A zen perspective on how we think about the future
Great conversation today with friend Andy Bacher about a incredible story of recovery that was central to his life recently. He able was able to create an improbable space for a young woman’s path from hell to a new arc of sobriety and thrivancy. Reflecting on the countless times we've been a part of people’s paths and our own, we named a trinity of factors that basically determine if someone’s life will transform. There needs to be the right preparedness, process, and people. Transformation required being ready...
Every city has emerging talent in arts, music, and poetry among other things. And enjoying them is always free, making an adventure out of discovering and following the best as they launch their careers. This puts accidental conversations with other people in these venues as interesting ways of finding our what other people are discovering as well. What are you discovering?
I found out this week that I was one of the first 5% of people on Twitter, an early adopter status to go along with having been in the first 1% of people with websites on the Web. The life of early adoption is one of engagement not prediction. You take on what works without concern about how long it will last. You enjoy what works at the cost of what doesn’t work or exist yet. It’s not a life for everyone, especially normative and later adopters. Our value is contributing to way paving and building credibility for...
My Twitter post today: If you think there is anything more to teaching than giving permission, think again. We complicate things like teaching, mentoring and education. We think it’s about pedagogical strategies that lend themselves to standardized tests. We consternate over the failure rates of students. I'm happy that we are that concerned about the next generation’s success. But they don’t need tests. They don’t need clever micromanaged curriculums. They need permission. Period.
Great conversation this weekend with entrepreneurs Doug Craver and Gary Schoeniger. There is still a popular mythology that entrepreneurs are risk takers, as in people willing go into debt for their dreams. Well, there are two kinds of people who go into debt, consumers and creators. Entrepreneurs are on the creative side. That’s the large differentiator and it changes the whole relationship to failure from loss of certainty to leveraging uncertainty as the gold.My dream is that communities learn how to grow entrepreneurs...
In his film series, Amerikans, Oberlin film maker Mika Johnson, presented a screening of community based film making where the uniqueness of everyday people are featured as engaged as participants in the process. Mika’s obvious talent for cinematography, narrative and characterization comes through in this amazing collage of portraits. I had the chance to explore his process in which local people are engaged as partners in the co-creation of their stories. His vision is to bring screenings to neighborhood venues...
I've had more conversations lately questioning the value of non-profit boards in a networked world. When boards were invented, we weren’t connected by 8 or 9 degrees to 7 billion of our potential Facebook and Twitter friends. People weren’t as financially literate as they are today. And executive directors weren’t as professionally developed as they are today. Boards made sense when Eisenhower was President. These days many boards are social clubs for people with a passion to generate more unrealistic ideas than...
So what’s the place of historic buildings in redevelopment landscapes? Are they unnecessary design constraints on discontinuous possibilities? Beyond the incalculable value of nostalgia, could their absence create a cleaner canvas for imagining a streetscape future different from the past? Does their absent beauty or magnificence create a contextual sterility that detracts from the meaning of place?
If being read to is so significant in a child’s learning capacities, why are we not making it a graduation requirement for seniors to learn how to read to children? Every high school is situated in a community abundant with pre-school programs teeming with children who need to read to. This is a simple strategy for happier communities in the near term and civic and economic development in the longer term.
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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