vingt et un

The Problem with Idioms

2011-12-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

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

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

2011-10-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-07-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

...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!

2011-06-10T12:22:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-27T05:33:00.000-07:00

« 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

2011-04-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-04-08T14:01:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-31T06:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-18T05:10:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-05T05:39:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-01-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

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.

Le marché des idées

2010-11-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

Le concept du Marché des idées est en quelque sorte un babillard interactif, en format papier.

Vendredi soir, les participants ont eu la chance de partager sur une feuille de papier les projets qu'ils veulent réaliser et les ressources dont ils ont besoin pour les accomplir.

Cela veut dire qu'il y a environ 200 différents projets et idées que les participants peuvent lire et remuer leurs méninges. Imaginez les possibilités! De cette façon, les gens peuvent faire la lecture des projets et s'ils se sentent interpelés ou capables de donner un coup de main, les coordonnées sont indiquées.

Partagez vos projets, et les ressources dont vous avez besoin pour les réaliser dans les commentaires.

-Mélissa Cormier, bénévole 21inc.

WestJet Ideas Festival Contest

2010-11-25T05:16:00.001-08:00

Win 2 tickets to ANYWHERE WestJet flies!!All you have to do is enter 1 idea that you think can move Atlantic Canada forward.Enter your idea as a comment to this discussion. Please enter your name when you post your idea. We will draw 1 person from the top 10 ideas!We will draw for the tickets tonight at the soiree. Dont miss it!

Power to the People

2010-11-25T05:03:00.000-08:00

Do we have a different kind of power when we exist in a network? Mark Kuznicki, founder of ChangeCamp posed this question in the Kick-Off Event of the 2010 Ideas Festival, and taking a look around the room, I'd say yes. Yes, because there is power in the in the diversity of individuals gathered here - a power of resilience. The festival has brought together people who have been making change for decades and those who have been making change for days; people who have founded numerous initiatives and people who are preparing to launch their first; people who have realized many ideas and people whose ideas are beginning to emerge in different sectors across Canada. They are all gathered here together. They are learning, mentoring, questioning, and acting. They are changing the future of this country, but more importantly, this country today. And the resilience inherent in this group means that these ideas are here to stay.

Bring on Day 2!

Y Vote

2010-08-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Pure greatness. That’s what I think of what I hope will be the most important video of the NB general election. The release was last night in Moncton and is now up on Youtube. The number of views is going up and up.

The model for the video was one put together by Leonardo DiCaprio and friends during the 2008 US general election called 5 friends. Brian Gallant and Dan Gillis gathered a stellar cast of New Brunswickers to be part of the video. Despite having Bernard Lord, John McLaughlin, Lisa Merrithew, Dominic Leblanc and other prominent NBers, the younger stars stole the show.

Most importantly, the message is clear. The fundamental reason our political leaders don’t make needed and hard decisions on the economy, the environment and a litany of other issues is because no constituency supports them. We need to demand that the issues we care about be heard and VOTE for it.

Lets make this election different.

Go vote. Vas voter.

Public Intellectual

2010-08-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Melissa Wah, a Jill of all trades at 21inc, is making her first guest appearance on the Spin Reduxit podcast, Friday afternoon in Saint John.

As CBC reporter and podcast host Jacques Poitras writes on their blog, announcing the occasion,

Spin Reduxit loyalists in the Saint John area are invited to our very first, and altogether experimental, "live" podcast, which we will record this Fri., Aug. 13, at the City Market.

Daniel McHardie and I will be at the Java Moose Coffee location at the market from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to record an extended Spin Reduxit podcast. We're inviting three engaged, civic-minded New Brunswickers to join us for our discussion: urban activist Kurt Peacock, lawyer and former Saint John Board of Trade chair Nathalie Godbout, and Melissa Wah, a recent St. Thomas University grad who's working for 21inc, the youth leadership program.

Be sure to download the podcast next week.

An Overwhelming Response

2010-07-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Anyone leading a company or nonprofit will tell you that life is a series of highs and lows. Things are rocking one minute with everyone saying yes. Then the next minute that light shining at the end of the tunnel is sold by a competitor.

The past five weeks of collecting nominations for the Emerging Leaders Summit has been a big high. The Summit is our first program beyond New Brunswick to Atlantic Canada and we’ve been overwhelmed with the response. We’re still finalizing numbers but the quality and diversity of leaders and entrepreneurs nominated can’t help but infuse us with confidence about the amazing leaders in our midst.

It also raises the bar for us as we finish the design of the Summit and Ideas Festival, making sure it’s a powerful experience. That’s nothing but a good thing.

The Leadership We Need

2010-07-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

The New Brunswick news has been rightly focused on the death of Jack Irving. As one of K.C.’s three sons, his leadership in business and the community made an indelible and positive mark on the province and region. David Ganong told the Telegraph Journal that “he left a huge mark. He made enormous investments and created a huge number of jobs.”

David’s comment got me thinking -- what qualities do our leaders need to leave a huge mark? The impacts made by Mr. Irving no doubt qualify him for the “huge mark” title, but are there others?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Given our challenges like demographics, low entrepreneurship rates and education scores, or our incoming health care apocalypse, what kind of leadership do we need to solve them and how can we (as a society and as an organization) encourage this?

These were the questions swimming in my mind while reading “Measures of Leadership,” from the current issue of strategy + business. The study looked at leaders in the Gulf Cooperation Council (defined by Wikipedia as a political and economic organization involving the six Arab states of the Persian Gulf with many economic and social objectives) and what leadership qualities were helping them modernize and develop their region.

Those qualities are:

• Farsighted vision: A long-term outlook that recognizes the importance of building sustainable institutions for future generations.

• Pragmatic openness: A willingness to seek ideas from around the world and customize them for the GCC’s unique circumstances.

• Conscious presence: A recognition of the fact that the GCC’s leaders are not just building their own organizations but also acting in concert to establish the region as a global player.

If we change GCC to Atlantic Canada, how do we fare? I don’t know. Clearly our titans of industry are thinking about these, particularly Farsighted Vision, as they build companies into sustainable institutions. J.D. Irving’s becoming the biggest private sector consumer of IT in New Brunswick is a good example.

What about Conscious Presence? Have we been building the institutions and infrastructure to encourage action that can help our communities and organizations thrive globally over the long term? For sure we're trying, but only time will tell if we succeeded.

Nancy Mathis

2010-07-15T05:08:00.001-07:00

One of 21inc's partners interviews another in the Telegraph Journal this morning. Dave Veale, CEO of Vision Coaching, has a series interviewing key leaders in the community and he subjects Nancy Mathis, Executive Director of the Wallace McCain Institute, to his questioning. It's a really good piece. Nancy is an inspiration.

"Everything that happens to us informs our future - good and bad. You probably learn more if things don't go the way they're supposed to go, according to your design. You learn more and that makes you stronger and smarter for the next thing you plan to do, as long as you keep moving forward."

Thinking and Doing in Realtime

2010-07-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

I spoke today with Kanika Gupta, founder of Nukoko, who is completing a masters degree at UVic on the challenges young people face starting social enterprises. The research will inform a guidebook she's creating for young people interested in getting into this line of business.

After our conversation she asked what advice I would give after the experiences with 21inc. This is always an uncomfortable question. We learn so much everyday, who are we to give advice? I asked if anything from our conversation struck her as unique and could be beneficial for others to learn from.

She spoke about how much thinking we have done and continue to do on the vision and structure of 21inc, and the positive change that resulted. That was interesting to hear and probably because we’ve got a bunch of over educated people in leadership positions.

But also because we never looked at our evaluations, our governance decisions, event brain-dumps and debriefs, advisory network, and the 18 months from 2006 to 2007 exploring what 21inc should do as anything except what needed to be done. Thinking and doing at the same time is not optional.

Have we always made the right decision as a result of that thinking? Definitely not. Do we always ask ourselves the right questions? No again. So what have we received from this thought work (aside from several headaches)? Intentionality in our actions, a larger network of friends, an understanding of our market, more targeted programming to achieve desired outcomes, and commitment to given directions. And an understanding from experience that improvement is never over.

I’m looking forward to reading the results and how they fit into the bigger picture.

Power

2010-07-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

We hosted a conversation this morning with respected and experienced leadership development experts. We were discussing pieces of the Emerging Leaders Summit when one asked, “how are you looking at the issue of power?”

Power is fundamental to leadership. And our research into leadership programs shows that it’s rarely made explicit to understand how we use it.

Paul Theriault, VP Human Resources at NB Power was there and started talking about the old TV show Dallas. During one classic scene, Jock Ewing, the head of the Ewing Oil company, loses it with his upstanding and ethical son Bobby when he tells him “you are never given power, you take power.”

There's a bit of time still open for a challenging conversation and we discussed what an exploration into power might look like at the Summit. For example, invite someone to join us who has had a rich life taking power and, importantly, having it taken away. Or maybe tools are developed to better understand how we exploit it -- or not.

Photos with the Premiers

2010-06-25T12:09:00.001-07:00

It week was a good week for 21inc. Our partners (Scotiabank, Emera, Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette) were able to join us as we promoted the Emerging Leaders Summit with two Atlantic Premiers. Here are some photos:

Strengthening NB's Nonprofit Sector

2010-06-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago nonprofit leaders from across NB came to Renaissance College for two days to explore how to better lead their organizations. It was called Community Perspectives/Perspectives communautaire. Here's the press release.

The innovation needed to solve challenges like poverty, economic development, and sustainability means we often don’t know where the ideas or inspiration will come from. In co-organizing the event with the Community Non-Profit Organizations Secretariat and Renaissance College, we wanted to create the conditions for idea generation and creativity.

Sessions occurred in both official languages and thoughtful practitioners engaged participants in topics such as partnerships, social innovation, social marketing, and community inclusion networks.

Following the event, one of the participants sent organizers this gratifying email:

I would like to thank all of you and the countless other participants that made the past few days so enjoyable – I have some new and strengthened partnerships – I knew I was in the right place when I knew half the people, and didn’t yet know the other half – The facility was great – the space was safe – everybody offered something of value to the conversation and responsibility was shared.

