The Problem with Idioms

I had recently been crafting a report when it occurred to me that I could make my point by playing around with some wording. What I can say… even report writing deserves its kicks! I was trying to capture the idea that there are major cultural shifts needed in Atlantic Canada if we are going to find ourselves in a better socio-economic situation. Thinking about one of the cultural changes needed, I kept going back to the thought that we actually “need to reinvent the wheel”.

I have recently come across several interesting ventures and enterprises that have as a goal, to make an existing system better; reinventing a system, if you will.

From there, I started wondering how often the innovation on an old premise or idea (or a tweak – see this article by Malcolm Gladwell about the genius of Steve Jobs) was squashed by someone saying “don’t reinvent the wheel”. It’s a phrase that I have heard often, and I’m sure you have too.

So off to Wikipedia I went, to scroll through a list of English idioms:

Reinventing the wheel

Rocking the boat (usually used with a negative connotation, of course)

You can’t teach old dog new tricks

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch

…and on and on it goes

Sure, I’m being selective here. There may be some idioms that encourage risk-taking and optimism, but I don’t sense that they have permeated the language and culture to the same extent.

These cutesy phrases seem harmless, but they are not. They set standards and expectation. They make us risk-averse. They scare us.

So go ahead and rock the boat, my friends.

I’ll have your back.

Fire in the Belly

It was a few months ago when I first heard the refrain. It was a hot day, and it was an important game. I was sore and tired, and we were losing by a few points.

Fire in the belly

Fire in the belly

Fire in the belly

First, you chant it to yourself, in a voice barely more audible than a whisper – then, increasingly louder, joining your voice to those of your teammates.

We lost the game, but I don’t remember much of it, except that phrase…fire in the belly. It was my first time hearing the phrase, but I knew exactly what it meant.

Fast forward a few months later, in an entirely different context, this time listening to David McKeage, Executive Director of Brigadoon Children’s Village Society speak with a group of 21inc alumni (me included) when I caught myself saying it subconsciously: fire in the belly.

The story of Brigadoon’s is a pretty unbelievable one, but so is David’s story of passion and leadership throughout this 12+ year journey of an idea. Brigadoon Village is the result of many things, including very generous support coming from throughout the region and beyond, the time and efforts of staff and volunteers, and because of the fire in David’s (and many others’) belly.

I heard him loud and clear: Align yourself with what you know to be right.

A message that I (and you) have heard many times before, but for some reason coming from David McKeage, it felt different – more believable, more palpable.

One of my favourite teachers at school (yes, I had many), used to ask “Qu’est-ce qui te fait vibrer?”, what makes you vibrate – what makes you tick, what makes you breathe?

If you connect with that space, you’ll survive and thrive through the times when being a leader sucks, when the unexpected happens, and when the world just doesn’t appear ready for you big idea.

Quiet other people’s expectations for you and tap into the fire in your belly.

The New Yorker article on coaching for professionals

It’s Tuesday morning on a 4-day work week, so we know that you have a long list of things you want to accomplish today and this week (and so do we). Still, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to flag this stellar The New Yorker article “Personal Best: Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you?”

This article struck a chord with us, because it speaks to why we exist as well as some of the programming of our leadership experiences...but also personally since, like you, we’re trying to find ways to get the most out of ourselves - reaching new personal bests.

Let us know what you think.

Guest post - Susan Holt

Leadership has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I started a new role a few weeks ago and have been thinking about what kind of leadership my new organization needs, and where my style fits and diverges from those needs. I’ve been thinking about how to start, and re-reading “The First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins, a great book for first-time managers and new CEOs alike.

Even before my first day on this job, I’ve observed and benefited from the leadership approach of my new boss, Chairman of the NB Business Council and Sunny Corner Enterprises CEO Gordie Lavoie. I firmly believe the days leading up to and following a new employee’s start can really influence their long-term success. As Watkins would say, accelerating transition and development to “expedite everyone” helps make organizations better, faster, stronger.

Gordie has taken a very thoughtful approach to supporting my lead-up to day 1 and preparation for the weeks beyond. He has been in touch regularly, connecting me with those who can fulfill my administrative needs (payroll, etc) and initiating the planning process for my first 90 days on the job. He’s been clear and specific about his expectations but has also recognized my strengths and style, creating the space for me to set the course I see fit, while providing careful advice. Finally, Gordie has generously offered encouragement and positive reinforcement for my initial actions, both small and large.

In short, while I know Gordie is extremely busy with his day job, he has shown a commitment to both the Business Council and me by providing strong, intentional leadership during a critical time.

I’m sure as we further develop our working relationship, the frequency and nature of our communications will change, and the balance between Chair and CEO will reach an appropriate equilibrium. But for now, I’m grateful that he has recognized this transition as one deserving of his attention and skill. I’ve learned from him already and expect to continue doing so as my new leadership role unfolds.

Can you think of a transition you’ve been through when strong leadership made a difference? I would love to learn about it in the blog comments!

Summer student summary of the summer.

Quick, find me in this picture!

I wish I could have fit another word starting with s into that title.

This week is officially my last week as the 21inc summer student. Tomorrow? My last day as the summer student. Gasp! That means it’s time for a summer employment blog post. I found it easier to write this in point form as there was a few different topics I wanted to write about.

