By: Jer Swigart on January 11, 2021
A successful organization is not the one that consumes its employees in order to propel its mission. Rather, according to authors Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey in An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization, a successful organization is one that is proactive in providing meaning for its employees. The authors assert that the…
By: Chris Pollock on November 18, 2020
I left them there. It was ‘Norco’ and a younger friend, huddled in the freezing, out-of-the-wet, door-front area of our Market. Jumped into my little Trax and was about to get going but, couldn’t. Pulled up behind an RV that had pulled-in for the night, ran back into the Sanctuary, off-the-alarm for a couple bags…
By: Jer Swigart on November 17, 2020
Of the many conributions Renner & D’Souza have made to my leadership philosophy this semester, one stands out: the future is shaped by the leader’s response to the unknown. This past weekend, I took some time of silent reflection in the moutains of southwest Orgeon. There were three locations I wanted to explore as I…
By: Greg Reich on November 17, 2020
Steven D’Souza and Diana Renner, in their book Not Doing, discuss the idea that not doing is not necessarily a lack of activity. They bring in Carl Honore’s work on slow movement. Honore presents the premise that slow movement is all about pace; a pace that requires us to know the conditions in which we…
By: Darcy Hansen on November 16, 2020
My spiritual directee arrived ten minutes late.[1] I had already spent 20 minutes trying to settle my new puppy into her crate with treats and such but was unsuccessful. By the time the spiritual direction session began, my pup was still losing her puppy mind with separation anxiety, and I was super distracted. I just…
By: Shawn Cramer on November 16, 2020
Early on in the shelter-in-place days, I discovered some beautiful running trails just minutes from my house. Each morning in this refuge, I would watch the sunrise, wonder, think, and pray for the potential of a new day. Waist-high grass stood on either side of the single-track trails. Alternating between running and biking, this routine…
By: Chris Pollock on November 12, 2020
Darkness. I remember running in the darkness. Headlamps and heatwaves in the cold, striding down a mountain a few years ago. We rounded a corner, I recall and, coming quick with the gravity, we were stopped by eyes staring out at us from the dark. They seemed to be those of a fairly large mammal,…
By: Jer Swigart on November 12, 2020
When I was nine years old, I was in Florida with my family on the first non-National Park vacation we’d ever taken. While the theme parks that promised magical memories held up to their end of the bargain, it was something that I observed in the night sky (for free) that changed my life. NASA…
By: Darcy Hansen on November 10, 2020
We are a nation built on war. Through war we earned our independence. Through war we maintain power and position around the world. The warrior spirit is woven into the very fibers of our American being. But with war, comes inevitable death. Historically, psychological principles are utilized to mitigate the fear of death in war.…
By: Greg Reich on November 9, 2020
When was the last time you just let your mind wander? When was the last time you took the time to wander around while driving, just to see a part of the city you never saw before? Sometimes it pays to wander. My wife and I normally take an annual road trip to Texas to…
By: Shawn Cramer on November 9, 2020
Nostrils filled with stench demand creative resolve. This summer, I battled a skunk at my in-law’s cabin. Each weekend greeted me with the miasma of failure of the previous week’s attempts. The putrid problem gripped me, consumed me, and I found my creativity invigorated around the disposal of this creature. Each breath reminded me of…
By: Chris Pollock on November 9, 2020
Fire is life. Fire moves and breathes. Fire is alive. Fire is warmth. Fire purifies. Fire burns. Making fire is magical; a sacred experience that requires much practise and patience. In the process of teaching my daughter to build a fire, I continue to learn from the fire as to how it is to be…
By: Jer Swigart on November 4, 2020
There is a fine line between “strategic” and “controlling.” Years ago, in my days of leading a church in the San Francisco Bay Area, we found ourselves in the process of strategic planning. We sensed that a new season was dawning for our faith community so we invited groups of community members to join our…
By: Greg Reich on November 3, 2020
As I sat in front of my desk, pen in hand, I began to write out a check for my son. It wasn’t the first time I wrote a check to assist one of my children. For some reason this one was different. Why was I struggling so much with writing this check and not…
By: Shawn Cramer on November 3, 2020
When asked how to prepare children for the exponential progress of technology, iconoclastic economist Nassim Taleb answered, “Read the classics” (Antifragile, 320). He goes on to posit, “The future is in the past.” The best innovations, then, have an intimate understanding of the past, are doggedly present to the immediate moment, and have an imaginative…
By: Darcy Hansen on November 3, 2020
How long, O Lord, will you forget us? How long will you turn your face away? How long will your silence be deafening; Your presence imperceivable? We are wasting away consumed by corruption, manipulation, greed, and partisan politics. Democrats sit crouched, ready to pounce on Republicans. Republicans stand armed ready to shoot whoever…
By: Chris Pollock on October 27, 2020
This morning, the first thing that happened to me was that I woke up. I wake up every morning. One day, this won’t happen. One day there will not be anything to wake up to, perhaps. Until then, I’m happy to dream of a less destructive way of coming to life every morning than an…
By: Greg Reich on October 27, 2020
Life is full of idioms! Phrases that aren’t intended to be taken literally but do have a specific meaning for the hearer. I highly doubt that any of us stop in mid-sentence or mid-thought to realize that we just used or heard an idiom that expresses ourselves. Comments like: “It’s time to go back to…
By: Shawn Cramer on October 27, 2020
“I like this innovative summary,” my co-worker told me, “but I’ve never since this word, ‘generative,’ before.” Furthermore, my word processor won’t recognize the noun form, “generativity.” Unapologetically, this piece is a call to engender “generative” to the normal vernacular of a leader. As an artist and thought leader who resists the utilitarian pragmatism of…
By: Jer Swigart on October 26, 2020
One of the outcomes of my Design Session was a new moniker for my target audience: The Precipice Dweller. She is a pilgrim who has dared to journey into a liminal space between “What I’m running from.” to “What I’m running toward.” She’s a sojourner whose rebellious spirit has taken her to the precipice and…
