A Tech Startup? Me?

As the result of years of experiencing collaborative learning alongside brilliant colleagues, working ridiculous hours, and dipping into my own hard-earned savings, I own a tech start-up.

I should be proud. And yet my reality is that I stumble whenever I talk or even write about the initiative.

I realize my mixed emotions are the result of the push and pull I experience between wanting to change the world, and needing to be an entrepreneur in order to make it happen.

The truth for me is that my personal journey has always been much more about social innovation and… More Posted on 08-30-13

If a Five Year Old Can Be Taught Active Listening…

As he was driving home from a father and son outing in New Jersey a few months ago, Nathaniel Dancy Sr, suffered an aneurysm and a stroke, leaving his 5-year-old son, Nathaniel Dancy Jr. desperate to find help.

The clever little guy called his grandmother and read off the letters on the sign of a furniture store near where the car had pulled over. While his grandmother tried frantically to identify where the two were, Nathaniel calmly instructed her to use her “active listening” skills, something he had learned in kindergarten.

That’s when his grandmother figured out that they… More Posted on 08-21-13

Are You a Complicator or a Simplifier?

I just read a post on a Harvard Business discussion forum with the subject line shown as, “Are you a Complicator or a Simplifier?”...hmmm.

Jerome, the guy who posed the question went on to suggest there were two types of people.

The COMPLICATORS who complicate things around us by their cluttered thinking and their fanciful tendencies. As he put it, “Contributing much to the entropy in the economic, academic, legal, political, and social environments”; and the SIMPLIFIERS, who “Try to deflate the hot air balloon of hubris and grandiosity in our systems, thereby rendering our labyrinthine world easy to… More Posted on 08-18-13

Ready, Fire, Steer?

These days there’s a big spotlight focused on Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, as the result of his recent purchase of the Washington Post.  While the transaction created a lot of buzz, in some regard it makes a lot of sense because if there’s anyone who has what it takes to apply new models to old problems it would be Bezos.

He will no doubt ensure the spirit of experimentation that is so essential these days.

As he put it in his initial communication to the employees at the the Post, “There is no map, and charting a path ahead… More Posted on 08-15-13

We Oughta Know that Stories Matter

The best part about summer for me is that I actually have time to think and to write.

While I get that it may not be everyone’s idea of a good time, it definitely makes me happy even though it’s often hard work.

The challenge for me is that I’m typically using different types of writing.

By way of example, this summer my writing included a chapter of a textbook being published by Athabasca University about leadership for active, creative, and engaged communities as well as another article called How One Small Rural Community Found their… More Posted on 08-13-13