A zen perspective on how we think about the future
Robert Schepens in his great “Collaboration is a Blues Jam” talks about the movement from organization as orchestra to organization as blues jam. The Jam relies upon a flow of talent wanting/ willing/ hoping to come on then off the stage, mixing new people and talents with old. Players will take chances with new riffs or lines of a song and will play off of each other’s talents. This “Jam” (Collaboration) produces new music, new interpretations of old music…and innovations never heard before. Some memories last...
At last night's late night thirty-something party of wall to wall entrepreneurs where I was apparently the only one over 32 invited, talk turned to collective deriding the phenomenon called “astroturfing.” It is the faux version of authentic grass roots efforts. It’s the practice of governments, political parties, and business-the-size-of-governments paying people to manufacture the appearance of grassroots based online commenting, rally attendance, and street protesting in their favor. It’s both brilliant metaphor...
In her HBR piece on Peter Drucker’s view on corporate social responsibility, Frances Hesselbein talks about one of America’s preeminent thinkers on corporate performance. Drucker is clear that “Leaders in every single institution and in every single sector … have two responsibilities. They are responsible and accountable for the performance of their institutions, and that requires them and their institutions to be concentrated, focused, limited. They are responsible also, however, for the community as a whole.” It...
It was one of those typical nights in the neighborhood. Blogging at the bar at Iron Chef, Michael Simon’s Tremont jewel, Lolita. In spite of thriving urban neighborhood sharing regional snow paralysis today, happy hour hums. Unexpectedly, dropping in is a kid I watched grow up next door as his mother and I were pioneers in the transformation of a sister neighborhood here in Cleveland. I discover how he and his wife have purchased and shared two adjacent yards in that neighborhood so people can do community gardening...
This week I was invited to visit a new class at Kent State University’s nursing program. It’s an integrative healing program that teaches the next gen of nurses how to better care for themselves and their patients. It features yoga, reiki, aroma therapies, and mindfulness and is positioned as a preventive strategy to preempt the amazing propensity of nursing burnout that continues to spiral in the direction of costs on many levels. The instruction was strong in scholarship, genuine compassion, and self-efficacy...
The Adventure Project is an NGO training African and Indian men and women in the fine art of water pump mechanics. This is no small issue given that a billion people on the planet lack daily access to healthy water, leading to 4,000 children globally dying from insufficient water. Daily. This is just another context where design will be key to creating happier communities, starting with basics. Instead of squandering their school years memorizing what’s two Google clicks away, how could we aim education as this kind...
While Middle East protestors revolt for their country’s freedom from tyrannical governments, US workers revolt to protect their union protectors from tyrannical government union-busters. How do these feel similar, and in what ways do they seem profoundly different? Freedom and protection. Two deep human longings with different levels of implications. In both, there is an existential urge to be free from the abuses of patriarchies. Both mark liberation from the role of child and adolescence. May both mark the realization...
My proposal to dramatically reduce traffic accidents. Eliminate all stop lights. Instead, institute roundabouts and stop signs. In emergency situations, traffic police. The logic? Most accidents, often fatal, are people racing through intersections, not paying attention to those around them. The root cause here inattention. From a design perspective, what requires attention? Yes, roundabouts and stop signs. In the most complex and largest intersections where horrific accidents regularly happen, no accidents occur...
When we were younger, we savored the experience of afternoons squandered in observing street fashions here in the States, punctuated with self-righteous references to the need for “fashion police.” We would stratify people into the fashion appropriate and candidates for fashion witness protection programs. These days, the flagrant violations of self-proclaimed fashionistas abound with creativity. Year round flip flops, daytime pajama pants, sweat gear worn by people who never see a gym, clothes that clearly fit a...
10-time author and designer with a focus on change in organizations and communities. HappinessChoice.com. Contact Jack at jack(at)happinesschoice(dot)com
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