I don’t know exactly what will come next, however I am sure that it will be awesome!

Here’s to trailblazing!

Well said.

Here are some photos:

2010-06-14T09:28:00.001-07:00

It’s a big week for 21inc. Today we’re opening nominations for our new program, the Emerging Leaders Summit.

(It’s actually been live on the website for a week since it “leaked” a week and a half ago. We started getting calls for more information or not being able to find the nomination page. As a result we put it up and already have a bunch of nominations!)

We’ve been working on this program since last fall and are really excited about the positive impact it will make. The Summit supports and develops Atlantic Canada’s most promising leaders and entrepreneurs, age 20 – 35.

From a pool of nominations, 50 young people from across Atlantic Canada will be selected to join some of the region’s most respected leaders as faculty and mentors at the Emerging Leaders Summit in St. Andrews, NB, this November 22-24. The focus is on skill development, facilitating the movement from “leading –self” to “leading others.” Nominations are open now!

Candidates are selected, in part, on how they can apply the experience to an actual leadership challenge. Programming is designed to enhance abilities to motivate self and others, build teams, strategize, design structures (that support the strategy), and measure success. Critical skills no matter what is being led. Participants then engage with leading doers and thinkers at the 21inc Ideas Festival, immediately following from November 24-26.

The Summit is supported by leading companies and organizations from across Atlantic Canada. Our private sector partners include Emera, Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette, Evolving Solutions, and Couleur. Our public sector partners include the Governments of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI, and Nova Scotia Business Inc. We will be confirming more in the next few weeks, stay tuned.

In discussions on the Summit, some people have asked how it relates to the 21 Leaders program. It’s a good question. They’re entirely different programs but similar in a few ways. They’re both leadership experiences (leadership is what 21inc does, after all). We’re taking lessons learned from the 21 Leaders program – creating that platform for leaders and entrepreneurs to develop tangible skills, knowledge, confidence and relationships – and applying it over an intense and stimulating 3 days (5 days with the Ideas Festival) to create a powerful leadership experience.

We’re also using it to try out a couple things that we may want to extend to the 21 Leaders program. For example, making the selection, in part, about how participants can use this learning. In what way will they apply this experience to leadership challenges in their professional careers or in the community?

Obviously the Atlantic element is critical. We’re a small, rural region without many opportunities to create connections and learn from leading doers and thinkers. Malcolm Gladwell comes to Toronto once every couple months for a talk at Rotman. Atlantic Canada isn’t exactly on the circuit. We need to create forums and spaces to learn, to develop the necessary abilities, to share, and find ways to improve on the things we do. The 21inc Emerging Leaders Summit seeks to do just this.

Nominate someone now (or get someone to nominate you)!

Get Your Debate On!

2010-05-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

As part of our 21 Leaders program, the Leaders work in small groups (of 3-4) with a nonprofit or on a project of their creation that helps solve some of NB's most pressing challenges. We call this component of the program Community Solutions Projects. One of the groups this year has organized a debate to be held during our upcoming Accelerator in Bathurst. I asked team member Jennifer Dysart to write a post for the blog. This is what she sent. If you're in Bathurst you should definitely make time to attend.

What better way to learn about issues affecting your province than through a heated debate?

As part of the 21 Inc. program, David Michaud, Alain Parent, and myself had the opportunity to come together and transform this concept into reality. After a few weeks of brainstorming, Have Your Say! NB Debates/Debats NB: Prenez Position! was born.

It's a project aimed at increasing awareness among New Brunswickers about issues affecting the sustainable economic development of their province. The project will consist of a series of debates held in both urban and rural venues between local experts and leaders with a focus on public engagement. The topics of the debates and the debaters will be chosen based on current issues affecting the particular location and availability of suitable individuals.

The first debate is scheduled to take place at the final 21 Inc. accelerator weekend in Bathurst on May 28^th at 7:30 a.m. at Danny's Inn.

THE APPROACH & OUTCOMES

Three debates will be held in 2010; one in Bathurst, Sussex, and Moncton/Dieppe. The debate in Bathurst will be bilingual, the one in Sussex will be held in English, while the debate in Moncton/Dieppe will be held in French. Hosting of the debates will be a collaborative effort between Have Your Say! NB Debates and partnering organizations.

During the actual event, a poll of the audience will be conducted before and after the debate. The results of the debate will be publicized, and will hopefully act to educate and motivate public action.

If you are in Bathurst next Thursday please come join the debate!

Jennifer Dysart lives in Sussex and works to support rural economic development in New Brunswick.

Important Days in History (of 21inc, at least)

2010-05-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

In 10 years time we could look back at last Friday as an important day.

A working group of four 21inc board members and myself met in Fredericton for an all day planning session to look at our governance model.

Our governance structure is by no means broken. But given our growth and future goals, to quote Marshall Goldsmith, what got us here won’t get us there. With the blessing of the board at large we set out to review, renew, and reshape how the board supports, guides and propels 21inc’s mission.

This time we had the benefit of two previous iterations of what 21inc’s governance structure should be. Some things really worked from those efforts, others didn’t. Perhaps the biggest change is our need to formalize roles and lines of responsibility. All start-ups depend upon informal communications. The founders have a close relationships and a shared vision – usually found in their heads and not on paper. The early phases of an organization emphasize entrepreneurship and creativity, testing various products and approaches until something sticks.

Once something sticks the organization focuses energy there and efficiencies are found. We’re in between phases. We know areas that need consolidation while others are still in the test & validate stage. We defined these areas on Friday and put in place a structure to support both the emergence of formal structures, and support for continued creative output.

We're also much more comfortable than we used to be with the idea of continuous improvement. It seems every non-profit (and for-profit, for that matter) is dealing with some kind of governance issue. I have yet to hear about or see a structure that is perfect. Organizations are human institutions and will never run like machines (and should not). They will always need methodical and strategic stewardship with an organizers touch.

What we designed on Friday will not preclude future change. It will give more direction. It allows for more effective delegation and autonomy. And in 18-36 months we might need to do it all over again.

New Favorite Quote

2010-05-06T19:54:00.001-07:00

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the

chance to draw back, always ineffective,

concerning all acts of initiative (and creation).

There is one elementary truth the ignorance of

which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

that the moment one definitely commits

oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts

of things occur to help one that would never

otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of

events issues from the decision, raising in one’s

favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and

meetings and material assistance which no man

could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin

it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Begin it now.”

Goethe

APEC luncheon

2010-05-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, maybe a month, APEC hosted a luncheon with their board in Halifax. It was a great discussion and Elizabeth Beale and her team were able to impressively gather some heavyweights from the Halifax (Atlantic) business community. Here are a couple pictures I've been meaning to post here from that lunch.

This is Phil Holmes from Ambir conveying his experience with 21inc to the group

Elizabeth Beale and I

Myself, yammering away about something

In the News (2)

2010-04-27T06:03:00.001-07:00

A couple more nice mentions of 21inc in the news recently.

An important part of the 21 Leaders program includes projects where participants work with non-profit organizations. They act as consultants helping increase these organization's capacity towards their mission. The group based in Bathurst, working with the multi-cultural association, has surveyed high school students on their future goals, and their results have been reported on by both CBC and l'Etoile.

21inc was also featured in the cover story of this month's Progress Magazine. I was the guest editor of this edition, which was a ton of fun to put together with Editor in Chief Pam Scott-Crace. Their Ideas Issue is a profile of the innovative work happening across the region in business, community, and government -- as well as an opportunity to put in a nice plug for the 21inc Ideas Festival! My piece for the magazine, the Fearless Symmetry Between Ideas and Action, is here.

21inc Chair in the News

2010-04-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

Nice piece on Matt Alexander, the Chair of 21inc, and his new role as Chair of Uptown Saint John Inc. in today's paper. Congrats Matt!

Nonprofit Start-Ups

2010-04-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about Brazil lately. My roommate is there on a Canadian government organized trade mission. This story appeared in The Daily Gleaner profiling his work and the trip.

The support and efforts taken by government to build opportunities for the private sector is awesome. These trade missions are a good example.

Over the last two and a half years starting and building 21inc, I've started wondering if we should do the equivalent in the "social profit" sector. In New Brunswick, for example, could Enterprise Agencies have someone dedicating part of their time to supporting business model development for nonprofits? I would jump at that.

Some places are already doing this. Ontario has invested millions in MaRS. The Center for Social Innovation is an excellent example (supported through both earned revenue and a generous investor).

As we increase our understanding of the importance of the social sector (and I include social enterprise and social entrepreneurs in here) to economic development, well-being, and community sustainability, we on the east coast should give this some serious thought.

Storytelling As Weapon

2010-04-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Years ago Fredericton used to hold a Storytelling Festival. I remember at age eleven or twelve biking to Wilmont United Church to hear speechwriter of Louis J Robichaud, Jackie Webster, spin tales about the adventures she was involved in during those heady political days.

Storytelling has been something of a lost art but it’s recently gone mainstream. Anthropologists and business thinkers are helping develop an understanding of how a good story motivates action. It’s now considered to be one of the weapons leaders need in their arsenal.

But to actually construct and be able to tell a good story that motivates action is a hard task.

On Tuesday I gave a presentation on 21inc and our work to board members of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council and other members of the Nova Scotia business community. This opportunity couldn't go to waste. I wanted attendees to leave lunch knowing how important our work is. I wanted to affect them on an emotional level, the core of motivation.

I was aware of all the work being done on the power of storytelling (we hosted a panel discussion at the last Ideas Festival on the topic with storyteller extraordinaire Antonine Maillet) and knew that the best way of reaching this audience would be to tell a good story.

To prepare I connected with a friend of mine who teaches storytelling at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto. He uses the work of Marshall Ganz, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School who also helped design Obama’s Presidential campaign. He sent me a short article by Ganz that breaks down what’s included in a good story.

Ganz’s break down is easy to follow and effective. At a macro level, every story includes A Story of Self, A Story of Us, and A Story of Now. To get people engaged they need to engage with a protagonist (Story of Self), understand how that story affects and includes them (Story of Us), and why it’s urgent that action be taken (Story of Now).

The protagonist faces a Challenge, Choice and Outcome. Think of all the great stories out there and they include a challenge, choice and outcome. Martin Luther King Jr. faced the challenge of a racist United States and chose to fight for freedom and liberty, eventually getting the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act passed.

Most of our stories are not of that magnitude but there is still a story that can be told to get people engaged and moved to act. I wrote the story of 21inc with these directions. You can read it here.

I spent almost the whole two days prior to the talk writing and practicing it. According to the feedback and especially the follow-up discussion, the lunch went really well. The business leaders saw how our work fits both their direct organizational self-interest and also that of the larger community on which they depend.

Here’s a video where Ganz talks about leadership more generally but he gives a great reflection on storytelling.

Les 21 Leaders ont des Mentors

2010-04-01T12:01:00.001-07:00

Du secteur privé au public, de façon formelle ou informelle, le mentorat est un concept en vogue présentement, permettant le transfert de connaissances et d’expérience et la croissance des réseaux.

Puisque 21inc vise toujours à être à l’affut des nouvelles tendances permettant aux jeunes leaders de se développer, il va sans dire que nous avons considéré essentiel de permettre à nos 21 Leaders de bénéficier d’une telle expérience.

Étant à nos premières armes dans le domaine du mentorat, nous avons fait équipe avec M. Micheal Arbow de la Commission des Valeurs Mobilières du Nouveau-Brunswick et Mme Deb Armstrong, ancienne directrice du programme de MBA à UNBSJ et experte en ressources humaines afin d’élaborer un processus pour jumeler nos 21 Leaders à des leaders établis dans une relation de mentorat qui permettra à nos leaders de continuer leur développement.

Après avoir analysé le profil de chacun de nos leaders ainsi que les réponses aux quelques questions que nous leur avons posé, nous avons débuté le processus de jumelage, puisant dans nos réseaux afin de créer les meilleures opportunités de mentorat possibles.

Je dois avouer que le support reçu des leaders établis face à cette nouvelle initiative fut des plus impressionnants, tous étant plus qu’enthousiastes à l’idée de partager avec les futures jeunes leaders de la province.

NB3 21C

2010-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Great video put out by the NB Department of Education. Deputy Minister John Kershaw (pictured above) joined this year's cohort of 21 Leaders at our Accelerator last month in Moncton and engaged the leaders on the issue. This is the future of education and I hope the concept gets strong support.

Pour les jeunes, par les jeunes

2010-03-23T08:12:00.001-07:00

Ce n'est pas un secret que les régions du Nord du Nouveau-Brunswick sont confrontées à une migration de leur population, particulièrement au niveau des jeunes. Afin de remédier à la situation, des jeunes leaders de la région Chaleur ont décidé de prendre les choses en main et se sont regroupés pour former un groupe pour les jeunes, par les jeunes.

Ayant comme objectif de donner aux jeunes de la région un endroit où ils peuvent se rassembler pour créer des liens entre eux et éventuellement développer un sentiment d'appartenance à la région, Synergies Chaleur est une initiative qui arrive à point. Cette initiative fut reçue de façon très positive tant par les jeunes que par la communauté.

Katherine Lanteigne, membre de la cohorte 2009-10 des 21 Leaders et membre fondatrice de Synergies Chaleur fut récemment invitée à l'émission Luc et Luc, diffusée sur les ondes de Radio-Canada, afin de promouvoir cette initiative.

Pour visionner cette entrevue, suivez ce lien et rendez-vous à la 52e minute de l'enregistrement.

Meaning Before Money

2010-03-19T08:12:00.001-07:00

Author, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki gave a great keynote last night at The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation R3 Gala. Of the 10 steps he spoke about to increase innovation, I drove home thinking about Mantras.

Organizations will only thrive if people know what you do. This is what mission statements do. Good mission statements give direction to employees and customers/stakeholders. But they’re often long and obtuse. Guy said that a mantra doesn’t replace the mission statement, rather it tells you in 3-4 words exactly what meaning you (the organization) bring to the world. Everything then follows meaning, including money, not the other way around.

21inc has an okay mission statement - to develop and inspire New Brunswick’s new and emerging leaders. It’s okay because it’s direct. It’s only okay because it’s not inspiring.

We don’t have a mantra.

A mantra is not Nike’s “Just Do It.” That gives no direction to employees in the organization. Nike’s actual mantra is Authentic Athletic Performance. He gave the example of what not to do with Wendy’s. Wendy’s has no mantra and their mission statement is about innovation and partnerships. When has your burger ever been about partnerships? What it should be, he said, is “Healthy Fast Food.” (They just have to work on that "healthy" part.)

On the drive home I played with what our mantra could be. Something about leadership, entrepreneurship, aspiration, excellence, goals, achievement, place, youth, and community. Obviously that won't boil down to 3-4 words.

What I came up is this – Building Better Leaders.

We can provide context to support it with communication around our focus on young people, increase the performance of our companies, that leadership will power our province and region, make communities dynamic, etc. In the end, however, it all comes back to the core of what we do, building better leaders.

Teaching as Leading

2010-03-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

What makes teachers great? Is it charisma, their ability to hold the attention of rowdy students? What about subject area knowledge? Will higher pay attract better teachers and increase the quality of the teaching gene pool?

According to this piece in the New York Times Magazine the answer to each is no.

Why is the nitty-gritty of what makes a good teacher relevant for 21inc and this blog? Because a surprising amount of being a leader is teaching.

When I took on the role of 21inc’s Executive Director, I had no idea just how much of my day to day was about raising awareness and educating people on why our work is important. In the early days I changed what I said about 21inc almost every day as I learned what resonated with people, how to talk about it, and who needed to hear what. I was, in a way, “teaching” and trying to figure out how “students” would be respond to the material.

Now that we’re moving into more programs and growing more sophisticated, my teaching style has to change again. I feel awkward using the founding story and besides, we have accomplished real outcomes and are very proud of that. Teaching people about outcomes and why something works and should be supported is, I know now, central to being a leader.

Leaders of Tomorrow

2010-02-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

I'm in Halifax for a couple days this week, meeting with partners, potential partners, and friends old and new. Over dinner tonight I was speaking with someone I'm starting to think of as a mentor/role model and he had an interesting way to speak about our work.

He said, when you're talking to people here (he meant in Nova Scotia), you need to ask them "What are we doing for our leaders of tomorrow?" Now imagine 20 years ago if more time had been spent developing their leadership abilities.

That's a powerful way to think about systemic change. Take people back to a time in their lives when leadership development would have been formative. What would be different today? Imagine our future when we do this for the leaders of tomorrow.

Adrienne O'Pray

2010-02-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

The TJ has a good story this morning on the latest incarnation of Adrienne O'Pray. The former COO of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation is now joining Ambir Solutions in their new management consultancy.

I met Adrienne while she was at ALC in the spring of 2008. When the New Brunswick Business Council and 21inc partnered on the Ideas Festival in 2008, we were introduced as ALC was our presenting partner.

I vividly remember her respect for dialogue, for making space for innovation inside organizations, and desire to see people rise to their potential. It was in one of our conversations that we came up with the theme of the most successful panel discussion at the Festival, What's the Matter with Excellence?

We're happy to be able to bring her back into the 21inc fold this weekend in Moncton for our 2nd Accelerator. She'll be joining Andrew Oland, President of Moosehead Breweries and Louis Philippe Gauthier, General Manager at l'Etoile to engage the 21 leaders in a discussion on NB's place in the world.

Beat Poetry

2010-01-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

Beat Poet Tim Merry, as told to the audience at Face to Face last year. This is part of a longer poem that will be appearing in the next edition of Progress Magazine.

Legions of youth depart

All they are seeking is learning

That’s their culture

We got to connect to their passion inside

Or they’ll keep on leaving

And we’ll be left bereaving

21 Leaders doing great work in their community

2010-01-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

As part of the leadership development process, the 21 Leaders collaborate with a non-profit organization of their choice to work on a community solutions project that will help the organization further their objectives and increase their capacity to have a greater impact in their community. This year, one of the groups has chosen to evaluate youth engagement at the Saint John Y in an effort to help increase programming options and participation.

This morning, the Telegraph Journal published an article featuring this great partnership between the Saint John Y and the group of 21 Leaders, which you can read at http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/932897

Premier Graham Channels 21inc in Globe & Mail

2010-01-24T18:22:00.001-08:00

My girlfriend tonight asked if I had read Premier Graham's interview with the Globe and Mail in this weekend's paper. She said that no matter what one thinks of his policies, his last answer was very 21inc. So, of course, I had to read it. She was right. For those who missed it here it is:

Globe: You said at the news conference that good policy makes good politics. But how convinced are you that tough decisions like this bring about good electoral results?

Premier Graham: That's the mindset that people think of their governments - that they're only making policies to get themselves re-elected. ... My goal today is to create a stronger New Brunswick. This is my home; this is where I grew up and this is where I want to stay. We've seen too many of our young people leave, and we can't just continue down the path of the status quo.

Happiness vs Satisfaction

2010-01-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

I attended the Sobey Leadership Forum last Friday in Halifax where the speakers spoke a lot about motivating people.

One of my key takeaways was the difference between happiness and satisfaction. My job as an organizational leader, they said, is not to make people happy. Unfortunately, we (and I) get trapped in the very human desire of wanting to make people happy. Satisfaction happens from a job well done, by pushing people to do more than they realized. The process of accomplishing a task may actually evoke quite the opposite emotion to happiness – especially when pushing someone beyond their comfort zone.

Thinking about it from a nonprofit context is interesting too. Unlike a private company, the people I think about are not only staff but volunteers and participants. The democratic nature of leadership required in nonprofits is critical as satisfaction is greater when someone is involved from the inspiration ideation stage to final product or service. Often this isn`t possible or necessary, but there are times when it`s an absolute must.

I've been thinking about the role of self-awareness and social intelligence in satisfaction. If one thinks they are being pushed beyond their limits and does a good job, than satisfaction is apt to be high. If one feels underutilized, they will be frustrated, even if the job is done well.

The leader needs to have an acute understanding of not only the abilities of team members but also the perception of abilities. Not an easy task. Probably why it`s better instead to create a process with checks along the way to refine self-awareness, increase competency and do a great job.

Reference Points

2010-01-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

Anyone out there know a good resource for start-up social enterprises/nonprofits?

I ask because in the process of working on our charitable application, I realized we needed a job description for me. Here’s the rub: I don’t have one.

As a founder of the organization we never made one. I went from the board to the staff, had a bunch of conversations with everyone that grew into a collective vision, and off I went.

The challenge in this situation is that most of the writing or research I’ve found is not directly relevant to small and/or start up nonprofit organizations. Start-up business stories, articles and research are often helpful but don’t always provide what is needed.

I’d love to see a story about what management/admin tasks to prioritize over which to leave for later, what might bite in the ass if it’s not done, and systems for execution with a paid staff, volunteer board, and a bunch of supporters. Obviously we’re figuring it out but I’d love a couple more reference points. Any help would be much appreciated.

Bringing Folks Home

2010-01-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

Over coffee with a former financial firm executive this week, we got on the topic of population and demography in Atlantic Canada. He made a comment that stuck with me,

“We need young people who go away to think of it as training for their return."

There’s truth to the statement. We absolutely do need young people to go away and return with new skills, networks and abilities. It is happening, and Atlantic Canada will need to continue and accelerate this influx of people with experiences and perspectives gained and honed elsewhere. It’s not because you can’t develop professionally here. But because the more global and integrated our world is, the more these attributes become advantages to organizations of all kinds who can leverage them.

Nevertheless, I think the causality is backwards. Young people don’t leave today in order to come back. They claim they want to return but the longer one is away the deeper go the roots. In order to make the above statement true we need to ensure that first they leave with meaningful connections and ties to the region and people. The tipping point will come when the “from aways” start migrating here, the folks who left will follow.

Wise Words

2010-01-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

This is great. Will have more to say in a future post. But want to share the wise words and important work of Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acument Fund and author of the recent book, The Blue Sweater.

2009, year in review: 2010, year in preview

2010-01-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

Before plowing neck-deep into 2010, it’s worth taking some time to reflect on the year that was 2009. We covered a lot of ground in 21inc’s second year and it’s worth documenting our learning and accomplishments as we continue creating opportunities for NB’s and Atlantic Canada’s young leaders. So here’s a Coles Notes version of 2009 with some thoughts on what’s to come in 2010.

How do we better foster the type of leaders with the attitudes and skills relevant for the 21st Century? This was our challenge going into our second 21 Leaders for the 21st Century program. We launched the 2009 edition in April, and with huge assistance from alumni we are much closer to answering our challenge. We increased the skill building component, established partnerships with the Community Nonprofit Organizations Secretariat to work with local nonprofits for the project work, and with the New Brunswick Securities Commission for our Mentorship program. Importantly, we engaged many more people through a selection process that brought 50 of the top young New Brunswickers to Fredericton for a full day of leadership education, policy dialogues and networking. The next event for 2009 21 Leaders will be the Moncton Accelerator, in February, with excellent support from Ernst & Young.

What do young people think about heritage? This was the question we asked to 20 young people on behalf of the Heritage Branch in the Department of Culture, Wellness and Sport. The report has been circulated widely and has sparked a lot of discussion.

Many of our leaders passed personal leadership benchmarks. Many received promotions or moved to positions of heightened responsibility. Several joined Boards of Directors. One Community Solutions Project created a video competition for 6 grade 7 classrooms across the province, an accomplishment we’re particularly proud of. Two published articles in Progress Magazine’s Ideas Issue and one was caught on camera debating big ideas with political leaders David Alward, Kelly Lamrock and Ed Broadbent. We’re documenting all this for a partnership we’re developing with BaseMetrics, a leading company that helps organizations design indicators for better management.

Organizationally in 2009 we doubled our staff (from one to two, that’s a big deal!) by hiring Annik Roy who has become an invaluable member of the team. The board transition was smooth and new members have strong and critical voices. Our public and private sector partners have stuck with us through the bad economy and they deserve a HUGE thank you! We are working so that our ability to provide value back to them is constantly increasing. As we increase our alumni we have access to a bigger and better pool of talent. Moreover, our improved leadership training programs will only deepen 21inc’s impact of building leadership capacity that will be our province and region’s competitive advantage in the 21st Century.

We see 2010 as a pivotal year. We want to engage more young leaders, fast forward their development by 5-10 years, and deepen our partnerships with companies in the region in ways that help them increase their competitiveness and build vibrant communities. This includes our 2010 21 Leaders program, the much anticipated 21inc Ideas Festival version 2.0, this fall, and an exciting program with potentially broad and deep impact that we’re not yet able to divulge details of.

As you can tell, the leaders of tomorrow aren’t waiting.

Linkage

2009-12-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

A couple articles that make good reading over this holiday break:

Place still matters

Parliament will fight

La drame des régions

Decoding the Decade

Holding NB in Disdain

2009-12-26T19:02:00.000-08:00

Everyone wants to jump ship from a losing team. Isn’t that the saying, or something close to it? Whatever it is, the sentiment also works for government in a declining region, i.e. New Brunswick.

You should be forewarned, I’m about to rant.

I had a lively conversation in a pizza place early this week about why people leave the province. (Yes, this ignores the latest figures from Stats Canada. David Campbell provides his thoughts on the numbers here.) A couple others joined what had by then turned into a heated debate midway through.

Everyone involved were from the province. All were educated at University here and all have since left. I hope it was exaggerated by the beer but their frustration with NB was deep. They lamented not being reached out to by government to move back, low starting salaries, language politics, a weak brand, few opportunities, and no economic niche. It got dizzying.

While one can have a legitimate argument about these complaints, there was a crazy conflation between what they should do and what government should and can do. They were quite firm that government creates opportunities. And to a worrying extent, that what opportunities exist in government symbolize available opportunities in the province.

If this is what students leaving New Brunswick think, we’ve got huge challenges. When I asked if they had looked into private sector opportunities and started listing companies doing cool work – Radian 6, Ambir Solutions, Vision Coaching – this had not been part of the equation. Of course, if you want to work in government policy than options are going to be limited, especially during a recession. But as far as I know this person wasn’t looking explicitly for a government job. Government has a huge interest in making it easier to find work, but it is not government’s sole problem or what should be their core competency. These non-government organizations do it well, here and here.

Moreover, to think that government should be subsidizing companies to create opportunities for youth, as was argued to me, greatly misunderstands the role of the private sector. Yes government can, should and does help create opportunities through youth employment programs and internships. But almost all opportunities would not exist without the private sector and nonprofits to do the hiring (or pay the taxes to run government). To rely on government for subsidies creates a free-rider problem that could foster less employment for recent grads as firms wait to hire until government grants them funds to do so.

I do not deny there are deep problems with how we create work opportunities for young people. Lower salary levels are a big problem. Policy discussions and hiring pitches are dominated by baby-boomers talking about the high quality of life in the province, as if the quality of life for someone 24 is the same as the 64 year old about to enter retirement.

In order to fix these things though we need to better grasp what government can and should do. And what we as individuals need to be responsible for.

Being Bold

2009-12-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

Dave Veale, CEO of Vision Coaching and one of our Visionary Council members, made this short video reflecting on his 2009. Last year at this time he made a promise to himself to be bold. Since boldness is one aspect of leadership I thought it was worth sharing his reflections. Dave is going to be giving a workshop to the 21 Leaders in Moncton on coaching.

A Vision for the Future

2009-12-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

[Here] magazine has a good piece summarizing the 21 Leaders provincial tour in this week's magazine. Check it out [here]. Some good quotes form the Leaders too, giving their perspective on the experience.

Networking at Conferences

2009-12-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

I was invited by Ben Peterson, co-founder and Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights to write a post for his increasingly popular blog. He asked for a post on networking at conferences and for some silly reason it was much harder than expected to write. Anyways, it's up now so check it out and let me know your thoughts.

To : Mr Urquart (MLA), From: Female Reproductive Organs (B.Soc.sc., M.A.)

2009-12-10T04:39:00.000-08:00

I hate it when people say that young people are not interested in politics. We are - we just don't necessarily participate in the same way as other (older) generations. Many of us may not chose to be card-carrying members of political parties, but we are certainly active by being activists, writing for school newspapers, discussing politics over a beer at the pub, and yes (dare, I say) post links on our Facebook pages. While I truly believe this, I have come to admit that we must also participate in traditional or convention forms of political participation, if we want to be spared the *sigh* Young people these days' monologues.

So, I had committed to writing a letter to a politician (and ideally, one of my political representatives) for while. But alas, procrastination and a busy schedule took-over, and it sat on the back-burner for a while, when EUREKA! Carl Urquhart used his Facebook profile to make a political statement : "Girls, we need more babies or we will never be able to support our future."

Heck, I was so inspired that I decided to start a blog where I'll post my letters to politicians. That's where you'll find my letter (warning: your French Immersion will be tested).

What Mr Urquhart told the "girls" (if that wasn't a red flag) of New Brunswick that:

Our (only? best?) contribution to the province is through our reproductive organs (oops, I guess I could have saved on student loans)
We must want to have children (or what kind of woman would we be?).
Men are not equals in reproduction and child-raising.

I am annoyed by posts like this one and comments linked to internet coverage of the event. This has nothing to do with political correctness, and everything to do with reinforcing sexist assumptions and institutions. Comments like Mr Urquhart's contribute to our socializing children that men have a natural ability to be powerful politicians, and women are born to be caring mommies. This is socialization 101 : "Je suis qui vous me dites, que je suis"...I am who you tell me I am.

Side Note #1 : See my friend Marc's post on the NB Human Rights Commission panel on Pay Equity in New Brunswick.

Side Note #2: Yesterday, a male building manager from where our workplace rents, called one of the VP's the non-profit I work for "sweetie". Afterwards, when I told her "I'm glad he said that to you, and not to me", she replied "Oh, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me". To which my thought is, but it should - you should make a point of it.

Ding, ding, ding...bring on the debate.

What Do You Do With Opportunity?

2009-12-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

How do I want our 21 Leaders to treat opportunity? By the end of the program if they're anything like Tracey Morgan we've done our job:

"They say when opportunity knocks you should let it in and invite it to sit at your table. Fuck that -- when opportunity knocks, you should take it captive. Beat that shit down. I've got opportunity tied to a chair in my basement with a ball gag in its mouth. Opportunity ain't even thinking about leaving my house. If you keep quiet for a second, you'll hear it whining."

Conversations Are All We Have

2009-11-30T21:14:00.000-08:00

Guest post by Leah Levac (bio)

I have a strong opinion about important conversations. I believe that they should be had, and that you should be invited to participate in and create them, whoever you are. I also believe that the only way to make sure conversations are actually important is by having them with people who wouldn’t normally talk together.

Last week at the Trudeau Foundation Annual Conference on Public Policy, my opinion about the importance of conversations, and about diverse participation in those conversations, was reinforced.

Dr. Mark Kingwell gave a keynote address on diverse cities, and discussed incivility as a problem facing our cities. He maintained, throughout his talk, that hope of achieving justice (which he referred to as ‘democracy’s gift’) is dependent on civility, primarily because important and productive conversations can only occur through civil discourse.

Last month, we (21inc.) started experimenting with ways to bring a wider range of participants to important conversations, and important conversations to more people. Moderated by Lisa Lane, four people – Ed Broadbent, Kelly Lamrock, David Alward, and I – chatted on video, unscripted, for about an hour. Clips of the conversation are now available.

For me, it was a remarkable experience; after all, it’s not every day you get to chat with Ed Broadbent. But it was remarkable for more reasons than that one. First, it was awesome that everyone agreed to participate. We need more people who hold positions of power to agree to participate – to really come to the table. Second, it was frank. Sure there was a bit of shiny political speak, but not much. Third, it was respectful, which is more than I can say for the Legislative Assembly, the work place for 2 of us (Kelly Lamrock and David Alward). Finally, it was enlightening, because it wasn’t rehearsed.

We were engaged in civil discourse, and so somehow, we’re a step ahead of where we were before our conversation took place. We talked about public engagement, about media’s coverage of politics, and about our antiquated democratic system. We talked about the importance of social welfare. We talked about government accountability. We talked about these things because they’re important to us. We talked about them on video so that if they’re important to you too, you can join us.

I hope that we, the New Brunswick ‘we’, can start to invest ourselves in more important conversations. Because conversations are all we have.

What Are We Educating For?

2009-11-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

I drove home recently from a meeting with many provincial leaders from many sectors where literacy and education were dominant topics. Education and literacy are trumpeted by many as the panacea for New Brunswick’s economic and social woes. It’s been like this for a while now, but it probably started with confederation, when things started going downhill for NB.

Education and literacy is like breathing, who could be against it? With over half of the province’s adults counted as functionally illiterate few could blame politicians, businesses and educators for wanting to tackle it.

I've been thinking about this as an employer. The skills we need as a start-up include systems thinking, communications (in its many forms), self awareness, mental agility, creativity, initiative, self-learner and self-motivated, among others. Will the pressure on the school system to increase literacy help produce more employees with these assets?

I've just started Ken Robinson's book Out of Our Minds, which examines this question of education vs what society and organizations need.

“Business wonders why education isn’t producing the thoughtful, creative, self-confident people they urgently need. Yet business people cling to an uncritical belief in the supreme importance of academic education.”

We have to educate everyone and to a higher standard. That includes literacy. We don't have a choice about that.

We should also be asking questions about what we are educating for. Reading this book is making me worry that our obsessive focus on literacy takes us “back to basics” at the exclusion of all else. We should know now that the world where basics was all you needed is over.

Une affaire de Génération ou de Généralisation?

2009-11-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

Plus tôt cet automne, j’ai assisté à une consultation organisée par le Public Policy Forum dans le cadre d’une série de dialogues tenus au niveau national. Le but de cette série de dialogues est de répondre à la question «Y a-t-il une déconnection entre la façon de vivre de notre génération, communément appelée Génération Y, et la façon qu’opèrent plusieurs organisations?»

En me rendant à cette session, mon opinion sur le sujet était mitigée et je n’étais pas certaine de la direction que prendrait la discussion mais je reconnaissais que c’était sans l’ombre d’un doute un sujet chaud, particulièrement au Canada Atlantique où l’exode des cerveaux et la rétention des employés donne souvent des maux de tête aux employeurs. Les résultats de la session furent récemment publiés dans Progress Magazine .

Environ 45 participants, jeunes professionnels et employeurs, ont tenté durant cet après-midi de répondre à la question initialement posée. Puisque mon opinion sur le sujet était mitigée dès le départ, j’ai décidé d’écouter les diverses opinions. Je me suis trouvée encore plus partagée dans mes positions. Parfois en accord, parfois en désaccord, j’ai réalisé qu’une des causes de cette position venait du fait que je fais partie de la génération Y, que je fus élevée par la génération X et non des baby-bommers, et ce dans une famille entrepreneuriale, expliquant pourquoi je me retrouvais parfois en accord avec les propos des employeurs.

Pendant que les membres de ma génération présentaient leurs attentes de leurs employeurs et que ceux-ci partageaient leurs expériences à traiter avec ma génération, j’avais l’impression d’être un spécimen dans une boîte de verre que tout le monde observe, tente de comprendre et d’analyser dans le but de généraliser des caractéristiques et déterminer des pratiques à appliquer afin de retenir une génération en particulier.

Étant parfois en accord, parfois en désaccord avec les attentes présentées par ma génération, j’ai décidé de généraliser à mon tour. Je ne suis certes pas une exception à ma génération donc je me suis dis qu’il était réaliste d’assumer que d’autres membres de ma génération seraient également partagés face aux propos tenus lors de cette discussion. Si ces propos sont adoptés par les employeurs afin d’établir des relations de travail avec notre génération, ils continueront à manquer le bateau avec une partie de cette population.

Après avoir bien réfléchi à tout ça, j’ai tiré mes propres conclusions. Certes, notre génération a des attentes et des façons de faire différentes de celles des générations précédentes, mais n’est-ce pas un également relié au contexte dans lequel nous avons été élevé? La seule généralisation au sujet de notre génération que je suis prête à considérer est que nous voulons être traités en tant qu’individus, non comme un numéro dans une organisation. Si cette généralisation s’appliquait réellement à notre génération, la seule pratique à retenir pour les employeurs serait donc de développer des relations de travail avec leurs employés et de cesser les tentatives de généralisation a sujet de notre génération!

Websites

2009-11-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

For all small nonprofit organizations websites are both wonderful and painful. Wonderful because they are a quick and efficient way to tell you what we're doing. Painful because when fulltime webmasters are too expensive, except for raking leaves on a windy day, websites are the world's worst time sink. It's not uncommon to start some website work only to ask "where did the day go?" when done.

We're trying to add a special feature to the front page that better presents what we're up to. Hence, the English side of the page has the numbers 1-4 below the lead photo. You may have noticed that there are no links connected to those numbers. We're working on that. Hopefully we'll have links up in a couple days and this post will become moot.

Thanks for your patience.

Winning Arguments

2009-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

This Saturday the Board of Directors of 21inc is meeting in Fredericton. Our board meetings are fun. We’re all friends and love what we all do and represent. This doesn’t mean we stay polite and proper. Our meetings can be and have been hot. And then afterwards we end up at a pub.

This board meeting is at a propitious time. We’re looking closely at some potential future programs beyond the 21 Leaders program and 21inc Ideas Festival. Both the above programs were envisioned when we launched almost exactly two years ago. This is the first time that we as an organization will be looking at future programming beyond our current menu.

As the board meeting approaches it’s been an interesting and helpful process reflecting on how to frame the discussion. What are the factors 21inc needs to think about when looking at future programs? The obvious ones are the merits of the programming and alignment with our mission.

But this is not the only lens through which our future actions should be assessed. The outcome of our upcoming conversation will also be determined by values, risk evaluations, and our experiences with organizational development across different sectors.

My sense is that arguments made on merits and alignment alone won’t win the day. Being able to speak to values and emotions will.

Olympic Dream

2009-11-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, I just want to take a minute to tell you about this contest I entered on the Globe & Mail website. It's called "Journalism Dream," basically like a Journalism Idol, and the winner gets to cover the Olympics! I am trying to get enough votes to advance to the next round, which will be judged by the G&M editors. You can vote once per day at:

http://journalismdream.theglobeandmail.com/entry_article.asp?id=485

Did I mention every vote gets you a chance to win a laptop or a camera?

A lot of you have already been voting and I really appreciate it, as this truly would be a dream assignment for me.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can join this Facebook group my wife set up, and invite all your friends to join as well:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=179584952664

Thanks again,
Nate

Retour sur la Tournée d'Étude 2009

2009-11-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

Avant de partir, j’avais bien l’intention de partager avec vous notre trajet sur le blog. Comme vous avez pu le constater, ces bonnes intentions n’ont pas fait long feu une fois plongée dans le bain! Maintenant que la tournée est terminée, j’ai eu la chance de réfléchir sur cette expérience unique et j’ai décidé de partager cette réflexion avec vous.

Bien que j’aie assumé le rôle de coordonatrice dans la planification de la tournée et en avais discuté avec des anciens participants, je dois admettre que je ne savais pas très bien à quoi m’attendre à l’aube de notre départ. Même en sachant très bien que c’est impossible, je voulais que tout soit parfait et que l’expérience plaise à tout le monde.

J’ai bien vite réalisé certaines choses sont hors de notre contrôle et que peu importe le niveau de préparation qui a été fait, les gens vont constamment vous surprendre! J’ai donc dû vite apprendre que la meilleure chose à faire était d’apprendre à rouler avec les coups et de faire des ajustements rapides!

