Ideas
Resilience
We lose resilience when we become fractured, fragmented, when the parts lose awareness of the whole. Read the article →
Stories
Natural Leadership
Peter was braced against the side of the boat to keep steady, thrilled and focused. Read the article →
Practices
Finding Our Way Back from Exile
Day-to-day, most of us live like birds with clipped wings. We lose contact with our center. We forget who we really are. Read the article →
Partner News
Human Systems Dynamics Professional Certification with Glenda Eoyang will be offered in 2012-2013 in Minnesota, Oregon, and London
New book by ALIA Press. Keep Your People in the Boat: Workforce Engagement Lessons from the Sea by Crane Stookey
ThinkHalifax is raising the bar on public engagement. Workshops offered this spring by ALIA friends Tim Merry, Sera Thompson, Marguerite Drescher, Rachel Caroline Derrah
Restoring Japan. A March 11 live streaming dialog between young social leaders in Japan and the United States will focus on the re-imagination of Japan’s future in the wake of the 2011 triple disaster
Pattern Language of Group Process. A new resource for facilitators includes a deck of 91 cards
Recent Articles
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The Art of Execution (1)
By Barbara Bash
The execution of the stroke distills the practice of bringing vision into action. This is also called the practice of “joining heaven and earth.” First, we prepare the ground with care and attention. Then we connect with the space, the bigger context. We gather energy and focus, then dive in, let it flow and follow through. And finally—completion, letting go, celebration. Read the article →
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How to Balance Power and Love
By Art Kleiner
Scenario planning and social change expert Adam Kahane suggests that to master large and difficult challenges, leaders need to learn to act and empathize simultaneously. This interview, conducted at the… Read the article →
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Leaping into the Unknown (1)
In this personal video, Tuesday shares the story of the remarkable Our Optimal Health project in Columbus, Ohio. Our Optimal Health will be featured in the Leaders in Health stream of ALIA in a… Read the article →
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Present in Uncertainty
By Pema Chodron
“When someone is present for all of their uncertainties, for the scary places within, they become genuine, and the mask, the persona, drops away. You feel you can trust them because they’re not conning themselves, and they’re not going to con you. Their genuineness manifests because they have seen all there is to see about themselves.” Read the article →
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Mindfulness and Improvisation: a Conversation with Steve Clorfeine (4)
By Lyn Hartley
“It is always a challenge to bring more of ourselves into the present. Through mindfulness we come to notice our hesitation, our resistance. It takes effort to bring that in, to not be afraid of ourselves. By mixing mindfulness and improvisation, we invite a bit more of ourselves, from outside our usual comfort zones or strategies. How much can I include in being present?” Read the article →
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Speaking to the Shadow (9)
“I had no idea how anything was going to end, of what to do next, of whether we were doing anything important or just frittering around while the world died. I felt the truth of ‘I don’t know’ through my whole being and at every scale. I felt my expertise slipping away – what was being taken from me was my confidence and all of the false foundations for my privileged walk through life.” Read the article →
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Complex or Complicated? (8)
Some problems are best tackled with the “divide and conquer” strategy: break them into pieces and solve them one at a time. Others get worse when you try to do this, because of complex interdependencies that get even more tangled. Knowing whether you have a “complicated” (reducible) or “complex” problem is critical. In this article Glenda Eoyang gives practical advice for how to tell the difference. Read the article →
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Cracking the Complexity Code: Resources (1)
“The industrial age fostered an approach and leadership style well-suited to tackling tough engineering problems. Break it down, analyze the parts, monitor the process for efficiency, and measure predetermined outcomes. Sometimes this is exactly the best approach to organizational and social challenges as well. But not always. In fact, the over-application of a mechanistic approach just makes matters worse.” Read the article →
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The Art of Giving Instructions: Seven Practices for Facilitators (3)
“My own practice of giving instructions has been informed by years of standing in front of people. From the time I was a young man, I spoke to groups as an activist, an actor, a musician and a teacher. That training, whether in the formal environment of a theatre or workplace or the informal environment of the street has helped me immeasurably to be be clear and present with a group.” Read the article →
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HBR: Start your Day with a Ritual
“His power as a warrior came from his patience, precision, attention to subtlety, concentration, and his reverence for the moment.” Read the article →
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Gardening in a Social Innovation Ecosystem
“All gardening is personal. Don’t try gardening the whole organization. Tend to people and situations one at a time and spend time meeting them where they are. They are part of the ecosystem you need to understand.” Read the article →
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Command without Control
“Taking command requires us to be careful of what we give. What Andy gave with his ball cap was broad awareness, initiative, and shared responsibility—the qualities that make any ship, or business, or family, run well.” Read the article →