Three topics I would like to touch on regarding my summer employment:

1) Worth and value in employment. I don’t know about you, but in my teens (and slightly beyond that) I worked in the food service industry. If you have ever had a job at a fast food place, you know that people tend to come and go. Even though I would go to my place of employment and put in the same amount of effort I would for any other job, I never really felt like I was particularly appreciated for my effort. I didn’t feel like I was of particular value to my employers (Because in their minds, I was just another employee, and employees come and go and can be easily replaced.) At 21inc this summer, I was not only told that I was of worth to the organization but I was shown as much by the projects I was given and the reception to work that I’d done. My opinion is of value, which was shown to me by the fact that Tim would often ask for my opinion on things he was working on (Even if it didn’t have anything to do with what I was working on or design.) I think part of that is due to the fact that I love what I do, but that’s another story. Up until now I didn’t see my own value as an employee/graphic designer because it’d been drilled into my head with years of food service that I was disposable as an employee.

2) Social and economic development, social innovation, politics and public policy. Up until I started working at 21inc these were topics that I did not know much about. I would not say that I’m now an expert on any of those subjects, but they were ones that would come up often in office conversation and it was something that I found quite interesting. Up until now my conversations with people generally involved the ‘hey-how’s-it-going’ type questions, talk about entertainment, and the occasional debate on a philosophical question (If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it still make a sound?) For some reason politics and current events (and particularly, what was going on the province) were never topics that came up. But now when people talk about these topics I at least listen (Sometimes I feel like I don’t know enough to express an opinion) because it’s actually a lot more interesting to me than I thought it would be.

3) Learning experiences. From the beginning Tim said that he wanted me to take any opportunity to learn something new that would help me be a better designer or help my portfolio. In my time at 21inc I’ve done two print design projects. I’m a graphic designer but my training is for screen based graphic design. Some aspects of print design were touched on at school so I still felt like I knew what I was doing, but it was still a big learning experience. Another big thing I learned was about communication – Things like explaining software to someone who doesn’t know as much about it, about the importance of including notes on what things I’m aware that need to be fixed on draft documents, asking for a second opinion, and so on and so forth. And using the phone instead email. I learned about work plans and project outlines, and planning projects. Tim would also frequently encourage me to think a little deeper about why I was designing something, and the purpose of it, and how I should integrate all those things together. And to think about how we (21inc) communicate ourselves to the general public. It’s not that I didn’t think before I started here, I just did not give those aspects of design a lot of thought. And those are very important aspects of designing anything (Which they don’t emphasize as much in school, I find)

On top of all the greatness that I have already mentioned, this was also a really fun job. I got to do something I loved, and I worked with awesome people and an awesome organization. There was never a dull moment in the office.

Guest Post - Jenn Dysart

When I think of moments when I’ve experienced true leadership - the kind that strikes you as though you’ve seen an artist at work - several faces come to mind: my grandfather, a community activist, a Haida elder. I have witnessed leadership displayed in very different ways, and I have learned that specific situations call for a specific leadership style.

A few years ago, while living in Zambia, I met Mr. Noah Hamapa. Mr. Hamapa was a tall, gentle middle aged man and father of 9 children. His family took me in as their own while I lived in their community, feeding me, showing me how to wash my clothes by hand, and teaching me about life in their country. Mr. Hamapa was a well respected man, not because of wealth, but because he was calm and wise. Often you could find people from the church at his house, looking for advice. One story that stands out for me when asked about a time when I’ve experienced leadership, involves Mr. Hamapa and his best friend Mr. Mbewe.

The two men saw each other almost every day. Mr. Mbewe was treated like he was a part of the family. They had known each other for years, and their children and wives were also close friends. Neither family had very much money, but each would offer support when the other was in need. That’s why, when Mr. Hamapa realized that Mr. Mbewe had stolen money from him one day, people were shocked. Mr. Hamapa had an entire household to feed, and couldn’t afford to have money taken from him. But, instead of accusing his friend and demanding his money back, Mr. Hamapa stayed quiet. He sat his family down and explained to them why they would be short on money that week, but they never saw a change in his attitude toward his old friend. When one of his children asked him about this, Mr. Hamapa told him, “No amount of anger from me could match the shame that Mr. Mbewe feels. He had his reasons for doing what he did, and I have faith in his character”. I couldn’t believe his response. I realized that I had just witnessed a leader choosing to exercise compassion and faith and acting as a model for his family.

I think the main reason that this story stayed with me is that I feel a leader often has to make difficult decisions they feel are right – regardless of other’s reactions to them.

--

Jenn Dysart is an alumni of the 2009 21 Leaders program

La vue dans l'arrière-cour

Peu importe où vous demeurez dans les provinces atlantiques, dans moins de quelques heures en voiture ou en sentier, vous vous trouvez face à une vue comme celle-ci (Cape Split en Nouvelle-Écosse).

C’est vraiment pas pire comme place!

Prenez le temps de ressentir la brise de la mer, et de découvrir votre p'tit coin d'pays.

Leadership as a Full Contact Sport (and other unprocessed thoughts)

Two Mondays ago, a group of our 21inc alumni had the opportunity to dialogue with Joan MacArthur-Blair. Huddled around a few bistro-style tables at The Hub Halifax, Joan shared some of her thoughts on what she calls the 3 tenets of “sustained leadership” – hope, despair and forgiveness.

I won’t say much about the content of this exchange firstly, because these Alumni Dialogues are meant to be intimate and off-the-record, but also because Joan is writing a book on the subject, and well, you should buy it when it comes out.

Instead, I’m going to share a few (full disclosure) unprocessed thoughts on where my mind has wandered in the past weeks, as a result of the dialogue with Joan.

I have been thinking about moments of leadership. Authentic, honest and “unphotoshopped” moments of leadership: the ones that make you soar and those that nearly break you.