J’ai également réalisé que même si le Nouveau-Brunswick est petit en superficie, plus de 8 jours sont nécessaires afin de pourvoir affirmer bien le connaître. Que ce soit sur les plans économiques, culturels, environnementaux ou sociaux, que l’ont parle d’industrie ou de ses gens, le Nouveau-Brunswick nous a réservé bien des surprises durant cette semaine ou nous étions des touristes dans notre propre province.

La tournée fut pour moi une expérience d’apprentissage des plus enrichissantes autant sur le plan professionnel que personnel, la vivant à la fois sous mon chapeau de coordonnatrice et de jeune Néo-Brunswickoise.

En rétrospective, je me considère choyée d’avoir pu rencontrer tous les leaders établis qui nous ont généreusement accueillis dans leurs communautés ou entreprises durant la tournée, nous exposant volontiers à leurs réalités quotidiennes.

Je me considère également chanceuse de vivre dans une province qui fait certes face à sa part de défis mais qui offre également sa part de potentiel et d’opportunités.

Finalement, je me considère privilégiée d’avoir pu partager cette expérience avec notre groupe des 21 Leaders 2009. Ce fut un plaisir!

Applied Innovation

2009-11-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

The importance of creativity for 21inc got reaffirmed last week during the Creative Spaces and Places conference hosted by Artscape.

Throughout the conference speakers reiterated the urgency to reinvent our institutions to meet 21st Century economic and environmental challenges. The 20th Century was defined by mass production and it’s under these tenants that many of our institutions still operate. The 21st Century looks like one requiring constant reinvention. In this world creativity, or as it was called at the conference, applied innovation, is a priority outcome.

To give an example, a study presented by Sir Ken Robinson showed that when kids are aged 2-3 85% of them could make over 200 objects from a random assortment of blocks, ropes and other stuff. By age 10 the rate declines precipitously, to 30%. By 25 the percentage of people who can make over 200 objects is 3%.

It is through institutions that we can reverse this trend on a societal scale. We need governments, universities, nonprofits, and schools to find ways to enable creative thinking, and fostering leadership that supports innovation and collaborative attitudes.

What does this look like? One example of this is the Australian state of South Australia which has a "Thinkers in Residence" program. Every year the Premier invites world leading thinkers and practitioners to live in the state for 2-6 months and embark on public education and policy specific studies that help guide the state forward.

Another example profiled at the conference was of a filmmaker in residence program -- at a hospital. This filmmaker didn't make documentaries but rather she integrated film techniques into the medical delivery system.

In Atlantic Canada, where ideas to deal with demographic and economic challenges are dire, In NB, arts & culture organizations can play an important role by being a central hub of social capital/idea generation. We need people with new, different and odd takes on the world to inspire solutions.

I’d be remiss not to include 21inc as part of this solution. We’re trying to ensure that the next generation of leaders have the skills and knowledge to inspire and apply creativity in our businesses, governments and nonprofit organizations. We’re still learning but this is the direction we're going. Having it reaffirmed last week is a confidence boost that we’re on the right direction.

Tournée d'étude - Jour 3

2009-10-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

La journée est parie du bon pied par une rencontre avec des vice-présidents de JDI inc. qui nous ont présenté un aperçu des opérations du groupe et ont répondu à toutes les questions des leaders. Ils nous ont ensuite permis de faire la visite du moulin de papier de Saint Jean, qui est un très bon exemple d’innovation dans une industrie traditionnelle.

Les leaders ont ensuite eu une présentation d’Entreprise Saint Jean durant laquelle ils ont pu découvrir comment cette ville a pu se créer une identité unique et une communauté dynamique. Tenue chez Big Tide Brewing, une nouvelle micro-brasserie établie à Saint Jean, cette discussion nous a également permis de discuter des réalités de se lancer en affaire dans ce domaine au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Résultant du dynamisme de cette communauté, le sujet de la pauvreté est adressé d’une façon unique et nous avons donc pu rencontrer des intervenants dans le domaine, qui nous ont guidé à travers des quartiers à risque et ont discuté des efforts mis en place pour améliorer la situation.
Saint Jean approche également le patrimoine et la conservation de son architecture d’une façon particulière, soit de tenter de conserver au lieu de démolir et rebâtir. Nous avons donc fait un tour guidé de certains édifices ayant des particularités architecturales.

Nous nous sommes ensuite rendus à mon alma mater, l’Université de Moncton, où nous nous sommes engagés dans une session ayant pour thème «Les Femmes en Position de Leadership». Aldéa Landry, Anne Hébert, Andrée Savoie et Tina Robichaud ont discuté de leurs expériences sur le sujet, donnant lieu à une des séances les plus puissantes de la tournée puisque bien que ce sujet soit abordé régulièrement, les hommes ne sont habituellement pas invités à la table.

Maman et papa font la Tournée du Nouveau-Brunswick

2009-10-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Lors de notre visite à saint Jean, j’ai eu l’opportunité d’avoir une discussion avec une de mes ressources essentielles dans la planification de la tournée d’étude. J’ai rapidement réalisé que j’avais oublié de poser une question essentielle de ma préparation pour la tournée : «Quel est mon rôle durant la tournée?»

Bien que j’avais une très bonne idée de mes tâches - modérer les discussions, rassembler le groupe et tenter de respecter l’horaire – je n’étais pas confortable dans l’exécution de celles-ci, en partie parce que je me sentais toujours comme la «party pooper», celle qui doit terminer les conversations, inciter le groupe à suivre cet horaire chargé que nous avons pour eux.

J’ai donc posé la question à cette personne ressource, qui a réussi à m’éclairer par une analogie que je tenais à partager. Elle m’a expliqué que Tim et moi sommes le papa et la maman du groupe et que naturellement, le groupe perçoit Tim comme le papa, celui qui apporte les enfants au parc, qui leur achète de la crème glacée et les laisse se coucher plus tard tandis que je suis perçue comme la maman, celle qui demande aux enfants de faire leurs devoirs, de se dépêcher le matin pour prendre l’autobus et de manger leurs légumes. Elle m’a aussi rappelé qu’à la fin de la journée, même si les enfants semblent avoir plus de plaisir avec le papa, ils aiment toujours leur maman!

La première journée

2009-10-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

C’est parti! Au moment d’écrire ces lignes, les 21 Leaders 2009-10 ont complété la première journée de la Tournée d’Étude du Nouveau-Brunswick. Le tout s’est amorcé par une session ayant pour thème «Technologie, Leadership et le Future du Nouveau-Brunswick. Durant cette session, Laura O’Blenis (Knowledge Park), David Gourlay (Oracle) et Blain Adams (Red Ball Internet) ont présenté au groupe un survol des activités de chacune des organisations et leur vision du future de leur organisation au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Les Leaders ont ensuite eu l’opportunité de s’entretenir avec David Hay, PDG d’Énergie N.-B. M. Hay a expliqué son parcours de carrière, discuté de concepts et leçons personnelles de leadership et a engagé les leaders dans une discussion ouverte et honnête au sujet du présent et future de l’industrie de l’énergie au Nouveau-Brunswick, des énergies alternatives et à même partager avec le groupe son secret pour gérer les conflits de groupe.

Suite à cette discussion, le groupe s’est dirigé vers le Département d’Éducation du N.-B. où M. Guy Lavallée, Sous-Ministre Adjoint de la division francophone du Département d’Éducation, Mme Tiffany Basten, Spécialiste en alphabétisation K-12, division anglophone du Département d’Éducation et Mme Wendy Papadopoulos, directrice d’Elf, ont partagé avec nous le portrait de la situation de l’alphabétisation dans la province et le rôle de leur organisation dans l’amélioration de la situation.

Pour terminer cette première journée, le groupe de leaders actuel a eu l’opportunité de rencontrer les anciens leaders du programme lors d’un souper de famille de 21inc. Cette soirée a permis au groupe actuel d’apprendre de l’expérience des membres des programmes précédents et de tisser des nouveaux liens avec des jeunes qui partagent une passion commune : avoir un impact positif sur le future du Nouveau-Brunswick.

Voici en gros le récit de la première journée de la Tournée d’étude du Nouveau-Brunswick 2009. Pour suivre nos péripéties quotidiennes, continuez de visiter le blog!

Annik

Hitting the Road

2009-10-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of our provincial study tour. It's one of the highlight experiences of the 21 Leaders program -- put 21 of NB's most promising young people on a bus for a week visiting decision makers and community leaders across the province.

You can find the schedule for the week here: english, francais.

The tour plays an important role in the leadership education these folks have. The exposure to leaders and initiatives across the province is a powerful demonstration of how entrepreneurial drive, innovation and passion are everywhere in our province. The discussions that take place on the bus and in workshops provides the knowledge to know and the confidence to act.

Check back on the blog and on twitter searching for #21Leaders hash tags.

Comfort Zones

2009-10-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I gave a talk in Sydney, Nova Scotia to the Nova Scotia Association of Regional Development Authorities on “out of comfort zone” experiences and economic performance.

I linked the two through learning and development. We can't increase our skills and leadership abilities without stepping out of our comfort zone.

To set it up I stole the image below from a wonderful book by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky called “Leadership on the Line." The zone of optimal learning indicated by point B in the figure below is where one lives during out of comfort zone experiences. Our stress levels are heightened, we focus more, try harder, and learn more.

The trick, I said, was that when we leave these experiences we stay at a level of performance higher than what we came in. That point C needs to be higher than point A.

Managers think about this a lot in terms of staff. What type of experiences can we give staff to increase their abilities and go from point A to point C? The big question I posed was that if we can do it at an organizational level can we also do it on a regional level?

My answer was absolutely. We have to. I used the lessons we’re learning at 21inc to discuss how. I talked about three specific elements that need to exist in any out of comfort zone experience to maintain a high level of performance: support, practice, and time. For each I told a story and played a video of one of our alumni talking about it.

