Category Archives: Leadership

Collective Impact as Uprising

I have written in the past about what I call the pendulum swing or the bandwagon effect. I think this is what has happened with respect to collective impact over the past 10 years. I suggest it also occurred in the late 1980s when outcome measurement rode into town on its stallion named Logic Model.Continue reading “Collective Impact as Uprising”

Rate this:

My Basketball Coach

I have always been tall and husky.  I was my current height, 6 foot 7 inches, in my freshman year of high school, and I was a basketball player and I was pretty good at that game. Back then a guy my size was automatically assigned the center position.  And that’s where my coach putContinue reading “My Basketball Coach”

Rate this:

Freedom of Choice and Human Rights

Your freedom of choice (or mine) does not trump the human rights of another. Human rights are  fundamentally and legislatively enshrined and set the stage for how we live together. Human rights are hardwired into our collective identity. The very act of challenging the human rights of another human being is, in effect, questioning orContinue reading “Freedom of Choice and Human Rights”

Rate this:

35 Voices On Collaborative Leadership and Co-Creating Cities of the Future

In July and August, I sought out individuals in my personal and professional network to contribute to a major paper I was writing on Collaborative Leadership and Co-Creating Cities of the Future. I sought out participation through Facebook, via a survey which I promoted in emails and through Twitter. The paper was released last weekContinue reading “35 Voices On Collaborative Leadership and Co-Creating Cities of the Future”

Rate this:

Five Elements of Strategic Resource Development

Posting #1 in a series on Resource Development It’s tough out there for non-profits and social causes when it comes to raising money, especially money for core operations and services. All of the seed grants, innovation grants, or target specific project grants are fine and dandy, but the growth in sustainable funding is not growing,Continue reading “Five Elements of Strategic Resource Development”

Rate this:

Leanings toward heresy

Complex and Simple By acknowledging that societal issues and solutions are complex, do we then believe complex solutions are the only options? Is it true that a complex issue cannot have a simple solution? * Data Data is neither good nor bad. It offers no explanation and on its own cannot provide a definitive senseContinue reading “Leanings toward heresy”

Rate this:

Tamarack 2015 Community Impact Summit. Phew!

What a summit it was! 260 people from Canada, the United States, Denmark, Guatemala, Singpore, New Zealand and beyond, working and learning together, inspired by the likes of Al Etmanski (my favorite speaker at the event), Fay Hanleybrown, Stacey Stewart, and Karen Pittman – all of whom gave keynote addresses. Dozens of workshops were led by Paul Born,Continue reading “Tamarack 2015 Community Impact Summit. Phew!”

Rate this:

Let’s Take a Break from Doing Good

Let’s forget our worries and our doubts and walk together unencumbered by the need for a destination. Let’s close the big books of plans and studies and turn down the volume of all that best practice noise. Let’s prefer to have faith in something less predictable and confining. Let’s agree to never again meet in board rooms,Continue reading “Let’s Take a Break from Doing Good”

Rate this:

Questions We Must Answer to End Poverty

Over my career in the human services sector, I have been a part of many collaborative and cross-sector efforts that were formed to address a critical social problem. In most cases, if not all, the social problem being addressed was interwoven with economics. So, the problem was more accurately a socio-economic problem. As well everyContinue reading “Questions We Must Answer to End Poverty”

Rate this: