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Article on Leaning into Discomfort: Social Sector Leadership inthe 21st Century, NPQ (Nonprofit Quarterly), May 7, 2012 Excerpt from interview with Nancy Northup, Center for Reproductive Rights: ""In fact, leaning into discomfort, I think, is critical, to make sure that what we are doing-both externally, as we work to establish reproductive rights around the world, and internally, at the organization level-is bold enough. The organization had better be feeling discomfort if it's leaning into new strategies and ways of working. "You have always to ask, Am I pushing for the change that's really needed? On all of those levels, you have to continually refresh and check and make sure that you're getting the most power for the mission by being as uncomfortable as possible. Because change is hard, and the reason why you have to look at all those different levels-yourself, your organization, and then the world-is that if you're not willing to hold the tension of change as an organization, how can you begin to understand what you have to risk and what others have to risk to make change happen in the world?"" Excerpt from interview with Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic workers Alliance: As Poo observed, "Domestic workers work in isolated workplaces. They don't have any job security whatsoever, and there are no labor standards or protections, except-for now-in New York, because of us. But really, there's nothing mediating the relationship between a worker and an employer-your workplace is somebody else's so-called castle. It already takes a lot of courage to assert your rights and dignity, and to make sure that you get paid on time, and to make sure that you can get home on time to your own children. And all of these challenges that are just day-to-day challenges of living in that environment already demonstrate a tremendous amount of day-to-day courage." Excerpt from interview with George Goehl, National People's Action �

Blog by Harold Jarche on Leadership is an emergent property of balanced networks, May 29, 2012 Like this assessment of leadership skills in networks: "As networked, distributed workplaces become the norm, trust will emerge from environments that are open, transparent and diverse. As a result of improved trust, leadership will be seen for what it is; an emergent property of a balanced network ["in-balance" may be a better term for this changing state] and not some special property available to only the select few. And this one: Networked contributors (full-time, part-time, contractors) need to work together in a networked environment that facilitates cooperation and collaboration. This is why the narration of work and PKM will become critical skills, as work teams ebb and flow according to need, but the network must remain connected and resilient

Blog post by Lara Galinsky on Dowser (who's solving what and how), August 6, 2012 "This may sound idealistic but we are already on the way. According to Net Impact's recent Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012, the Millennial generation wants, and expects, to do good and do well in their paid Work. In fact, a majority of students (65 percent) expect to make a difference in the world through their Work, and 53 percent would take a 15 percent pay cut to Work for an organization whose values matched their own. However, in my experience, too few of these students know the kind of difference they want to make, and how to make it. And that is the real opportunity. In order to harness this generation's desire to create change, we must move away from the antiquated concept of vocation, which emphasizes what's in it for the individual: whether it will sustain their interest or bring them fame or fortune. Instead, we need to help young people start their professional lives by asking questions. What issues, ideas, people, and projects move them deeply? What problems are theirs to own? How can they combine their heads and hearts to address those problems? What is their unique genius and how can it be of use to the world beyond themselves?"

Colorful, informative graphical mindmap by Jane Genovese at Learning FUNdamentals in Australia for high school students on how to focus in the age of distraction. The branches include taking time to reflect and review, creating rituals/habits, how to work; managing your space, taking a digital technology detox, and help for addicts. From Learning Fundamentals. Also has a presentation for use with with these learning outcomes: By the end of "The Facebook Effect" workshop students will: 1.have developed an understanding of how social network sites (e.g. Facebook) are highly addictive; 2. have developed an understanding of the many benefits of working in a focused manner in a distraction free environment; 3. have access to a range of tools to help them eliminate distractions in their work environment; 4. have a deeper understanding of how multitasking can slow down their mental processes and lead to poorer learning outcomes; and 5. be aware of strategies to enhance their focus and concentration