I want to share Leah Levac’s video. Leah is a founding member of 21inc., and is also a Trudeau Scholar, another community that provides a group of inspired, young intellectuals with a supportive network that allows them to push their own, and each others, limits. She does an excellent job explaining why a group of young people actually decided to jump out of their comfort zones and create 21inc. It was in large measure because of the support we felt from each other. That support allowed us to take more risks since we knew that if we fell someone would be there to catch us. Here’s Leah:

Scaling What Works

2009-10-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

How do you scale a successful social innovation in a down economy? If something increases literacy scores by 100%, what needs to happen for it to go from one pilot school to 200?

I drove back to Fredericton tonight with this thought after spending the day at Activate - the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI) day long conference in Saint John.

BCAPI, brain child of the insatiable Bill Gale, and long championed by J.D. Irving Ltd., the day gathered the province’s heavyweights of industry including J.K. Irving, Jim Irving, Gerry Pond, Derek Oland, Aldéa Landry, and many others to talk about poverty and the role of the business community in reducing it. As Gerry Pond said during his remarks, this gathering was likely the first business to business meeting in Canada dedicated to the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty.

The conference happened in the middle of the New Brunswick Government’s poverty reduction public engagement process. Phase II consisted of a series of roundtable discussions across the province listening to citizens. Phase III, a “Final Forum,” occurs later this year.

What struck me was the frustration shown by business leaders with not being able to expand programs that are working. P.A.L.S. (Partners Assisting Local Schools) was the most frequently cited example. The program matches literacy mentors with struggling children in schools where over 40% of the students come from poverty. It works. In one cohort at the Prince Charles School in Saint John, literacy levels doubled from 33% to 66% in two years.

The business community, particularly through the New Brunswick Business Council, has started to spread this model to other schools across the province. A school in St. Stephen and Ganong Bros. have started a similar program. As have Barrett Xplore and a school in Woodstock. It’s an amazing example of emergence.

When the business community went to government to look for support to expand and deepen the program’s impact, government initially met their request supportively. But soon the broader government agenda took over. The initiative went from a poverty reduction strategy to the community schools initiative (CSI). This is not a knock against the CSI. It’s great and needed in NB. However, depending on how the community and school engage, it may not be a poverty reduction strategy. So poverty levels remain. Then a recession hits and government has to make difficult decisions. Budgets are reduced and anything not deemed essential is cut, including money promised to expand and deepen P.A.L.S.

So the question remains of how to scale social innovations like P.A.L.S when money is tight. One idea with strong support was for a more united voice from business that government should primarily allocate scarce tax dollars to education over all other files. This alone won’t ensure an increase to P.A.L.S. - this needs more than government - but it would be a good start.

A Reponse to the G&M’s Margaret Wente

2009-09-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

I just read this...

Firstly, don’t event get me started with this statement, “Of course some research, especially in the sciences and medicine, matters a great deal to the advancement of society. But a vast amount of it – especially in the humanities and social sciences – does not”.

Secondly, what Wente describes is very far from my experience as a post-secondary student in the Atlantic Provinces.

During my four years at the Université de Moncton (au département de Science Politique), I encountered the best and most encouraging teachers. And smart too! They had brilliant research projects of their own – though probably neglected because of all the time they spent with us -, and offered thought-provoking and enriching classes. I was never turned away when asking for help and further explanation. I would pop by my professors’ offices to chat about class, current issues and career preparations. They are the best of the best. I would also soon find out that the education I received from them more than prepared me to be in a program with graduates from UofT, McGill, Queen’s…their education had nothing over mine.

And perhaps somewhat to my surprise, I was met with the same commitment at the larger Dalhousie University for my Master of Arts program. The Political Science professors here also happily (I think!?) took to the time to answer my 101-questions inside and out of class.

At both of these institutions, professors (professeurs et professeures) pushed me to be reflective, critical and daring. They believed in my academic performance and ability, far more than I did. They were there every step of the way.

So, I don’t know what Wente is talking about – but it’s not my experience of postsecondary education in Atlantic Canada. That is not to say that there is no pressure to rapidly produce research projects in some fields and universities in the country…but please, don’t blame it on the professors.

Lamrock, Democracy 101 et la fracture numérique

2009-09-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hier, monsieur Kelly Lamrock a annoncé le projet « Democracy 101 » - assumons qu’un titre français sera affiché sous peu -, une initiative cherchant à accroître la participation citoyenne dans les affaires gouvernementales et publiques de la province. Chaque semaine, 101 ménages seront choisis pour dialoguer avec d’autres citoyens, des invités spéciaux et – assumons -, Mr Lamrock et d’autres parlementaires sur certaines questions de l’heure. Je comprends que ce dialogue aura lieu par entremise de médias sociaux tels les microblogues (Twitter), et les outils de gestion de réseau social (Facebook).

Certes (j’espère), ce projet verra une participation jeunesse notable. Je l’ai toujours dit – que les « jeunes », et moi incluse, ne sommes pas apolitiques. Nous participons à la vie politique autrement que nos parents et grands-parents – dans notre préférence pour la nourriture organique, dans nos manifestations contre les hausses de frais de scolarité, et oui, en affichant des liens à des pages web sur notre profile Facebook, etc. Ce projet a le potentiel de faire connaître l’intérêt politique qu’ont les jeunes, déjà familiers avec ses médiaux sociaux.

Cela étant dit comment ce projet va-t-il tenir compte de la « fracture (ou fossé) numérique » (dit Digital Divide en anglais) - un problème dans le monde entier, incluant notre province. Est-ce que des partenariats avec les centres d’accès Internet ou des foyers de personnes âgées seront établis? Comment faire pour s’assurer que ce dialogue soit accessible à tous – jeunes et moins jeunes, autochtones et non autochtones, rural et urbain, etc. ?

Oui, c’est une belle initiative, mais pas sans avoir adressé la fracture numérique (voire, fracture sociale) qui existe dans notre province.

what young public servants are looking for

2009-09-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

This word cloud was made after I cut and pasted the entire text of a document that provides the basis for a meeting I'm facilitating tomorrow. It's a group of rising star young public servants from GNB who are helping create a New Professionals Network within government. The bigger words indicate more mentions and thus, so the theory goes, are of more importance. Click on the image for a better view. I'll have more to say on this event and our 21 Leaders weekend later this week.

Connaissance de soi et le leadership

2009-08-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

Quels sont les attributs d'un bon leader? Nous savons qu'il existe plusieurs styles de leadership mais comment peut-on reconnaître quel type de leader nous sommes?

Nous croyons que l'identification du style de leadership doit être précédée par une connaissance de soi, et qu'en ayant une perspective réelle de qui nous sommes en tant qu'individu, nous serons en mesure de nous identifier en tant que leader.

Cette réflexion marque le point de départ de la programmation de l'édition 2009-10 du programme des 21 Leaders, qui débutera le 10 septembre prochain à Fredericton. Afin de permettre aux leaders d'identifier leur style en tant que leader, nous tenons à leur donner l'occasion d'apprendre à mieux se connaître eux-mêmes. Nous avons donc invité Phil Holmes, auteur et directeur général d'Ambir, à guider nos leaders dans ce parcours vers la connaissance de soi.

Cette session n'est qu'un aperçu de ce qui est prévu pour nos 21 Leaders, laissant présage à une fin de semaine des plus intéressantes!

Nonprofit Management

2009-08-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

Managers of nonprofits are frequent readers of business books. I often find colleagues at the bookstore browsing through the latest Jim Collins, or a classic by Peter Drucker. Unfortunately, there aren’t many Canadian how-to-manage-nonprofit books. There are several in the US but even there the pickings are slim.

Which is why I was stoked to recently find these blogs, www.leadingbydesign.blogspot.com, and www.advancingthenonprofit.blogspot.com. Neither are Canadian but they do meet a real gap I’ve been experiencing of late, a daily dose of thinking about management specific to the nonprofit sector.

These nuggets of wisdom I found particularly compelling. In a post labeled “Seismic Shift: The Changing Nonprofit Landscape” the Karen Eber Davis talks about some important dynamics we’re seeing in New Brunswick.

A Dual Focus on Outcomes and Savvy Communications. The outcome focus is not new, what is new is the understanding that outcomes alone are inadequate. If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there, it doesn’t help your cause. Those who thrive will provide outcomes plus have the public relations savvy to successfully communicate why these outcomes are important in the noisy market.

Absolutely. You can’t have one without the other. The relationship between outcomes and communications is something we’ve been thinking about for a while. But I’m not sure we, as an organization (on individual levels we’ve had strong voices on both sides) ever fully acknowledged just how much of our focus should be shared between these two elements.

Over at Leading by Design, Anne Ackerson puts words on what all nonprofit people know to be true. That we live and die by the meeting,

Given the fact that nonprofits are all about people means that there's a ton of communication that must take place in order to nurture and maintain them, and service the constituents who need them.

Given that there isn’t a “nonprofit chamber of commerce” (we’re members in an actual Chamber of Commerce), these sites are an important way people in the sector stay connected, informed and motivated.

Congrats John!

2009-08-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

It’s a good day for the 21inc community.

John McLaughlin, President of UNB for another couple days, is the recipient of the Order of New Brunswick. Clare Whelton-McCain, a strong supporter of the arts in New Brunswick is also a recipient. Through our partnership with McCain’s I’ve had the opportunity to meet Clare and this is great recognition of her work.

It’s not an embellishment to say that John has been an instrumental force in New Brunswick. His NextNB program at UNB (link to about us) spawned 21inc, and John has continued to be a huge champion for us. That’s why it was a no brainer when 21inc co-Founder and Founding Chair Anne McInerney proposed that a group of us nominate him for this award.

But not only was it his vision that was the impetus behind 21inc, but the New Brunswick Business Council and the Wallace McCain Institute for Business Leadership too. At his retirement dinner David Ganong spoke of his legacy going beyond UNB’s walls, creating institutions that will continually spawn more and better leaders for New Brunswick. How awesome is that!