Fake it until you make it

I’ve been thinking a great deal about the unfortunate reality that we don’t seem to encourage honesty and openness about the trials and tribulations of being a leader. How often have you witnessed leaders, emerging or established, admit that sometimes, leadership sucks, that they don’t know what they’re doing, or that it’s hard, or that they have been “brought to their knees”, shaken to the core by a leadership moment. When we hear of those accounts, it’s either after the crisis or unwillingly. Never is this norm more obvious than at a high school student council (any year, any high school) where you certainly don’t show vulnerabilities.

In leadership, we don’t talk about our bruises and our scars.

This leads me to my next train of thought…

Leadership as a sport

This annoyance with the pressure to always appear confident and unfazed and to a certain extent unemotional might be part of the reason why I love sport. Sport is real, it’s raw and it’s universal. You can’t hide your disappointment or despair. [See Team Canada’s performance at the 2011 FIFA World Cup, entering the tournament ranked 6th in the world and going 0-3, finishing last in their group].

So many stories of leadership parallel those of sport. And sometimes, in sport, and in leadership, we just have to step up and be the hero (but not all the time).

And like in sport, leadership can leave you with bruises. For some perverse reason, in leadership, we don’t wear them with as much pride.

Takeaways from TedxHalifax

Last Friday, I spent the day at the TedxHalifax event of TedxNovaScotia. It was a fully loaded and truly eclectic day. I don’t even know how I would begin to summarize the day, so I submit to you tidbits of notes and thoughts I had over the course of the day. Enjoy

• Make your own granola bars
• Bring more balance to your life – but it doesn’t have to happen in one day
• Must-have for next Ideas Fest: a big screen updated with tweets of the event
• Become native to a place (i.e. learn about plants and trees)
• Invest in hay
• Listen to more Jenn Grant
• Let your light shine like Ben Caplan
• Learn about seasonal cooking
• “Make your fridge reflect your core values”, i.e. eat cows that have a view.
• Community is about safe space
• Take the Woodside Ferry more often, and sit on the top deck

Not bad for a Friday, eh?

Le succès d'un premier dialogue pour anciens

...édition Chaleur et Péninsule Acadienne!

Lundi, nous avons eu notre « dialogue pour anciens » inaugural, au Restaurant et Martini Lounge Nectar, à Bathurst avec l’invitée spéciale Lise Ouellette, directrice générale de l’Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick.

L’idée pour ces dialogues est surgit d’une succession d’entretiens avec nos anciens et anciennes ces derniers mois. Ce que nous en avons ressorti, c’est que les initiatives pour les anciens doivent créer des opportunités pour prendre part à des questionnements et dialogues d’importance, continuer leur apprentissage et construire des relations avec des pairs et leaders établis dans la région.

C’est ainsi que suite à une énoncer de quelques faits saignants sur l’enjeu de la réforme et de la gouvernance, et quelques pistes de réflexion sur la place et l’émergence du changement, nous nous sommes engagés à décortiquer ce grand thème en vue de nos perspectives et nos propres constats.

Où en sommes-nous arrivés? Comme toujours, les conversations les plus enrichissantes nous laisse souvent avec plus de questions que de réponses. Où est partie notre culture de changement? Comment pouvons-nous ressaisir notre sens de communauté? Comment pouvons-nous faire valoir la voix des jeunes dans la gestion de nos communautés? Comment se mettre à l’action?

Un très gros merci à Lise Ouellette, à nos partenaires et amis de la région, à nos anciens et à leurs invités pour leur participation enthousiaste.

Newsletter is coming soon!

A large portion of my first month(ish) of full time work for 21inc has been spent on a newsletter. It's been pretty exciting (and a good learning process) for me because I usually don't get to work in print.

When I first started we had a template from J.D. Irving, Ltd. and I worked from there. I learned a lot about InDesign, which is a program I'd never really used before. Since this is the first edition, it took a long time. And a lot of rearranging text, photos, and design elements. I have a new appreciation for print because, well, it's really hard to make everything fit onto that one page sometimes (but it can always be done). Now that we have a solid layout of where the text and photos go, and what order all the pages are in, I'm sure that the next edition will be pulled together much quicker.

I feel really accomplished now that it's finished though. And I'm pretty proud of myself, it looks really awesome and I'm quite happy with it. (I have also declared that everyone I know is going to read it.)

The articles are pretty fantastic, we have some pretty great content. I definitely have some favourite parts, and I definitely enjoyed reading it (I hope you do too, when it's released)

A Community at Work

Last Thursday, I attended a panel on Young Leaders in Atlantic Canada on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility organized for the Canadian Business Ethics Research Network's annual conference, this year, held in Halifax. The panel was organised by Sheila Brown, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs, and was a workshop facilitator at this past November's Emerging Leaders Summit in St Andrews where she led a session on team-building.

When introducing the panel, to my surprise, Sheila gave a great shout-out to 21inc and our community. As she explained to me, the Summit has led to her thinking more about emerging leaders, which sparked her initiative of organizing this young leaders panel at the conference. Furthermore, when it came time to find some panellists, she picked up her program from the Summit, and browsed through it to get some ideas of leaders she could invite to be on the panel. 2 of the 3 panellists, she knows from the 21inc relationships she built at the Summit with our alumni; Michelle Strum (Alteregos Café / Halifax Backpackers) and Todd McDonald (Give to Live), whom she met through Ashley Ward (Give to Live) (Emerging Leaders Summit).

It was awesome to bare witness to the 21inc community and to know that people are continuing to build and nurture relationships with other community members...especially when staff has nothing to do with it.

