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April 2024
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VOLUN-TOLD10/9/2023 I have been volun-told and volun-steered in many ways in the communities that I navigate. At first, I am very open to the idea provided it suits my interest, talent, time, and engagement methods. Other than that, aside from what I do on a main basis, I just want to enjoy my time leisurely. Recently, being asked to do this and that is something that I have to look closer and with more awareness that I can't possibly commit to many things and then drop them one by one. My experience in my last volunteer advisory role was like punching your way through too many intelligent people in the room all the time. These are great people with great ideas but execution and really being common sensical is a mile a way. My contrarian position irked a lot of people (I wasn't a favorite!) and this is the risk we all take when were not sycophants. Sharing a different and vital perspective should be welcomed but people can be overly sensitive and enamored by their own views too much. If this is the environment, I might as well read a good book or play with my daughter in the playground or watch My Little Pony with her. Stumping mushrooms on the ground is fun too. I don't want to be volun-shoved and volun-steered in the wrong direction. They might as well be barking on the wrong tree.
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ENDING WITH GRACE9/11/2023 In my book, Provocateurs, Chapter 8 talks about Envisioning the End you Intend. A foundation I have followed through the years is closing down its operations for good. I got the chance to talk to the current Executive Director about the rationale and the processes they're working leading to this path. Ending with grace is a purpose-driven response to closures, good byes, and changes. This means a lot for those who were part of the organizational journey from the very start, the founders- Board, Staff, members, grant recipients, and the people on the ground who were touched by the impact funding and breakthrough activities. This means a lot as well to those countless people in the community who were involved in some ways or another to the activities and programs and celebrations of solidarity with the people in the South. I am quite shocked at first as an outsider to hear this but I salute the courage to truthfully assess their situation. This is a very difficult decision to make and no Board, staff, or members would take this further unless it's considered to be (at that time) the best alternative amongst other options. As a consultant and advisor, I can't get into the minds of the decision-makers but I believe that there is a bundle of rationales that are taken into consideration in such an undertaking. But what happens next is not really much discussed but fortunately, my book looks at many such wondrous things that can take place after closures. Evidence is replete with many spin-offs, small and large that can I heard from the Executive Director that a bunch of members is meeting informally over coffee. All good things will end eventually but this is an interesting development to watch. We can all learn from this process and be amazed as to what 'reimagining the futures' would be like for this community.
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RELATIONSHIP FIRST6/26/2023 In the business of helping purpose-driven organizations succeed, we all know that it's all about relationship. Yet, networks and organization leaders prefer to put their goals and agenda front and centre. When they're unsuccessful in putting their agenda on the table, the focus on relationship becomes fickle and shallow. We need to redeem how we make business with one another. Instead of profiting from relationship, we should ask ourselves, how our relationships not just give us what we want in terms of vested interests but also allow us the opportunity to examine our understanding of our organizations and the world we live in. If we prioritize relationships before our own sacred goals, we do not lose even though we might not get what we want. If we prioritize being in-community with one another instead of competing for those limited funds and scarce resources, we are less about scarcity but more of generosity. If we understand that when an organization or a leader succeeds, there are hundreds more that can benefit from a simple stroke of convergence. If we lift one up, we know that this person will one day lift more people as they rise up from their own struggles. Hence, when was the last time you forge a relationship between and within and outside your own networks and systems, without any vested agenda or purpose at all? Sounds too saintly? No! It's our business to make purpose-driven organizations more more purposeful towards humanity. It's our business to keep kindness our agenda. |