John’s vision has always been challenging, unconventional, progressive and inspiring. For example, this is from a speech he gave to the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa.

“…our political process has become pretty bad theatre. There is this sense that it does not connect with us individually or collectively. It does not resonate and it does not deal with the real issues that are emerging. It does not allow us to be engaged in any meaningful fashion.”

"As we in Canada wring our hands and reflect on how we somehow have to regenerate and rejuvenate our political process, I would say to our political parties that the next great Canadian political leader will not be the one grasping the ten-point plan, not the self-described populist who thinks he or she is speaking up for regular people, and I doubt it’s the one who is most familiar right now to the establishment. You will know him or her when you meet them. It is going to be someone who can not only read the crowd, but who can translate what they are saying and from whom you can get that sense of empowerment and engagement.”

Congrats John! Well deserved.

A Buffer Against Mediocrity

2009-08-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

How do you teach and inspire leadership attitudes and behavior? This is the challenge for leadership programs like 21 Inc.’s 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. Skill development is necessary. Mentorship is important. Contextual knowledge is often forgotten. None are by themselves sufficient. Unless they combine in ways that foster entrepreneurial and collaborative attitudes there is more work to do.

Reaching this outcome is not easy. Which is why it’s unfortunate that two national leaders in the field have recently halted operations. The Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation recently announced the conclusion of their Global Fellows Program, and Action Canada (of which I’m a 2007 Fellow) discontinued their program this year.

If we’re learning one thing about fostering the attitudes and skills we need in our future leaders it’s that the peer networks created through programs like our 21 Leaders program, and the discontinued ones mentioned above, are crucial.

In the same way that people come to identify with being part of a certain group (Canadian, New Brunswicker, an X alum, or Maple Leafs fan), participants in these programs start identifying themselves with and against others in these networks. As a result they begin to expect more from themselves. They are more willing to take positions of responsibility and be effective in them. They hold themselves up to a higher standard of excellence. These programs are buffers against a Canadian culture that more often inspires muddling along.

The WDG Foundation did create a Northern Fellows program that they’ll start up this year. However, Canada is nowhere near capacity yet with these programs so the loss will be felt. The results of these programs are long term and their disappearance is going to be manifested as potential not reached, rather than an acutely felt loss. More muddling.

This is not to say these programs are perfect. As an Action Canada fellow I can tell you that that specific program needs reform. But their termination leaves a big hole for young Canadians wanting to be better prepared to make a positive impact on our world.

Dear Old People

2009-07-13T09:09:00.001-07:00

Dear Old People who run the world,
My generation would like to break up with you.

Read the Generation M Manifesto here, it's a sick piece. Hat tip to David Eaves, who wrote a great follow up.

Lunch with Warren Buffet

2009-07-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

As a nonprofit, thoughts of fundraising and revenue generation are never far. That's why this piece of news caught our eye. A Toronto based hedge fund bid $1.68M USD to have lunch with Warren Buffet. All funds raised by the lunch go to the Glide Foundation in San Francisco.

Not a bad pay day for Glide. But would it work in New Brunswick? How much could be raised using our local celebrities, entertainment, business and political?

We don't need to look far to find out. Laubach Literacy Fredericton does an annual Lunches for Literacy auction with mostly Fredericton based political and business leaders. The list includes Doug Williams, now co-owner of the popular pub, The Garrison Ale House; the Minister of BNB, Victor Boudreau, and even Freddy Mack from the Fox radio Morning Show. The highest bid I could find was $350 for Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside.

If we were able to secure a higher profile individual (not that these folks aren't high profile) would this be worth pursuing? Who might fetch $10,000? $100,000?

A family cottage on the beach as a microcosm of New Brunswick

2009-07-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night for the first time in a few years, my Breau clan will descend upon my grand-parents cottage at Caissie Cape, meters from the beautiful beach facing the Northumberland Straight. Since the last time we were all together, there have been a few additions to the family, most importantly the first two great-grand-children.

Some forty years ago, when my grand-parents built their cottage, they wouldn’t have been able to imagine what their family would look like, all these years later. My grand-parents who are in most regards, two typical Acadians (that’s definitely not a bad thing) from south-eastern New Brunswick, will be joined by their ever-diversifying kin and their partners.

On the beach tomorrow night, we’ll find our share of Acadians and Acadians-at-heart but also Francophones and Anglophones, New Brunswickers, Islanders and Ontarians, Non-Canadians, Canadians living abroad and Second-generation Canadians, academics, professionals, trade workers and students.

We don’t all look the same and we don’t all speak the same languages. We don’t all call New Brunswick home. And you know what? That’s okay, to all of us. Because we love being together, and learning about, and from each other. There may be a few teachable moments, like learning to play the spoons or getting familiar with traditional Acadian words (“qui’c’qui va grailler la table?”), but it’s all good. What’s important is that regardless of our backgrounds and lifestyles, we all feel at home and at ease sitting on the beaches of New Brunswick.

Nothing else matters. Or at least nothing will tomorrow night.

Is the rest of the province as open? Are our families? Our governments? Our businesses? If not, you have some catching up to do, because the Breaus aren’t looking back.

Retour sur la Journée d'Évaluation

2009-07-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Le 27 juin dernier, 40 des 50 candidats présélectionnés ont pris part à la Journée d’Évaluation à Fredericton. Sous l’œil attentifs de leaders établis ayant le mandat de sélectionner les prochains 21 Leaders, les candidats ont démontré leurs habiletés en leadership lors d’activités de groupe. La journée fut parsemée d’opportunités de réseautage donnant lieu à la création de relations parmi les futurs leaders du Nouveau-Brunswick. Désireux de continuer dans cette veine, les candidats ont demandé qu’une liste de leurs coordonnées soit circulée parmi le groupe, ce que nous avons fait volontiers!

Nous avons eu droit à une démonstration hors-pair des habiletés de leadership des candidats, tous plus impressionnants les uns que les autres. Bien qu’épatés du talent des candidats, les juges constatèrent au cours de la journée qu’ils auraient des décisions difficiles à prendre!

A l’approche de cette journée, nous étions partagés entre l’idée d’offrir aux candidats une opportunité d’apprentissage dans un environnement amical et le fait que cette journée est tout de même une compétition entre les candidats pour une des 21 places disponibles pour le programme.

Bien que satisfaits du déroulement du processus de sélection, quelques questions ont fait surface lors de notre rétroaction. Est-ce que le climat amical créé a servi de camouflage à la passion associée à l’image d’un leader ou étions-nous en présence d’une nouvelle génération de leaders en mesure d’arriver à ses fins par des discussions respectueuses? A l’avenir, devrons-nous créer des activités ayant pour but de provoquer ces réactions passionnées?

Il est évident que la tenue de la Journée d’Évaluation à la fin juin est loin d’être idéale et il est déjà prévu que l’événement se tiendra plus tôt l’année prochaine. Toutefois, nous reconnaissons que nous sommes en présence de leaders et qu’il est assuré que la date sélectionnée ne conviendra pas à tous les candidats. Cette année, nous avons accordé des entrevues individuelles aux candidats ne pouvant prendre part à la Journée d’Évaluation. Bien qu’elles furent relativement efficaces, il demeure difficile pour le comité de sélection de baser leur évaluation sur le rapport d’une seule personne.

En tenant compte de ses éléments, devons-nous simplement obliger la participation à la Journée d’Évaluation? Est-ce qu’une méthode alternative pourrait être plus efficace que l’entrevue? Est-ce que nous devons simplement conclure que le candidat ne pouvant participer à la Journée d’Évaluation encourt le risque que son sort repose sur le rapport d’un évaluateur?

Conscients qu’aucun processus de sélection n’est parfait, nous tenons à nous assurer d’offrir à nos futurs leaders une expérience bénéfique tout en leur offrant l’opportunité de démontrer leurs habiletés de leadership au comité de sélection et en permettant aux évaluateurs de sélectionner les meilleurs candidats disponibles.

Elaine Albert named to Prestigious NB Board

2009-07-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

It's not an appointment that makes headlines, but it makes us proud.

Elaine Albert, from St. Jacques, and one of the 2008 21 Leaders, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation. Elaine's background as an accountant and entrepreneur will be an asset for the group. She may also be the youngest Director by 30 years.

The corporation is the organization that manages the pension funds of almost everyone who has a paycheck that is paid via the public purse. In New Brunswick that's approximately 49,000 people.

The news was announced in the Royal Gazette on May 13, (page 797), but the NBIMC still haven't changed their website yet to recognize the change.

Congrats Elaine!

Vers la sélection des 21 leaders 2009-2010

2009-06-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Nous sommes présentement à mi-chemin dans notre processus de sélection pour nos prochains 21 Leaders. Des 110 mises en candidatures reçues, un comité de trois leaders établis ont sélectionné 50 candidats pour passer à l’étape suivante : La Journée d’Évaluation.

Nouvelle étape à notre processus de sélection, la planification de cette journée d’avère un défi en tant que tel. Étant désireuse d’offrir aux candidats une expérience qu’ils apprécieront et dont ils pourront bénéficier, beaucoup d’efforts sont déployés dans la création de la programmation. Comme pour l’organisation de tout bon événement, l’attention au détail est de mise et croyez moi, les détails ne sont pas ce qui manquent à cette journée!

Nos évaluateurs n’auront pas la tâche facile, la qualité des candidats étant très impressionnante. La délibération promet donc d’être un exercice des plus intéressants auquel j’ai bien hâte d’assister.

A tous ceux et celles qui prendront part à cette journée, j’espère que vous apprécierez! Pour ceux et celles qui n’y seront pas, j’espère que vous tenterez de vous y rendre lors de la prochaine édition!

Pitch Perfect

2009-06-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

This is my buddy's Stephane de Messieres pitch on his organization, Citizens Market, to become an Echoing Green Fellow. It's a great 90 second clip and he gives an awesome performance to the judges.

As Stephane says, Citizens Market utilizes the power of the crowd so that when someone buys, say, shampoo, they can find out if the company was good or bad in making that product. It's a great example of how young people are using technology to make a difference.