Long time, no post

This is the beginning of week four for me of my full time employment with 21inc for the summer. I have been quite neglectful in updating the blog (oops) but this is my attempt at change. I'm just going to write a bit about what I've been up to in my exciting first weeks here

For the most part I've been working on our first newsletter. I have put much of my time and effort into it, so I'm looking forward to it getting out there. It's definitely awesome (if I do say so myself.)

During my first full week, Bill Clinton came to Fredericton and spoke at the UNB Aitken Centre with Frank McKenna. Tim managed to get some tickets, so I was able to go (along with a number of 21inc Alumni) which was really cool. The talk itself was great, it was definitely funnier than I was expecting it to be.

Afterwards, 21inc and the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce hosted an event at the Windsor Castle Bar, titled 'Dissecting Clinton.' Margaret Conrad, Michael Maynard and Larry Sampson all spoke for a few minutes on what they thought of Clinton's talk, and then attendees spoke about what they thought. It was all really interesting conversation and definitely got some wheels turning. Afterwards I conducted some interviews, which will become a webisode to be released in the future. I also took some pictures, which you can see here.

The webisodes aspect is definitely one of my favourite parts of this job. I really like everything about it, aside from maybe approaching people. I'm a little shy - But if you think about it, what's the worst thing someone's going to do? Say no? So that part gets easier every time. Aside from that, I get to go to interesting events and talk to people about what they thought, which is always nice. The part that I find really interesting is threading together all these interviews - people's thoughts - into one coherent train of thought that spans a number of people. It's definitely very fun for me.

The following week, we took a trip to Halifax, which was fun. It was sunny for the first day in a few weeks, and it was nice. I got to go to Julien's Bakery which was awesome (I had a bagel with chive cream cheese.) and we took a visit to The Hub which is a cool place.

That covers my first two weeks, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Bill Clinton and Event-Making Leadership

Bill Clinton can get a conversation stared. Using his signature ability to elegantly repackage complex issues, he told an audience of over 2000 at the UNB Aitken Centre yesterday that developed countries suffer from tired, strained, and stubborn systems (think of our challenges in healthcare, education, political and economic development). They must be reformed, he said, if we are to unleash future prosperity.

What does this mean for NB? How can we take his insights and act smarter? This was the purpose of an event we called, “Dissecting Clinton,” that 21inc hosted in partnership with the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce. About 40 people joined us for a wide-ranging talk at Windsor Castle Bar.

We trotted through familiar territory before entering new ground. Many people lamented that change in NB seemingly takes forever, even when we all know the current system is broken. We discussed how our tired, strained and stubborn systems encourage anti-change behavior.

This led to a discussion on the role of leadership in fostering change. Looking to a messiah or hero isn’t sustainable. Once that person stops, so does the change. How do we create different models of leadership?

Larry Sampson, Executive Director of the NB ICT Council and one of our guest “instigators,” said his belief is that NB (and I’d argue the rest of the Maritimes) needs an event to make the right conditions for change. This is Rahm Emmanuel’s dictum. The former Chief of Staff to Obama channeled a Chinese proverb when he said that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

But do events or crisis always need to be external? Can we create our own conditions?

Sidney Hook calls leadership that transforms “event-making.” Most leaders are “eventful.” That is, they “shape the course of events, but their contributions could easily be replicated by others.” The little Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike was an “eventful” actor because he prevented a flood that would have destroyed his community; but virtually anyone in the same situation could have acted as he did.

Event-making leaders change the course of history because of personal qualities they bring to the situation (and not always in desirable ways). Under Franklin Roosevelt’s leadership, the United States became a world power and an emerging welfare state. “Without him,” writes Nan Keohane in her book, Thinking about Leadership, “American history would have been different and not just in its details but in its larger contours.” Roosevelt, was an “event-making” leader because his actions created consequences through his outstanding capacities of intelligence, will, and character rather than accidents of position.

I agree that New Brunswick can’t rely on a messiah. That’s part of our problem; our culture seems dependent on this as an answer. It’s like the person who who believes that their retirement funding will come by winning the lottery. But nor can we afford to wait for an outside event. We need event-making leadership at all levels. And these event-making leaders need to put in place the effective, sustainable, and adaptive systems to carry on when their work

The Afternoon that Inspiration from Perth, Australia came to The Hub Halifax

Let’s start with a preamble:

There are many great things about working out of The Hub Halifax. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, The Hub is an international social enterprise of collaborative workspaces, hubs, in four continents and 12 cities for people who want to make things happen. From The Hub’s website, “We set out to create places that borrow from the best of a member’s club, an innovation agency, a serviced office and a think-tank to create a very different kind of innovation environment”. We are lucky to have a Hub in Halifax, and it is thanks to co-founders Joanne Macrae (alumna of our 2010 Emerging Leaders Summit) and Tracey Boyer Morris. When you’re in the neighbourhood, you should definitely pop by for a visit. Even if you are based outside of Halifax, you should consider getting a membership at the Hub so that you have a friendly and comfortable work space between your meetings when you are in town on business.

Okay, that was the preamble. Now to the story:

So, yesterday was lining up as a usual day at the Hub when Joanne, mentioned above, said to me that someone named Reece Harley was going to be hanging his hat at the Hub later in the day and that I should try to connect with him. Reece is Perth (Australia)’s International Youth Ambassador for 2011, an honorary appointment by the City of Perth, in association to their Youth Advisory Council. Youth Advisory Council? Youth Ambassador? Are you impressed yet? Just wait!

