On the eighth ballot in a drama filled election my friend Shawn Atleo won the position of National Cheif of the Assembly of First Nations. He neede 60% of the vote to win and he went several ballots against Perry Bellegarde from Saskatchewan even tying him on one ballot. But in the end he started pulling away and eventually won the vote. Shawn is an amazing speaker and a very thoughtful leader. He is the first National Vhief to also be a hereditary leader and the first NOT to have gone to residential school. He represents at once a new …
My friend Adam Yukelson wrote and asked me about how I hold questions instead of goals: I was speaking with Gabe Donnelly last night and she was sharing a conversation the two of you had last year in which you said you don’t set goals, but rather, live in a question or questions. We were both drawn to this idea, and curious how it works for you. Do these questions tend to be broad and existential? Short-term and specific? Both? Neither? Are there subsets of questions? How do you know when a new …
My business year usually follows the wet seasons, running for September to June. I’m finally back home on Bowen Island, relaxing and recovering, feeling rather burned out from a very heavy year of travel and work. Here are a few links that crossed my path recently: Euan Semple on why flashmobs are beautiful. Johnnie Moore on change myths and “best” practice. Holger Nauheimer has a series of posts on skills and change worldviews. Dave Pollard‘s unschooling manifesto.
My friend Adam Yukelson took up rock balancing after hanging out with us at the ALIA Institute last month. He made this sculpture on the shores of the Dead Sea a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful.
Back in Halifax after a few days on PEI staying at Rob Paterson’s place. Right next to the house we were in was a striking contrast in field ecology, comparing a monocultured wheat field with a former horse paddock which has become a meadow. Rob and I spent the better part of an hour talking about these two fields and drawing analogies between them and the kinds of organizations we work with: some are monocultures and some are communities. The above video is a five minute summary of some of the things we discovered on our own.