By: Jonita Fair-Payton on November 20, 2024
I have been working in non-profit organizations for 30 years, beginning my career in my early 20’s as a Youth Employment Coordinator in Oakland, California. I have served as a Homeless Employment Specialist, a Program Coordinator, a Director, a Senior Director, and an Executive Director for organizations with operating budgets ranging from $1 million to…
By: Dinka Utomo on November 19, 2024
Our denomination is part of the worldwide reformed churches. As is known, the motto of the reformed churches always reminds us to be willing to make changes and renewals based on the truth of God’s word from day to day. The goal is that God’s name will always be glorified, and many people will experience…
By: Kim Sanford on November 19, 2024
There has always been a sort of underlying assumption that the sciences are measurable and immutable. The arts, on the other hand, have long been viewed as more subjective and less clear-cut. And as anyone who works with people knows, humans are anything but measurable and clear-cut. Highly relational fields like social work, psychology and…
By: Scott Dickie on November 18, 2024
Margaret J. Wheatley’s book, Leadership and the New Science (1) now finds itself in that awkward space—not 300+ years old (like the ‘old’ book we had to review earlier in the semester) but also not ‘new’ any longer. Quantum physics and chaos theory were emerging fields 30 years ago, but they are now a common…
By: John Fehlen on November 18, 2024
Allow me to state the obvious: Margaret J. Wheatley is wicked smart. And often (sadly), when you come across someone with that level of intellect, you can almost bet the farm that they’re going to be, well, how do I put this… socially deficient. Ok, bluntly put: a real dud. Emotional intelligence: zero. But with…
By: Pam Lau on November 18, 2024
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well. It is the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out.” – Vaclav Havel At the start of every mediation, I ask the parties this question: “What is your highest hope?” It doesn’t matter if the conflict is between divorced parents,…
By: Jenny Dooley on November 18, 2024
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World and Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time, written by Margaret J. Wheatley, present a complementary vision of what non-anxious, collaborative, and transformational leadership can look like in our chaotic and uncertain world. I was reassured by the necessity and normalcy of chaos…
By: Tim Clark on November 18, 2024
In 1987, the genre-defying songwriter Steve Taylor released his fourth studio album, I Predict 1990. I loved Taylor’s progressive music, which blended pop, new wave, and a little post-punk, and I was smitten with his intelligent lyrics, which bordered on irreverence. His was one of only a handful of “Christian” artists that I resonated with…
By: Esther Edwards on November 18, 2024
In 2017, as I embarked on taking my very first class in a Master’s in Leadership program, I was introduced to the book “Images of an Organization” by Gareth Morgan. I remember feeling like I was taking a walk back in time as older organizational models were highlighted. It also showed how the organizational landscape…
By: Kally Elliott on November 18, 2024
It was a sunny, warm day, the leaves turning vibrant colors of yellow and red, the Tumalo River, a dance of currents, swirling in harmony as my German Shepherd and I hiked alongside it. Margaret Wheatley’s audiobook, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World played on my on my Airpods and…
By: Jennifer Vernam on November 18, 2024
In her books Leadership and the New Science[1] and Finding Our Way,[2] Margaret Wheatley encourages leaders to adopt a philosophical change in how they approach leadership: in short, she is asking leaders to accept the unpredictable and the personal nature of work; suspending the traditional assumptions that control is required to achieve order. Counter to…
By: Cathy Glei on November 18, 2024
“If we believe that the universe is on a relentless road to death, we can’t help but live in fear of change. In a downhill world, any change exhausts our store of valuable energy and leaves us empty, one step closer to death. Staying put or keeping our balance is a means of defense against…
By: Travis Vaughn on November 18, 2024
“Leadership, an amorphous phenomenon that has intrigued us since people began organizing, is being examined now for its relational aspects. Few if any theorists ignore the complexity of relationships that contribute to a leader’s effectiveness. Instead, there are more and more studies on partnership, followership, empowerment, teams, networks, and the role of context.”[1] Margaret Wheatley’s…
By: Jana Dluehosh on November 15, 2024
Darn…5 minutes late in posting! Conversations…what a meaningful word. We have millions of conversations in our lifetimes, some silly, like arguing with your spouse on who changed the last diaper, to life-changing conversations like one that starts with the question, “Will you marry me?” We begin conversations with our parents as we babble back and…
By: Dinka Utomo on November 14, 2024
It is still fresh in my memory when I was still in the 3rd grade of junior high school when the senior pastor in our church passed away. He was a man who was so loved by the congregation. A man full of compassion and gentleness. When I was about to attend his funeral service,…
By: Todd E Henley on November 14, 2024
“Our careers, our companies, our relationships, and indeed our very lives succeed or fail, gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time.”1 While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a company, a relationship, or a life, any single conversation can. This is why I strongly believe the words of…
By: Adam Harris on November 14, 2024
Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay’s book “How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide ” should be required reading for high schools, colleges, non-profit organizations, and churches. I appreciate the difficult conversations these two have intentionally engaged in and the insights they have accumulated over the years about difficult conversations, changing others’ minds, and…
By: Russell Chun on November 14, 2024
言葉はささやき、行動は雷鳴のごとく。Words whisper, Actions thunder (Japanese) Part 1 Introduction, a history lesson Part 2 What my peers are saying Part 3 What I learned Part 4 Epilogue Part 1 Introduction, A history lesson Soon after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, effectively placing over 100,000 West Coast residents…
By: Pam Lau on November 12, 2024
“Good relationships will keep you healthy and happy, healthier and happier than anything–including being right.[12] Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator, recommends using what he calls a “late night FM DJ voice during a hostage negotiation, which is a calm, soothing, and slightly downward inflected tone of voice designed to create a sense of…
By: Jennifer Vernam on November 12, 2024
I will come clean. I was the person who suggested to Jason that we read the book How to Have Impossible Conversations.[1] (HTHIC) After all, I am the person in our cohort trying to develop a methodology for leaders to facilitate conversations in which there are deep differences of opinions while maintaining community. Why wouldn’t…