The City of Perth, through their Ambassador Program has sent Reece to visit three cities to learn and get inspiring ideas to make the city a better place to live, looking at issues ranging from homelessness to culture and creativity, to economic development and beyond. Reece is visiting Houston (Texas), Washington (DC) and our very own Halifax, Nova Scotia. Now, didn’t I tell you that it got good? His reflections, discoveries and findings will be brought together in a report that will be distributed to the four municipalities and its contributors.

I connected with him in the afternoon at the Hub. I wanted to chat with him about 21inc, as well as to gain some insight about the youth-focused initiatives in Perth.

He talked to me about Youth Tree and Big Help Mob, essentially a rent-a-mob service (you must check out the video on their front page), and the Left Right Think-Tank, as well as Azaria Media and Young Social Pioneers (check out their video). You should check out Reece’s website for a link to more inspiration organisations doing great work in Perth.

Example after example, organisation after organisation, I was impressed at how Perth has its stuff together. Or at least, how they’re investing in people, in social enterprise, in young people, in innovation to overcome the challenges that they do have (they are a commuter city, the cost of purchasing property is very expensive, etc.)…yet, the City has invested in a young person to go on a research mission to three cities on another continent all to bring back cool ideas to make their city better. Come on!

The obvious question I had for Reece, upon realizing that people and institutions are investing in young people and social enterprises, was “Where did that come from? How did it start?” I was expecting a complex answer – an explanation involving seismic shifts and dynamics that was decades, or at least years, in the making.

“It’s because of the Mayor”, he told me simply – a Mayor who recognizes the importance of investing in people and social enterprise.

Of course! Yet another example that leadership is at the core…a fundamental principle for us at 21inc and the reason why we are trying to unleash and unstick leadership excellence – the awesome – of our region’s emerging leaders.

So, there you have it, folks - yet another example that the Hub Halifax is a place ripe for meeting people, exchanging knowledge and ideas and creative collisions. I can’t wait to see who I meet next.

Fuelling Inspiration

I had the wonderful opportunity, as my first ‘official’ event as Chair of 21 inc., to attend the Public Policy Forum (PPF) Testimonial Dinner on Thursday night in Toronto. Our own Premier, David Alward was one of the co-chairs (with Elyse Allan, President and CEO of GE Canada), and the room was filled with 1300 public servants, policy makers, social innovators, and business men and women. I must admit, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, and felt like a rather small fish in a big pond, until I started talking to people. No matter where we come from in Canada, we seem to all struggle with many of the same issues – education, healthcare, social equity, the environment. I had some great discussions about the nature of engagement in New Brunswick, and what 21inc. is doing to be the successful and sustainable action tank that we were set out to be, and how we are cultivating leaders of today and tomorrow, ones that could possibly be honoured at a PPF Dinner in the future.

There were six people honoured at the event: the Hon. Bill Davis, Former premier of Ontario; Gordon Nixon, President and CEO of RBC; Jim Stanford, Economist for Canadian Auto Workers; Monique Leroux, President and CEO of the Desjardins Group; Emerging Leaders Award winner Victor Thomas, President, Regina and District Chamber of Commerce; and, Hyman Soloman Award Winner for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism, André Picard, Public Health Reporter, Globe and Mail.

Just typing their names tires me out, and to think of the quality of award winners is simply awe inspiring. I could go on a long time about the many things these individual said that caught my attention, but I will focus on a couple.

Firstly, Bill Davis. I must admit, I didn’t know much about him until last night. Now, if he decided, at 82, to run in an election, I would be more than willing to be a public servant in his government. A dynamic, fair, and incredibly witty gentleman, Premier Davis lead Ontario in the days of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the birth of Medicare, as was intricately involved in the signing of the Constitution under Pierre Trudeau. A man of integrity, one of the most inspiring things out of his mouth was this – “we believed in ideas over ideology […] We had an obligation to mature the economy, keep people employed, and help those who couldn’t help themselves. To those cynical about public life, we could fight with our opponents, but broke bread together. It wasn’t personal.” In this day in age, we can get so wrapped up in party lines, whose idea was what, and infighting in government, that we tend to lose the big picture. That as public servants and policy makers, we have a job to do for the people. To provide essential services, and basic rights to our communities, provinces, and our country. And the kind of politician Bill Davis was, we don’t see very many of any more. He impressed me, he moved me, and he made me want to be a better person, and a better public servant.

Secondly, Monique Leroux, she was elected by her peers to be the only woman to run one of the largest companies in the nation. Monique spoke with such passion for her work, and for the values it was built on. And she said this one thing that really inspired me – “We cannot leave our democracy to those who shout the loudest. The best ideas emerge when many voices are engaged.” Isn’t that the very premise on which 21inc. is built. A group of young, engaged, and passionate people coming together in one voice. And as chair of this organization, and an alumna of the 21 Leaders program, I couldn’t be more proud to be involved with an organization that is based on ideas not ideology, and emerging ideas.

So I left Toronto motivated not only as the representative of 21inc., but as a public servant, and a Canadian. And just when I thought I couldn’t get more inspired, I ran into David Suzuki in the airport in Montreal. No joke. He has long been a hero of mine, and he was kind enough to engage in a conversation about what is going on in our community. Such a cool guy.

I look forward to many more inspiring moments over the next year in my term as Chair of 21inc., and would love to hear your ideas and stories that inspired you! Send me a note at alycia.morehouse@fredericton.ca.

Brief communications update

Today was the last day of classes at school for me, and although I still have a few loose ends to tie up (DVD authoring and I, for some reason, completely forgot to include audio on a project that required audio.) I'm feeling like it's summer already.

