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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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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.
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UNPERSUADABLE4/20/2023 We know for a fact that not everyone will like what you do and will believe what you say and stand for. That's very obvious. But there's a class of people who will never believe and will not be persuaded even in the face of great supporting evidence or contrarian evidence. We call these people unpersuadable. They will dig on their heels but will never capitulate maybe because of ego, apathy, lack of trust with the other person or their leaders, or merely because they want to play that way. What is insidious is the fact that this attitude is totally annoying and a barrier to engagement. Organizations dealing with these kinds of people are reluctant to confront the unpersuadable for fear that they could be more entrenched with an extreme position or lack thereof. Change management analytics will determine that a different strategy should be employed for the unpersuadable such as keeping them at arm's length and providing information that they need without the urge to win them over. Realistically, let them know that it's not okay to be unpersuadable. It's a character flaw and by acting that way, shows you their real worth. If it's someone you have no relations or context with, walk away. |