ARE:A Renewal Enterprise

Laughter For The Long Haul

Mayor Hazel McCallion of Mississauga, Ontario - the sixth largest city in Canada - has been elected 11 times and has served for 31 years in that office. She is 88 years old. Rick Mercer of CBC's the MercerReport interviews Mrs. McCallion about her life in public service (Rick - What's your secret? Hazel - Take care of your people!) in this informative and hysterical video (click below). Hazel doesn't say it directly but it's clear that one of the keys to her success is the ability to work playfully! The clip is 6.3 minutes long but worth every second. Be sure you watch long enough to find out what Hazel's only regret in her personal life is. It'll make you laugh out loud and give you more than a few things to think about. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.

Dreams vs. Reality: A True Balancing Act

Long before they were built, while waiting for a dentist appointment, Philippe Petit saw a story about the World Trade Center twin towers being designed. And as he saw the story he knew already that he had to try to walk between them on a high wire. In fact, he was dreaming of walking across a wire strung between the twin towers before construction on them started! And by the time he would get to try to do it his passion for this would have led him to cross a wire strung over a bridge in Sydney, Australia and walk a span of cable strung between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in France!

Go Play. Your Brain Will Thank You.

Daniel Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future, argues that we have moved from the Industrial Age, through the Information Age, and are now entering a Conceptual Age where the ability to detect patterns & opportunities, create artistic and emotional beauty, tell a good story, empathize with others, elicit joy, and tap into the innate desire people have to find meaning in life will be equally important as the ability to manipulate information, think analytically, and employ logic in the pursuit of your goals. Pink describes "six senses" that he believes are the key to success in work and life today. One of them is a particular favorite of ours: Play.

Who Do You Know Who Is Making a Difference?

NBC Nightly News has started a new series this month. Seeing that the mood of the people in their audience was notably depressed, they looked for “good news” – a term that will sound familiar to many of our readers! And to get this news, Brian Williams issued a call to the world on March 4th. Send in your stories of people you see or know who are “making a difference.”

How Far Will You Go?

How much do you really care about the organization you've been called to lead? Do you care about it enough to admit that you're not the only one who has the gifts it needs? Are you passionate enough about it even to admit that, just maybe, you're not the one who should be leading it? 

This month in Inc. Natasha Tiku tells the story of a leader so dedicated to the purpose and the success of his company that he was willing to give up the reins to someone else who, he believed, had the gifts necessary to help take his business to the next level. 

Newsletter - March 2009

This month Kelly reviews "Getting to Maybe," a book with a few hunches about how to create real, positive change in the world. You'll get this month's top five list - Questions To Ask To Find Out Whether You're Leading Purposefully. You see the results of February's survey and have a chance to take this month's - How Excited Are You About The Purpose of Your Organization. And you'll meet the three newest members of the A.R.E. team. Click here for a link to the March issue of The Renewable Organization, our monthly newsletter. 

You can also subscribe to receive this newsletter directly in your inbox each month - click here to subscribe.

What Do You Really Care About?

Mom always said practice what you preach. We think that's pretty sound advice. Lately we've been encouraging our friends and clients to get focused on their core purpose - what really matters to them - as one way to navigate this economic downturn. This is no time to be straying off course, spinning your wheels, wasting resources. Drill down to what is most important to you and focus your resources there. Well, we wouldn't ask you to do something we're not willing to do ourselves.

The Business of Giving

One of our favorite blogs is called Have Fun-Do Good - A blog for people who want to make the world a better place...and have fun! Recently a post appeared suggesting that one of the best things you could do if you find yourself suddenly unemployed is to...give! Turns out that research shows a healthy GIVING life leads to a HAPPIER life.  Click here to read the article and check out the list of 10 low cost ways to give.

The Talk Of Her Life

To celebrate March 8, International Women's Day, TEDTalks* featured four amazing speakers -- artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women. In this TEDtalk (video below), author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism -- and the power of passionate thinkers and doers. It's nearly 18 minutes long - the limit for a TEDtalk. But it is fantastic and funny and moving and maddening and beautiful and a rousing call to action. So set aside some time today, grab a cup of coffee, hit play, and let yourself be inspired by a woman who embodies the ideal - no, the reality - of "engaging work & world with purpose & passion."  

We Heard You!

Did you miss last month's "4th Tuesday" webinar? No worries. Now you can watch a recorded version online! The A.R.E. team presents LIVE webinars - for free - on a variety of topics on the "4th Tuesday" of every month. Participants take surveys, ask questions, and share ideas. We hope you'll join us live on a "4th Tuesday" coming up soon. But we've heard from a lot of our friends, colleagues, and clients that sometimes you just can't be online for the live presentation and you'd like to be able to watch it later. We heard you! Starting this month you can find an archive of the webinars you've missed online. A link to our webinar archive is now in the sidebar of our website. Check back often for updates.