Excitingly enough, I've been hired on as a full time employee at 21inc for the summer. I'm pretty excited because I get to work in my field, and I haven't even graduated yet. It's nice because I'll finally have the time to get everything I want to done (on the website, with videos and our newsletter)

I also have been picking up a bit of French, I'm sure you will be happy to hear. I've been attempting to (roughly) translate some text for the website into French and I found that has been helpful

1800 kilomètres en 8 jours, seule!

« J’ai l’impression de faire ma propre tournée provinciale », disais-je aux anciens. Je faisais référence à la tournée provinciale pendant laquelle les participants du programme des 21 Leaders de 21inc font l’expérience de la province du Nouveau-Brunswick ensemble, en autobus, pendant plus d’une semaine. Cette tournée provinciale est vite devenue la pierre angulaire de l’expérience de 21inc; je le sais, je l’ai vécue en 2008.

La semaine dernière, dans le cadre de mon boulot avec 21inc, j’ai pris la route vers le nord de la province, armée de baladodiffusions et de cartes Google imprimées. Mon objectif : rendre visite à nos anciens et anciennes qui vivent dans ces régions pour discuter de la communauté des anciens que nous voulons créer, et pour documenter les résultats de leur participation au programme. À l’horaire : Halifax - Moncton – Tracadie – Caraquet – Bathurst – Edmundston – Fredericton - Halifax.

Le nord de la province, de la Péninsule jusqu’au Madawaska, en passant par la région Chaleur, est une partie de la province que je ne connais pas très bien, j’avoue. J’ai ouvert grand mes oreilles à ce que me disaient les anciens et les anciennes de nos programmes au sujet des bienfaits et des résultats de leur expérience avec 21inc jusqu’à présent. Des informations et des anecdotes qui vont alimenter notre programmation pour les anciens, ainsi que nos programmes avenirs.

Tout ça, et puis je me suis laissé emporter…Il n’y a rien de mieux que l’autoroute pour se laisse voyager l’esprit. J’ai songé à l’Acadie et à l’ « acadienneté », à nos communautés rurales, à la résolution et l’engagement de nos anciens à ces communautés du nord, au bilinguisme, et j’en passe.

Trois ans après avoir eu des discussions stimulantes, enrageantes et inspirantes avec ma cohorte de 21 Leaders, j’ai refait l’expérience en solo. Ma conclusion? Il n’y a rien comme faire un peu d’autoroute pour réfléchir sur les choses vraies, les choses qui comptent. Que ça soit fait seul ou avec 20 de ses pairs.

Il suffit d’avoir la force d’éteindre son iPod.

*Un gros merci à nos anciens et nos anciennes pour leur hospitalité.*

Getting Government to Innovate

Readers of this blog know that I’m into social innovation, which is simply improving the way we tackle public challenges.

Last week, Tim Draimin, the Executive Director of SIG, tweeted that the world’s leading social innovator, Christian Bason, was coming to Toronto. I had no idea who this Bason guy was and why he’d be regarded by one of Canada’s leading social innovators as the world’s best.

It takes Google 0.17 seconds to return more than 110,000 hits bearing his name. It’s not hard to learn about him. And the more I looked, the more I realized what he does is needed our region.

Bason leads MindLab, a “cross-ministerial” research centre that involves business, citizens, and government to find creative solutions for society. It’s an incubator inside government focused on delivering new ideas, and housed in a gorgeous building. Which no doubt is an inspiring place to do their work.

Their work has helped retain foreign workers, reduced red tape through a citizen’s perspective (with a focus on young people), combined workplace safety with mentoring, and developed a business led climate change strategy.

At last week's panel on Governing New Brunswick, it was shown that our system puts up almost insurmountable barriers to doing the work that's needed. The province's fiscal situation fosters more conservative behavior, despite the need for innovation and creativity. From conversations in the other Maritime Provinces, this is true throughout.

A MindLab type organization on a regional scale could be our anecdote.

It's that day of the week again!

It's another Thursday, which means I'm due for another post.

Initially I was going to write a big long post about how I don't know how to drive, to continue on the "things Sarah doesn't know how to do" train of thought, but I figured I'd spare you most of that. I would, however, like to state that I have driven a tractor once, and a car twice. The second car incident involved me almost driving my friend's car into a snowbank while my sister sat in the backseat yelling at me (The joys of winter and being stuck in the snow. Everyone was okay. Even the car! I said almost into the snowbank.)

Ahem. Onto a different topic.

I have recently started paying more attention to politics. It started when I began working here for the most part, but it started cropping up in all areas of my life - My brother often discusses politics with me, it occasionally comes up at both of my jobs, and at school the other day we took a political test. I've been able to vote for the past couple years. I voted the first time I was able to, the second time I did not because I had moved, but this year I'm going to. Tim told me yesterday about vote mobs and it's actually pretty inspiring. There's one happening in Fredericton this Saturday, and I'm going to attend. (there's a good article here about it)

And it's all thanks to Rick Mercer... And even if you aren't attending a vote mob or anything like that - Please just take 20 minutes out of your day and vote, as he says.

Can we be too happy?

Can we be too happy?

I asked this question on the closing panel of the Ignite Leadership Conference at St. Mary’s University. It was in response to another panelist lamenting how much Haligonians (and I’d argue, Atlantic Canadians) spend whining about the state of things. In fact, this panelists said, we have much to celebrate.

This is true. One of those things should be our high scores on a slew of happiness rankings. A key indicator behind these happiness indicators is the strength of one’s relationships. Atlantic Canada is well known for strong ties, so it shouldn’t be surprising that we rank particularly high.