Interesting article published 1/6/2014 on Second Acts for baby boomers. Quotes Marc Freedman, Elizabeth Isele (who lived in ME for a long time), and mentions Bevan Rogel. The Boomerworks online service for matching BBs with work opportunities is very interesting--wonder how they are doing? And whether we should try to ally with them? "In 1998, living in Maine, Isele created CyberSeniors, a multilingual nonprofit computer training company that eventually trained more than 28,000 seniors in 24 states. She's led numerous nonprofits over the decades and is now pushing public policy changes and forging connections between organizations to create an "entrepreneur ecosystem." That ecosystem is flourishing in Sarasota. Sarasota's Institute for the Ages, established in 2009 to change the conversation about aging as one of deficit and decline to one about enhancing lives, is a lab for companies and services that want to tap into the needs of older adults. In late 2013, the Institute launched Boomerswork.com, a web-based network to connect freelancers with companies seeking seasoned professionals for project-based work. The program started in Canada and the Institute is the first organization to bring it to the U.S. When the Institute convenes a national convention here in February, entrepreneurship and encore careers will be a large part of the agenda. In addition to a keynote address by Freedman, Isele is leading a workshop on entrepreneurship with Bevon Rogel, who runs a Freedman-related Encore Academy in St. Petersburg to help seniors find meaningful work. For Southwest Florida, which has one of the highest concentrations of seniors in the nation, the idea of an "encore" seems natural. As the rest of the country and world grays, branding this life stage as one that brings years, or potentially decades, more productivity and meaning to life has become an imperative."

"It's not hard to sell the benefits of telecommuting to employees; it's the employers who need convincing that working from home can actually translate into increased profits. According to a recent Families and work Institute's National Study of Employers, the number of employers offering a flexible work place increased from 34 percent to 63 percent between 2005 and 2012, indicating the option of telecommuting is quickly becoming the norm rather than the exception. Telecommuting offers many benefits to an employer, including increased employee satisfaction, reduction in operating costs and the ability to tap into a broader talent base - one no longer limited by geography."

From Inc. by Christina Desmarais, August 14, 2013. Good advice about dealing with family members, friends, other phone calls while using a home office. Also, names some tools to help keep up with collaborative projects and work teams: Hipchat for group chatting, Trello or Asana for project management, Expensify for tracking expenses and submitting expense reports, and Sqwiggle which keeps your webcam on so co-workers can see you work.

Blog post by Joe Rominiecki, June 11, 2014, on how staid organization--American Neurological Association--changed admission requirements and found new-"old ways" to engage with younger, newer members in the course of the first year of membership. 300 out of 1,880 at end of 2013 were new, often younger members. ""We have quite a few committees, and the committee work is a lot. The annual meeting programming is extremely scientific, so their participation in our interactive lunch workshop committee or our faculty development committee or our scientific programming committee is critical to the success of the meeting," Smith says." Excerpt: I'm a strong believer that the type of volunteering offered to young members is crucial, too. It has to be meaningful work. If I'm offered a choice between joining a group for young professionals or joining a planning committee for a particular association function (event, publication, education, etc.), I'll take the latter. I'd rather not just be lumped in with other young pros, fenced off in a separate little play area. I want to be doing some real work for the association. And DTV says I'm not alone: In that study, "I can do something for a profession or cause that is important to me" ranked as the most important reason for volunteering in associations, and that was true for all generations.""

Our Vision -- One day 1 in 2 people will work online. Millions of businesses and freelancers will work through the workplace with the best selection of talent, jobs and tools. Elance will be that workplace. Connecting the world through work

Mary Meeker's annual report on trends. Slides 109-112 on millennials work behavior and expectations and what they value are very interesting--training and development, flexible work hours, cash bonuses. Buy personal technology and use it in the workplace. Millennials much more likely to be on demand workers (4$%) than gen x, baby boomers, or mature workers. Slide 126 is on freelancer categories. Slide 127 is on how quickly freelancers can get work from internet. Slide 128 shows internet enabling commerce such as ebay Etsy, airbnb, upwork, uber, thumbtack, soundcloud, and stripe.

Interesting article on the age divide between new guard (Stripe) and old guard companies (Cisco) and why that is so, Yiren Lu, March 12, 2014

published in 2011, excellent chart on page 8 of The Extended Workforce: Old and New Realities, 3 columns headed Dimension, Old Reality, and New Reality. Reports that type of Work by extended employees has changed from primarily low-skilled, low-value Work to high skilled, high value knowledge Work, personal profile of Workers has changed, reasons for becoming an extended Worker have changed.

New York Times, May 28. 2015 by Claire Cain Miller "The biggest obstacle to women in joining the highest ranks of the business world is a lack of family-friendly policies. That, at least, has been the conventional wisdom in recent years, and it has been embraced by progressive companies that offer flexible schedules or allow people to work from home. But some researchers are now arguing that the real problem is not the lack of family-friendly policies for mothers, but the surge in hours worked by both women and men. And companies are not likely to want to adopt the obvious solution."

