what we believe
I spent some of the summer in British Columbia, Canada where smoke from 600 forest fires hung in the air for days and weeks on end. In Vancouver, the sun was often a pale, crimson orb behind the smoke. Where my wife’s family live, further north in Prince George, some days it was dark for hours after dawn. As the …
My local social entrepreneurs’ community listserv is usually a pretty tame forum for seeking and offering help for different aspects of running a social business. Earlier this week, it lit up with a dozen messages asking for popular support to pressure the Munk Debates to cancel Steve Bannon’s upcoming appearance in Toronto. To my surprise and concern, at least five …
At each extreme of a pendulum’s swing, there’s a moment of pause. It’s the briefest possible moment of stasis, when movement halts, and all that’s left is potential. It’s mesmerizing to watch, trying to catch that moment before the pendulum falls again, and swings to its opposite extreme. It’s an apt metaphor for responsible business: If the business sector is set at one …
It’s been a long time since I cried over a book. The last time was after I closed the last page of The Kite Runner. I could sympathize so deeply with the protagonist that I felt the last sentence reach out like a fist and hit me squarely in the chest. Last week, I felt the same thump as I …
John Cleese said it best: “Meetings, bloody meetings.” They’re both the bane of our organizational existence and vital for getting work done in a group—whether as a team of students or colleagues, a board of directors, or the organizing committee of an event or conference. So who should be running yours? In a recent post, we talked about having the …
Every entrepreneur, sooner or later, runs into the limits of their own capacity. We all confront myriad challenges. Some we’re equipped to overcome. For others, we need support. As Peter Drucker famously said, “the measure of the effective executive is the ability to get the right things done.” Often, getting the right things done requires the support of others. And …
It’s a constant challenge for leaders of purpose-driven organizations to showcase their goals and demonstrate their impact for stakeholders. Here’s one approach, using simple dashboards. The problem for reporting managers and social entrepreneurs is that they must… craft a clear and compelling message, backed by data, about how they’re achieving their goals that is tailored to different audiences, and do …
Last year, I was co-facilitating a group dialogue for about two dozen participants. We were nearing completion and I wanted to invite a final comment from each participant. Rather than putting someone on the spot to speak first, I asked for a volunteer and encouraged them to indicate whether we would proceed to their left or their right. Immediately, the …
On a few occasions during my career, I’ve been fortunate to find myself working on projects that ignited my passion, with teammates who became lifelong friends. Once each month or so, I get together with two of those friends for what is always a meaningful conversation. Bruce was my first boss post-university. Incredibly creative, with a limitless energy that I …
