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.
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 gonemainstream. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