But we don’t rank high on a host of other issues that also matter – education, health, innovation, business starts. We’re close to, if not at, the bottom.

Recently Jim Meek wrote a piece in Progress Magazine about the dark side of happiness - being happy may lead to complacency. If one is happy, why change? Why stick your nick out and maybe fail if life is good? As another panelist said yesterday, Halifax seems to have a lot of people devoted to the status quo.

Many of the young leaders going through our programs have tapped into wells of motivation by recognizing how their efforts make a real difference against these challenges. Whether that’s through starting a business, adapting one’s behavior and getting better results, or working with their mentor on a particular challenge, achieving one’s goal brought satisfaction.

This isn’t a post against happiness –I wish everyone supportive families, friends, and community. But we can’t be blind either. When our leaders become more willing and able to do something about the challenges before them, that makes me happy.

Intern post number two

I have a (small) confession to make.

I don't know French.

I never learned French when I was younger, and now I'm wishing I had. It would make things a bit easier for me. I never really saw it as something I needed to know (though I wanted to learn after I took a trip to Montreal last summer) but something that I kept procrastinating (gasp!) on learning. Most of the time if someone speaks slowly to me in French I get an idea of what they're saying, but it's not perfect. Where does this fit in with 21inc? Everything is bilingual. Which I think is awesome. Except I keep making changes to the website and then am reminded that I have to go in and change the French version too. If it's text? Have to wait for someone to translate it.

So something I would like to gain out of working at 21inc is to at least have a grasp on French. My title does have the word 'communications' in it, and probably that should stretch to both languages. (This will be put on the backburner until after school is finished. My other summer goals are to paint more, get into traditional illustration, make comics and go to the beach.)

One thing that I'm already gaining in my (so far) short time here is experience working in an office environment. I've had a few jobs before this (I actually go to school full time and have another job) so I know what it's like to work somewhere, but usually there's a lot of managers telling you "you have to do this and that and so on and so forth..." but here.. I have a number of things that Tim and I decided I'd be working on, and I get to self-direct myself. I have a really short attention span, so it's nice because I have a number of very different things I can work on (layouts, video editing, web stuff) so once I need a break from one thing I can move on to something else. I find that that's how I work best when I'm doing homework, so it's nice to see that I can apply that to a workplace as well (though obviously things that have a deadline get priority.)

What I've been working on today is a webisode for our e-newsletter, with interview footage that I took at the event at Up a few weeks ago. It's actually really convenient because in my A/V production class we just recently went over documentary editing (which was basically putting interviews together) so it seems less daunting now. Putting all the footage together is almost like a puzzle though, but not in a bad way.

Being an intern is fun

It really is!

Some of you may or may not have heard of me (or even met me) but for about the past month I have been an intern for 21inc. I attend the New Brunswick College Of Craft And Design, taking the Integrated Media program. I hear you now asking yourself, "What is integrated media?"

If you are familiar with NBCCD at all, you may know that one of the studios (programs) they have is called "Communication Design" which is basically Graphic Design. They decided last year that there was so much in the realm of graphic design that they couldn't fit it all into one program any longer. So! They split it up into two programs, Graphic Design (Mostly print media based and basic web design) , and Integrated Media. What I take in school is less about the print side of things (Though those things are still a part of my program) and more about media - More dynamic web design, special effects (Motion graphics), film, animation and game design. I also graduated from the Foundation Visual Arts program last year (I miss the drawing/painting aspect of that, though I still get to draw and paint - I just don't always have a drawing class) and I'm almost at the end of year 1 of a 2 year program. The things that I'm most excited about next year are making video games (We're going to be using a program called unity which looks amazing), learning php/web programming, flash actionscript and I get to take another elective (I would like to take a drawing class or something in textiles/surface design.)

Tim brought me on to take care of more the communications side of 21inc - Newsletters, web, and video is mostly what I'll be doing. It's really great for me because I get a chance to work in my field and I haven't even graduated yet. (Sidenote: I get to blog and post things to Twitter/Facebook. For work. How awesome is that?)

Last week there was an event for 21inc alumni at Up wine bar with Nancy McKay, and I got to attend and take pictures/interviews. It was really interesting because I don't really read the news that often or keep up with politics (shame on me) so I definitely learned a lot. I didn't participate in the group discussion but hearing the differing opinions was very insightful. (And the decor was amazing)

That and photography is something that I really enjoy doing, so I was happy that I had a chance to borrow a sweet camera (Nikon D300s) from my studio and go out and take some pictures. I would say that I took at least 80, but narrowed it down to 12 to upload, which you can see at flickr (Click the image at the top of the post)

Guest Blog Post: Jeff Sparks on 11 Minutes/11 Muscles

As a 21 Inc. alumni, member of the 21 Inc. Board, and person with a neuromuscular disorder, I am very excited to attend 11 Minutes/11 Muscles. This is an event conceived and organized by students in UNB's MBA professional development class to support Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC) and modeled after the inspirational TED event.

Through attending this event you will have the opportunity to hear from some amazing speakers, while making a difference in the lives of those with neuromuscular disorders. 11 Minutes/11 Muscles will feature the Honourable Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick; Freeman Patterson, photographer and writer; Rachel Pulfer, international program director, Journalists for Human Rights; Stanton T. Friedman, physicist and ufologist; Brian Duplessis, executive director, United Way; and David Adams Richards, author, playwright and Saint Thomas University writer-in-residence.

Funds raised from the event will support the programs and services of Muscular Dystrophy Canada including. Where do the funds go? Here's a personal example: My new wheelchair cost $45,000. Purchased with support from MD Canada, it allows me to live an amazing quality of life and contribute to our communities through the work of great organizations like 21 Inc.

