Thomas Homer-Dixon writing in the Globe and Mail this weekend: Constitutive moments are a special kind of historical inflection point. Powerful actors like U.S. presidents always operate within a constellation of macro-trends, cultures, institutions, and social and political alliances. But during constitutive moments, they have a rare opportunity to radically reconfigure that constellation because the usual constraints on selecting from, combining, and adjusting its elements are greatly weakened. The systems they’re operating within are abnormally susceptible to massive change. Leaders who effectively exploit these opportunities can create not just profoundly new ways of doing things, but also new ways of …
The set up for the weekly staff meeting at the Alaska Humanities Forum offices in Anchorage. We spent the day yesterday with our colleagues at the Alaska Humanities Forum (AKHF) preparing for the Art of Hosting that begins this morning. AKHF is an organization that has long embraced the Art of Hosting as a way of operating both their internal organizational functions and their relationship and gatherings with their partners and programs. All over the world there are organizations like this, not always obvious or seen by the global Art of Hosting community, because they labour away on their own …
Sitting here in the Seattle airport in the midst of a very long travel delay. We are working in Anchorage this week and flights there have been delayed and cancelled all day due to a massive windstorm. Our flight was due to leave an hour ago. We have another six hours to wait. All good. Travelling in northern North America in the winter requires endless patience and the occasional bout of creative travel planning. There is nothing better than threading the needle to get the last seat. It’s a much better way to channel energy than getting angry at the …
Our ferry, Queen of Capilano, sailing in Snug Cove back in 2009 before she had her capacity increased. Got word today that BC Ferries is embarking on an initiative to renew their community engagement practices. This is important to me because I rely on BC Ferries to get to and from my home on Bowen Island to te mainland. They are a critical player in coastal life in British Columbia. in 2003 the government of BC, a liberal party who favoured privatization, turned them from a Crown Corporation (and operating entity owned by government to serve the public good) to …
Canadian politics is in a maelstrom at the moment. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has announced his resignation, and has asked the Governor-General to prorogue Parliament until March 24, which she did, on Monday. This Parliament has been seized by the Conservative Party filibustering its own motion related to a demand that the Liberals submit unredacted documents to the RCMP. There has been no business done in the House since September. The Parliament was ineffective, Trudeau has been increasingly ineffective and the NDP has withdrawn its support for the minority government meaning that the Government will likely fall on the …