Monday, May 18, 2009

Two Books!

This week I finished not one, but two books! That must be some kind of record. (Well for me at least). The first book I finished was Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which Josh Groth so kindly lent to me a couple of weeks ago. To be honest I did not like this book as much as I thought I would. Which is weird because I loved Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. I think I didn't like The Da Vinci Code is because I had already seen the movie. But now that I've finished both books, I can't wait to see Angels & Demons the movie. Has anyone seen it? Or want to go see it with me?

The second book I finished was Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz, which again I wasn't a big fan of. Which sucks because everyone else I know who has read it loved it. I'm just not a big fan of Christian themed writing I think.

Anyways, what was the most brilliant book you've read recently?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Natural Step USA - Miles the Can

Meet my friend, Miles the Can. I was introduced to this video a couple months ago at The Natural Step Conference's Sustainability for Leadership. For more information on The Natural Step, check out www.NaturalStep.org/usa/learn.

Last Monday, Miles was featured by business author/speaker Tim Sanders, a friend of my friend, Chas Martin, and former head trainer at Yahoo. http://sanderssays.typepad.com/sanders_says/2009/05/walk-a-mile-in-miles-the-cans-shoes.html

Sander's article was picked up by ABC-TV's GreenRightNow site in New York City http://www.greenrightnow.com/wabc/2009/05/04/take-a-trip-with-miles-the-can/

And then a day later by ABC in Raleigh, N.C.: http://www.greenrightnow.com/wtvd/2009/05/04/take-a-trip-with-miles-the-can/

Followed by ABC in Chicago: http://www.greenrightnow.com/wls/2009/05/04/take-a-trip-with-miles-the-can/

See where I'm going with this...? Talk about how Miles can travel! What are your thoughts on Miles the Can?

Saturday, May 09, 2009

SoL Conference Post #1

This week I had the opportunity to attend The Society of Organizational Learning's (SoL) Leading and Learning for Sustainability Conference in Portland, Oregon. The conference was lead by Peter Senge, an MIT professor who wrote The Fifth Discipline and The Necessary Revolution. Senge was also named as one of the 24 people who had "the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years" by the Journal of Business Strategy. Needless to say, this week was an awesome opportunity. Not only to learn more about sustainability and systemic thinking but also to have a chance to learn different listening and visioning practices. This conference happened one year after I graduated college and that I believe is really significant. I'm going to be doing several posts on the teachings and personal applications of this week. I hope it inspires dialoguge and personal reflection for everyone who reads it.

The program objectives where:
  1. Deepen connection to source of generative leadership through clarity of vision and purpose and personal sustainability.
  2. Appreciate relationship between interior development and external action.
  3. Balance between intiating and sustaining systemic change in the long term and building momentum now.
We talk about the difference between "leadership" and "boss-ship." Something I learned is that the original meaning of "leadership" is the ability to help others step over the threshold. Whatever that threshold may be. Over the next three days, I learned that the language we use is very important and that I need to work on selecting the right words to use. Before I had just been concerned with getting my message out there, however, now I've come to realize I need to spend more time on picking my vocabulary wisely. We talked about how the word "sustainability" is not equal to the ability to care and is just an umbrella term for a lot of different things and has a different meaning to individuals. Following that discussion, we talked about if good leaders are born or made. Peter Senge pointed out that your point of view on that question sets up your view on your own personal development. George Marshall, one of only three five star generals in the US Army once said, "Great leaders are born, then made."

We then got into small groups and did our first "check in practice." Called What Do I Stand For, in which in small groups of complete strangers shared what we stand for. Here is what I came up with for myself:

I stand for:
  • God
  • Human rights issues, particularily around adsocent girls and water rights
  • Curiosity and always asking questions
  • Social media tools and hearing people's stories
What do you stand for?

OneEarth.Org : ECO : The Power Of One

This was a video shared during the first day of the Society for Organizational Learning's (SoL) Leading and Learning for Sustainability.

As the power of one, what are you doing to make a difference in our world?

Saturday, May 02, 2009

girl meets GOD

I just finished reading girl meets GOD by Lauren Winner. Which is kind of random since I got the book in October 2005 from my college pastor at Bentley. It's a signed copy actually, I couldn't make it to Lauren's presentation so my awesome pastor bought me the book. But you know how college goes: school, swimming, work, travel, summers get in the way and I finally four years later sat down and read it. The book blew my mind. I'm usually not a fan of Christian reading or girlie book reading for that matter. But her passion for books and her geeky side comments made it totally worth it. I've learned so much about God and Jewish history from this book I feel like I could hold some serious ground talking about my faith with a Jew. I rarely feel this about authors but I would love to be Lauren's friend. For some reason I feel as though we have a lot in common:
  1. found faith / relationship with Christ on our own (minimal parental involvement)
  2. have tattoos
  3. geekily obsessed with books (take me to a Borders/Powells and you'll see what I mean)
  4. get side tracked by side comments, yet some how manage to bring it back into context
Anyways, I highly suggest the book. Let me know if you want to borrow it sometime.

What good book did you recently finish?