Offers three tips for managing work life--Unplug, Take real vacations and dive into hobbies away from work, use your energy wisely, by Katie Bascuas, May 14, 2015

blog post by Caroline Kim Oh, August 19, 2014, on reframing networking to build on your strengths, and not be overwhelmed by "networking" expectations at a so-called networking event. "Slow Networking " What I've found is that there is no one right way to build and cultivate your network. It turns out that my way of getting to know people, what I will begin calling "slow networking," is what works for me. I find that I am much better at getting to know people over time. I enjoy "collecting" relationships with people who are doing interesting work both within and outside of my field, keeping in touch with them, helping them whenever I can, informing them of what I am up to and, from time to time, calling on them when I need help. I love the process of uncovering a natural rapport with them as we work together on things we care about. How do you find your bright spot? When you feel you are excelling at a form of communicating with other people, and it comes naturally to you, that is your bright spot. And when you build your networking strategy around your one or two bright spots, you are leading with your strengths instead of trying to replicate some networking best practices book.

Great blog post by Jon Husband , February 16, 2013, linked to by Harold Jarche in his blog. Excerpt: "What Wirearchy Means For You As a Leader" Become deeply aware of and truly mindful about the scope and reach of interconnected markets and flows of information. Understand how and why people are connecting, talking, sharing information. Be prepared to listen deeply, be responsible, be accountable and be transparent. As a Manager Become knowledgeable about online work systems and how the need for collaboration is changing the nature of work, generally - and the nature of managerial work specifically. Learning how to be an effective listener and coach is all-important."

Harold Jarche's lament, January 12, 2015. "Salaried workers and consultants use what I give away in order to earn their livelihood. For the most part, I am fine with this, as it raises my profile and the level of engagement. But it seems we are entering a time when people expect to get whatever information they need for free and feel no obligation to support the people who create it. I am beginning to question my current business model. Last week I was twice asked to work for free. In each case the person asking me to work for 'exposure' was a salaried employee. My bank has yet to accept exposure as a form of payment." Jarche goes onto say that he is changing his business model because this isn't working.

Principles of Feminist Social Work Process by Jenny Gilmore. These principles mesh well with the Work on systems leaders, as really all that is written about systems leaders are found in these principles which have been practiced since the 1960's by feminist leaders.

Very good, practical article by Marco Albani and Kimberly Henderson, McKinsey & Company, July 2014 on companies and social groups joining forces to protect the environment. The seven tips to make such alliances successful work for all partnerships/odd couples IMO. 1. ID clear reasons to collaborate. "The effort needs to help each partner organization achieve something significant. Incentives such as 'we'll do this for good publicity' or 'we don't want to be left out' are not sufficient." -Nigel Twose, director of the Development Impact Department, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group 2. Find a fairy godmother "It is important to have a core of totally committed, knowledgeable people who would die in a ditch for what the organization is trying to achieve." -Environmental NGO campaign head 3. Set simple, credible goals 4. Get professional help "It is very important to have an honest broker. The facilitator must be neutral and very structured and keep people moving along at a brutal pace. You need someone who can bring things to a close." -Darrel Webber, secretary general, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) 5. Dedicate good people to the cause "If a company like ours believes something is strategic, then we resource it like it is strategic." -Neil Hawkins, corporate vice president of sustainability, Dow Chemical LOVE #5--HAVE SEEN "COLLABORATIONS" FAIL IN STATE GOVT. BECAUSE GOOD PEOPLE AND SENIOR LEADERSHIP WERE NOT BEHIND IT. 6. Be flexible in defining success "Partners think that collaboration will change the world. Then it doesn't, and they think that it failed. But often the collaboration changed something-the way some part of the system works and delivers outcomes. It is a matter of understanding the nature of change itself." -Simon Zadek, visiting fellow, Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, Beijing 7. Prepare to let go "I've been absent from the FSC since 1997.

Good article on rebalancing power/responsibility between incoming CEO and board after long-time CEO departs. Cites Chris McEntee who worked at AARP with me 30 years ago before she left for work in a health association. Interesting, I checked her LinkedIn profile and she does not list any employment prior to the 1990s. But it's clearly the same woman I worked with.