How many aspects of your identity are visible to those around you? How many are invisible, or at least not intuitive? If you’re like a lot of people, your identity is – as we’ve mentioned before – like an iceberg, with the vast majority (90% in the case of icebergs) being under the surface, andContinue reading “What are Unique Diversity and Diverse Unity?”
Category Archives: Community
Which X-Men Leader do You Need as Your Work Partner: Storm or Cyclops?
“Who Will Lead Them?” read the caption on the front cover of Uncanny X-Men # 201 – one of the first comic books I bought as a then-9-year-old in 1986. The cover showed two characters battling for leadership of the team: Cyclops, the team’s original leader and a master strategist who had back-up plans forContinue reading “Which X-Men Leader do You Need as Your Work Partner: Storm or Cyclops?”
Anchor Songs: How Music Builds Team Memories
Each of us has certain songs that, when you hear them, instantly bring back a particular memory in profound ways, as if transporting you back in time. Even if you heard that same song dozens of times before that key memory, that’s the moment it will forever be associated with for you. When I hearContinue reading “Anchor Songs: How Music Builds Team Memories”
All You Need is Love (Notes!)
Every year or two when I go through boxes in my attic, I stumble across some notes that bring a smile to my face. A quarter of a century ago(!) I worked for a summer camp organization, as a team leader and facilitator for camps on college campuses across the US and in Southeast Asia.Continue reading “All You Need is Love (Notes!)”
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
During tragedies such as the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the famous advice for children from Mister Rogers to “look for the helpers” usually makes a resurgence on social media. It’s powerful advice for children overwhelmed by the images of disasters beyond their control; adults, too, can find it helpful and reassuring, although someContinue reading ““Won’t You Be My Neighbor?””
Can Hybrid Meetings Really be Inclusive?
Meetings are a staple of office life. They play a key role in decision making, and their place in workplace culture is secure. Even in the height of the Covid pandemic when so much of what we thought was fundamental to work got flipped upside-down, meetings still happened – they just took a different form,Continue reading “Can Hybrid Meetings Really be Inclusive?”
Banquet, Potluck, and Thanksgiving Models of Leadership
While the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US has a controversial history and our cultural retelling of it is inaccurate, the traditional Thanksgiving meal can help us reflect on how we lead others. This week seems an appropriate time to revisit the ideas of Banquet Leadership, Potluck Leadership, and the hybrid model we call Thanksgiving Leadership. If you’veContinue reading “Banquet, Potluck, and Thanksgiving Models of Leadership”
A Virtual Community Doesn’t Have to Mean an “Almost” Community
Five months into this pandemic, we’ve all tried some form of virtual community at this point. From Zoom gatherings to group phone calls, WhatsApp group texts, Google Hangouts and more, we’ve all been part of groups trying to remain connected in trying times. Like many people, you may have started out thinking of these asContinue reading “A Virtual Community Doesn’t Have to Mean an “Almost” Community”
Making a Mosaic Instead of a Melting Pot
Like many people in the first decade of the 21st century, I was hooked on the TV show LOST. I watched it religiously, talked through theories with friends, and followed the character names to learn more about the real-life figures they were named after (Locke, Rousseau, and Faraday, to name just a few). One of theContinue reading “Making a Mosaic Instead of a Melting Pot”
Lessons from the Life of John Lewis
Two years ago, I was fortunate to be working at Harvard’s 367th Commencement ceremony, at which John Lewis received an honorary doctorate. In his speech, he encouraged everyone in attendance to make “necessary trouble” and stand up for justice, “even when injustice wears a uniform.” Mr. Lewis’s death last Friday has caused me – along with manyContinue reading “Lessons from the Life of John Lewis”
Building Bridges Leadership 