ARE:A Renewal Enterprise

Three Cups of Learning

You've probably heard about the controversy over Greg Mortenson, the author of the wildly successful and inspirational book, Three Cups of Tea. Turns out some of the stuff he wrote about was fabricated – maybe most of it. 60 Minutes ran a devastating report about Mortenson recently, not only calling into question the truthfulness of his story but also raising serious concerns about how the nonprofit he started to build schools in Afghanistan is spending money. Mortenson's former climbing partner followed that up with a 90-page treatise called Three Cups of Deceit. And today the Stanford Social Innovation Review released a scathing first hand account from a nonprofit leader who has spent a lot of time on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and who argues that the donors - not just Mortenson - are to blame because they "went for a feel-good story, didn't do their homework, and didn't ask the right questions." 

Here are Three Cups of Learning to take away from this mess:

Are You Listening??

In the celebration of the rescue of 33 Chilean miners this week, one group of people was conspicuously absent. Where were the mine owners? If you’ve been following this story for the last ten weeks, even a little, then you know this mining accident has brought into sharp focus the dangers of a bottom line that focuses exclusively on profits.

In an interview with Spanish news agency EFE, Javier Castillo, secretary of the union representing the employees of Compañia Minera San Esteban Primera, the owners of the mine, said the following: “Management operates without listening to the voice of the workers when they say that there is danger or risk.”

Unfortunately, that observation is all too common in many organizations today, and in many, it's not just only safety that is on the line.

Surviving Layoffs (and a word to the Guy In Charge)

So much for a "recovery." An article in the New York Times yesterday warned that, based on the current rate of job creation, it could be nine years before the US recaptures the jobs lost during the recession. And given an inflation rate of 2%, it would take 13 years for housing prices to climb back to their peak. This isn't so much a recovery as it is a "thank God the sandbags are holding" moment. It appears we were in an even bigger mess than anybody could have imagined when the crisis began. 

For a lot of people and an organization I care about, the crisis has hit home. 

What do you do when you have less to work with? How do you regroup after you've been laid off? How do you lead the people who kept their jobs but are watching their friends and colleagues pack up their boxes and go home? What's next for the guy in the corner office who handed out all those pink slips? How do you move on from here?