as you decide you have them already. Courage is one of those things. Love is another. Hope yet another. They actually exist in abundance, and that shows up as soon as you turn to see them.

They arrive often in those moments of despair where resistance to change gets one down…and then one gathers together to accept the change…then courage shows up in full force to assist in the journey.

The older I get, the more I have faith in this process. That courage and love and hope are abundant if and when we embrace them. All it takes is a flip of the mind switch.

creating conversations: receiving with grace April 23, 2008

Conversations….mmmm, I love having them. But the art of conversation is not celebrated enough in our culture. And it is becoming ever more critical online as we struggle with tools that don’t communicate facial expressions or even intonation. So what can we do to bring forth conversation and nurture it?

Of course there are some simple obvious answers: ask questions and express gratitude. Come from a state of curiosity.

But how about receiving with grace? We have valued being independent or autonomous so highly that many of us have lost touch with the ability to receive with grace. Allow other people to feel good about their contribution. Don’t quickly close the social reciprocity contract–you know that sense that you have to return the favor? Don’t take it to be a sign that you are a slacker or a mooch! What a negative framing that is…although it does point to people who are not being gracious about receiving (or our jealousy of those that do receive with ease).

Keep in mind that people don’t see the world for what it is, they see it for what they are. Most people think about themselves, especially in our competitive culture. If you allow people to see themselves positively, they will see you positively.

I had a lovely friend who spoke about those in his social network in the most flattering terms. He said how brilliant and creative they were. And it made me feel like I must be pretty brilliant or creative to be included in his world, since that was clearly what he filtered for. And I had the sense that when he talked about me to others, he was saying amazing things about me (ones I might not even be able to believe about myself). Oh, was he ever attractive to spend time with!

What can you celebrate in others? Especially when they have given you something. Instead of returning the favor, do them a different sort of favor by saying very specifically what you see them having done for you (or for others), how that works for your needs and values, and how thankful you are for it. This is NOT a display of your weakness, in fact it shows your confidence and strength.

Allow it to create a flow in conversation toward common connection–shared celebration of shared values, other instances of gratitude or other things to be grateful for. Be patient in listening and clearly ask for more. I mean clearly as in “can you tell me more about that?” Or “What I hear you saying is ‘insert summary or key points‘ and I would love to know more about how you came to that/where you want to do with that.”

Receive with grace and enjoy your conversations flourishing–online and off.

We add up… April 22, 2008

We sure do…we add up all our buying and tossing (storyofstuff.com) and then our electricity consumption and our cars…and it all adds up to a world beyond sustainability. On the other extreme of thriving.


But we can add up in other ways too. We can add up in our effort to make change. This Earth Day consider being counted…literally. Weaddup.com sells shirts and you can get your number. Make adding up something worth doing.

[of course this is a shameless plug...of a really cool friend's biz...but it is really inspired!]

Shine Unconference April 17, 2008

Calling all social entrepreneurs in England or willing to travel there.

Have the discussions you want with your peers! Meet and learn about what interests you.

Unconference.

http://www.shineunconference.com/

Green Girl at 6footSix

Through my dear friend Steve Crandall, I became aware of this amazing woman, Colleen, who is 6 foot 7 and plays beach volleyball professionally. What we all share, besides being tall, is a passion about climate change.

Colleen and Steve have been brainstorming different ways for her to create sponsorships so she can continue to play. They have also been brainstorming on ways to make an impact around climate change. The two come together at http://www.6footsix.com/.

Do you have any creative ideas about how Colleen can use her billboard-like eye-grabbing body to both make people aware of climate change issues and get sponsorships?

Currently she wears temporary tattoos at 1 meter–showing how high on her body the water will rise in the next 20 years (according to some). I think she has a good story to tell around this mark and solid information to provide to people who ask her about it. What I think she could add is a place for people to go to take action. Greenhome, Osoeco, Eden, GreenLeaf, ClimateCounts, SustainLane, Bioneers, etc would be the kinds of organization I picture benefiting from her magnificent height and bikini sized advertising space. Then people would associate her climate conversation with the brand she was wearing.

Do you have any ideas for Colleen? Contact her at 6footsix using that lovely google service, gmail.

Don’t finish that! April 3, 2008

I have the sense that there are lots of people doing really great work…but they want to get it to a finished point before sharing it. Really? Sure about that?

In the age of participatory, nay, collaborative culture, as soon as something is finished it can’t be collaborative. If you want other people pitching in to make an idea work, software better, or actions more impactful…don’t dictate what should happen and push out what has been finished. Open with curiosity. Share vision and motivation…share ideas as rough sketches for group discussion. Collaboration doesn’t work as well if comes off as “I made this, now will you implement it?” *

Collaboration works better as “I had an idea, what would you do…? or would you help me figure out…?” And it can really work well with a bit of acknowledgment like, “You are such a whiz kid at x, and I was working on this idea related to that….could you help me think it through?” or “You are so well connected in z neighborhood/network, I would like to vision there. How do you think that could work?” So I encourage those of us in collaboration to stop finishing things. Let documents come alive–living documents invite collaboration… Let ideas and actions live.

*This worked better in pyramidal structures where authority or perceived authority can push things to happen. In collaborative culture, work is accomplished by attraction–the pull of an idea, person, thing, or vision. And the key to get in the door of collaboration is invitation. Don’t invite people to a party that is finished.

Collaborative Organization March 30, 2008

For now, see the image…I had a delightful insight this morning…and I will get around to explaining it. This is the placeholder for now.

It might be no surprise that organizations can collaborate this way. Many already do. However, what I see collective intelligence efforts doing creates the hub and spoke network shape. Being intentional about creating collaborative organization at face to face events and collaborations seems valuable to me. Furthermore, processes like Open Space, to a great degree, enable this form of collaborative organization. However, until we deeply celebrate the roll of butterflies and bees….we aren’t truly capturing the intelligence between sessions in a powerful, useful way.

More to come…

Leadership is so last century… March 28, 2008

I was having a delightful conversation with the amazing and insightful Jack Ricchiuto last night. Whenever I speak with him, I feel compelled to take fastidious notes because the gems of wisdom pour from him as if he was Rumpelstiltskin weaving gold from hay. He spoke of moving from leadership of individuals to the small group as the core essential unit. And it struck me immediately as very insightful…I was so ready for that nugget of wisdom!

So this is why I am thinking this shift is valuable. And I would love to hear your thinking on this issue, since I am still piecing it together.

When we focus on leaders, we put our attention on their role and performance. It is dis-empowering to the other vital players in a group. Each member of a group is important whether they are the nurturers who support the best coming from all or the harvesters which synthesize and bring the gems forward….or the critics who help refine the ideas…or the clown which makes it fun and full of laughter…or any number of other archetypes that come into play. Sometimes these characteristics are multiple in one person, sometimes they are shared across many. However, focusing on the leader dissipates attention away from the system dynamics at play in a group.

For too long we have privileged the voice of the group, the instigator, the dictator… Or worse, we have pretended that the pyramidal structures work with “leaders” at the top rather than collaborators throughout.

And improving the output of the group by working on the leader in particular is like treating your toe pain without considering your whole body (and that if you held a different posture, the pain would go away). Move away from group pain by: focusing on the positive–the strengths of each collaborator, the dream the group has passion for, the small accountable next step of action, and people needed for the collaboration to be fruitful. Jack and his partner have a whole process for it.