Hope to see you on April 1st.

Ideas Festival videos

Over the last couple months we've been working with Hemmings House Pictures to produce a few videos of the Ideas Festival. We're really happy with the results - they capture the energy and opportunities created by the Festival. I'll be posting English, French, and bilingual videos up here over the next week. Below is the bilingual trailer, a mash up of some of the best quotes and interviews from the 2010 Festival.

Entrepreneurial Purpose-Driven Education

Came across a video this morning of Bruce Mau, the well known designer and planner talking about his Center for Massive Change. Much of this is very resonant with where 21inc is going. Like the Center, we're developing a "methodology and expertise to be constantly innovative, to deal with challenges that will emerge in the future." We're focused on building a community of "entrepreneurial learners." Because change is happening so fast, people need to know how to "explore possibilities as they're evolving."

His analogy about being lost in the forest is brilliant and incredibly relevant to Atlantic Canada. I may "borrow" it.

Making Models

Our quarterly board meeting is this Saturday and it's more anticipated than usual. (Aren't board meetings always hotly anticipated??)

I've been devouring the book, Business Model Generation, over the past few weeks. Unlike most business books, this one is useful. Very. A business model is a description of how an organization creates, captures and deliver value. BMG shows how a combination of nine building blocks (eg. value proposition, key activities, customers) that all organizations have work interdependently to create, capture, and deliver value.

On Saturday we're developing the 21inc business model. We do each of the building blocks to some extent. Some better than others. But we've never put them together and see where we need to focus for future success and sustainability. There's so many benefits from doing this, including understanding where we need systems, what we should stop doing, and where we need to double down.

The picture above is from our practice session (prototyping for the design thinkers out there) with the Executive Committee this Monday.

Mission creep, or something else?

Mission creep is infamous in the not-for-profit world. It’s when an organization does a project outside its mission. Because budgets are tight and most of us run project to project, you do the project because you need money. In the process the organization dilutes who it is and weakens the brand.

But what if taking on different projects isn’t mission creep. What if instead it’s part of every organization’s evolving identity? That’s the question I’ve been playing with over the last week, particularly after a recent lunch meeting in Saint John.

Lately we’re being asked to consider and increasing amount of projects with the goals of enabling policy change. We usually say no. Our work focuses on developing the best leaders in Canada by building hard and soft skills, and knowledge of the context in which those skills are applied. Policy isn’t what we do and only tempts mission creep. That’s what I used to think.

I’m now wondering if 21inc can pursue its mission – to develop and inspire Atlantic Canada’s new and emerging leaders – with greater impact by not only using our programs to develop skills and knowledge, but also further create opportunities to exercise leadership. Our growing alumni, now at 118, have told us they’d like opportunities to influence the direction our provinces and region are taking.

The Aspen Institute in the United States does this. They’ve always been a model for us and maybe this is the road they took. Even if we eventually follow them, we still need to walk it ourselves.

2010 Reflections

It’s not my habit to spend much time looking backwards. True to form, for the last month, since the Emerging Leaders Summit and Ideas Festival in November, 21inc’s Board of Directors and I have been thinking about 2011-2014. But unable to sleep last night because of a stupid decision to drink a late coffee, I found myself lying in bed reflecting on 2010. Some of you might be interested in this, so below are my top three highs and lows of 2010.

2010 Highs

Atlantic Programs

No question, our biggest high of 2010 was the launch and successful execution of our first regional leadership experience. It started in the fall of 2009 when discussions began with the Government of Nova Scotia about what 21inc does. There was much interest and more stakeholders were brought to the conversation. We approached several of our partners, including ACOA, Scotiabank, Colour, Emera , Stewart McKelvey, and Ernst & Young, who all saw real value in a regional approach. With each Atlantic Province committed as a partner, the Emerging Leaders Summit was launched in June. The results were excellent. Working with our alumni across the region in 2011 is going to be a blast.

The Ideas Festival was also a highlight. This was our second Festival, which happens every two years. My colleague and co-conspirator Julie Breau told me after the Festival that a part of her wanted to know if the success of the first one was luck. It wasn’t. Pamela Scott Crace of Progress Magazine said she “loved” the inaugural Festival and didn’t know how we could top that. Her answer was we did, “by a lot.” I’m most proud of the greater regional representation and increased French content of the 2010 Festival. And the limbo contest.

Partnerships

Partnerships aren’t easy and we learned that this year. I guess we always knew it, but from now on we’ll enter partnerships having earned an education from the school of hard knocks.

Board changes

We spent the summer drafting policy, creating systems and updating the board structure. We added new members and for the first time, recruited them from outside the alumni. We still need to put some specifics to the systems and add two more members, but the momentum 21inc is experiencing at the board level is very positive.

2010 21 Leaders program

Our second 21 Leaders cohort graduated in May in Bathurst. They are an inspiring group. Two companies were started, several of the Leaders found placements on prestigious boards. And NB Debates was formed out of the Community Solutions Projects.

2010 Lows

Partnerships

This is both a high and a low. The highs are the lessons learned. The lows were the pain endured while learning those lessons.

Workload

It never gets lower. Murphy must have a law about this. Hire people, gain experience, purchase fancy tools, and enter into partnerships: new work displaces the old.

Noah Augustine

Canada lost a significant leader when Noah Augustine died in a car accident this fall. Noah was a big supporter of 21inc and met with the 2009 cohort. I was cleaning out my inbox over the Christmas holidays and found an email correspondence we had just one week before he passed. His shoes will be difficult to fill.