My work as the Founder and Principal Collaborator of Campus for Communities of the Future involves delivering a lot of training sessions focused on the how-to’s of strengthening community building. As a result, I’m gaining traction in terms of becoming more comfortable and confident with both the content and delivery. However, I wobbled a bit recently when I started to prepare for a session for economic developers.

After all, up until now I have been talking about community building to people who already understand it is as a priority. That is… More Posted on 08-18-19

Turning Learning Upside Down

While it really isn’t anything I can explain, every once in a while I stumble across a transformative concept that simply feels right. Sometimes I try to push the concept to the back of my mind because I know implementing that change is going to result in disruption, not to mention a significant amount of work. Ultimately though the concept keeps surfacing and draws me in like a moth to a flame.

While it really isn’t anything I can explain, every once in a while I… More Posted on 08-01-19

Change Not Chance?

I am blessed to have maintained a precious relationship with three colleagues with whom I worked over a number of years as part of an exciting community development initiative called ACE Communities. Although we are all now self-employed we continue to connect via monthly group Skype calls. Our conversations are a mix of personal and business but always always reflect deep, rich learning, and probably a little too much fun.

In anticipation of an upcoming call this week, one of the group suggested we provide a bit more structure by… More Posted on 05-29-19

Gene Simmons Raving About Canadian Civility?

Author’s Note: This week a good friend told me that I would always have struggles being understood because I was always ten years ahead of my tiime. Thought I’d test that theory by going back into my archives to a blog I wrote almost exactly ten years ago. Found this one written in 2009….hmmm….I’m kind of thinking it might still be relevant?
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Last week American Gene Simmons, best known as the demonic, blood spitting bassist with a creepy waggling tongue in the 1970’s hard rock band called… More Posted on 02-07-19

Monkey Mind Musings About Community

As the holidays become a distant memory and we get back to the reality of more typical regimes, I’ve been reflecting about the upcoming year.

Rather than making resolutions which my monkey mind doesn’t always allow me to keep, I thought it might be an idea to focus on the community building work that continues to absorb so much of my energy. Here are… More Posted on 01-05-19

Where the Sweetness Happens

I do believe that community leadership is ultimately about having the courage to step forward. But, on that particular day, I wasn’t feeling it at all.

I had just reviewed the content of a presentation I was about to deliver at a national forum and was beginning to second guess myself. 

On an intellectual level I understood the community leadership learnings I planned to share were solid, innovative, and grounded by boots-on-the-ground experience. However my personal insecurities, (perhaps a subject for another blog?) in combination with working… More Posted on 05-14-18

Did I Walk Out to Walk On?

A while back, I received an email from my alma mater advising me that I had been nominated for a Distinguished Alumni Award.

While I know it was an incredible honour and should have been excited, I didn’t feel I deserved it.

I know that I work hard, have taken risks, and have had some success. However, my track record with employers and sometimes painful climb up the corporate ladder left much to be desired. That and my lack of staying power are reflected… More Posted on 02-01-18

You Didn’t Step Up Ridley Scott

I used to be a fan of English movie director and producer Ridley Scott.

Famous for films like Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator, I loved that at the age of 80 he was still actively pursuing his passion.  After a recent CBC interview I’m having second thoughts.

In the interview, Scott discussed his latest movie, All the Money in the World, and what it took to recast Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer and then substitute all his scenes within… More Posted on 12-29-17

Maturity and Moxy?

I don’t know much about building cars or how to fix them if something goes wrong, but I would say I’m a pretty good driver.

Driving a car is also how I think about information technology. And, even though I don’t speak geek, know very little about coding, and struggle to fix anything when it goes wrong, I use technology better than most people my age.

For me technology is simply an extraordinary gift providing previously unfathomable opportunities to communicate, share ideas, learn, grow, challenge, collaborate, advocate, engage, and make… More Posted on 11-24-17

Skunkworks? A Solution for Community Building?

Community building involves working with a variety of government departments, non-profit organizations, and businesses. Over the years I’ve learned all three typically have a lot in common.

For example, by most standards they are successful and have leaders who are smart and pretty good at doing what they do. They also acknowledge we’re living in a world undergoing fundamental, rapid, and long term change driven in large part by unprecedented growth in technology.

The thing is that while they know they need to be more nimble and innovative, they are often… More Posted on 06-02-17

Complex Issues Means Rethinking How We Plan

Given the nature of my work as the principal collaborator of a social enterprise focused on supporting seasoned and aspiring leaders to meet complex community demands, January is often marked by a flurry of emails and calls from organizations who, after finally getting a chance during the holidays to slow down and reflect,  get pumped up about organizing a strategic planning session. 

Quite rightly they would see the beginning of a new calendar as a time to… More Posted on 01-03-17

Are We Designing Systems for Failure?

It was a nightmare of a trip - definitely a long time, not a good time. 

My flight, on a major airline, was initially delayed three hours due to mechanical difficulties.  Apparently this particular airline doesn’t feel it’s important to notify passengers of delays even though they do make a point of collecting email addresses as well as business, home and cell phone numbers when tickets are purchased. But, as the ticket attendant pointed out… More Posted on 01-03-17

Life’s “Gong-able” Moments

There’s no doubt my youngest brother is happy to see the tailend of 2016. His year has been especially brutal and if not for an off-the-chart stubbornness gene, I’m sure he wouldn’t have survived it. 

Already in a wheelchair as the result of an accident, over the years he has had vertebrae in his back fused as well as 3 hip replacements. The last one was complicated by botched surgery, a broken femur, and the loss of a… More Posted on 01-01-17

Want to Grow Your Community?

Ugh. Another meeting focused on one of my least favourite subjects – evaluation.

I’m not sure why my initial reaction is so negative. Is it because there’s so much pressure these days to make things happen that we don’t have the time to pause, never mind look back and reflect? Or is it because evaluation is a word that evokes judgment and a focus on what we may or may not be doing right?

Perhaps in the interest of being open-minded I’ll just substitute the word learning for evaluation. Asking,… More Posted on 10-28-16

Brilliant Ideas Aren’t Always Complicated

Most people would have bet against it ever happening. After all, six weeks ago, it was just a crazy idea generated by a guy who managed to convince a few of his friends it would be fun. There were no links to a formal organization that could have provided support, nor was there any funding in place.

However, what most people failed to take into account is that there is significant and growing interest in a different kind of leisure. As identified in the National Framework for Recreation in Canada… More Posted on 09-01-16

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