ARE:A Renewal Enterprise

Are you paying attention?

Nettlehorst Elementary School is a located in the East Lakeview neighborhood of North Chicago. Ten years ago, Nettlehorst was a failing school with a bussed-in student population, depressed teachers, and a revolving door of principals (7 interim principals from 1990-1998). Nettlehorst was a neighborhood school that the neighborhood had given up on. In 1999 not one family who lived in the neighborhood sent their children to Nettlehorst. Not one.

Into The Unknown!

We heard from a lot of readers off-line over the past few days, in response to a previous post, thanking us for a) acknowledging that making the shift to a new, renewable approach to life and work can be lonely and b) giving them some ideas to get started. But we also got an email from someone encouraging us. 

This is for all the lonely people

One of the things we're finding as we've been out on the road this fall is that a lot of people get the difference between a consumable and a renewable way of living and working together – in other words, instead of acting like dollars and cents are the bottom line, they want to spend their lives doing what matters – but they're not sure how to get started. 

Immerse Yourself

According to The Greater Good blog a recent study has shown that people who live abroad and are really immersed in a new culture are more creative than those who haven't had a similar experience:

"...the researchers consider that people who spend portions of their lives in a foreign country, and allow themselves to be absorbed into the host culture, may become practiced at seeing other perspectives and comparing different possible solutions to life’s challenges, thus boosting their skills at creative thinking."

We're not surprised. And this is just one more reason to take place seriously.

You Are Not Alone

There is not a moment of any day where any one of us is really and truly alone anymore. We are connected via e-mail, voice mail, Facebook, Myspace, Skype, instant messaging, text messaging, etc. We are linked-in and synced-up and shaped by dozens, hundreds, and thousands of relationships. Why would you think you could work alone? Why would you want to? 

Are You In This Conversation?

Modern organization theory has tended to objectify "the world." It teaches you to see your context as a threat, resources as scarce, your neighbors as competitors, the planet as a thing to be used until it's used up, and people as "human resources." This consumable approach to life and work is killing us, it's not too good for the organizations we care about, and it's wrecking the planet.

There are a lot of voices out there helping us make the shift from this consumable to a more renewable way of doing life and work. For example, there's a new conversation emerging around the concept of ethonomics (i.e., ethical economics). There is no single definition of ethonomics yet and, as a term, it may not even have much longevity. But in this cultural moment it is giving us a way of thinking about what it might look like to really embrace a triple bottom line: 

• People
• Planet
• Profit

No Excuses

Although we meet together by phone at least weekly and use online technology to work collaboratively, because our team is international, we are physically in the same space together only a few times a year. So it was a blast to kick off our tour all together in Chicago a few weeks ago. We were struck once again by what a strong bunch of personalities we have assembled, each one as unique and powerful as the next. No whiners or cry babies here. That could be why, as a team, we are so passionate about helping people be who they are and see what they have for the sake of doing what matters. Few things are more frustrating than people and organizations who choose to wear the cloak of victimhood, uttering one version or another of The Great Excuse: "...if only we had more [fill-in-the-blank with money, people, time, etc.] we could  [be bigger, try something new, take that risk, etc.]." The result? Impotence and apathy. 

Grrrrrr. 

Do You Have Any Of These Symptoms?

In a consumable approach to life and work, you view your environment as a threat. You believe resources are scarce. You see yourself in competition with other people and organizations in your community. You do whatever you have to in order to get the resources you need for survival. You end up treating people – and the planet – like they're disposable because nothing, including your mission, matters more than money. This is the approach that has characterized the way things are done in every arena – including business, nonprofit, education, religion – in the modern era (i.e., since the Industrial Revolution got underway).

Are you sick and tired of it, yet?

Three Powerful Principles

ARE team members attended the Chicago opening of Viva La Causa, a new movie from the Southern Poverty Law Center about the 1970's grapeworker strike and the grape boycott that supported them. We met SPLC founder Morris Dees - whose work has bankrupted KKK and Arian Nation groups across the US. Today SPLC is especially focused on the antigovernment militia movement that is surging across the country – fueled by fears of a black president, the changing demographics of the country and fringe conspiracy theories increasingly spread by mainstream figures. ARE supports SPLC through a portion of our tithes each year. Before the movie we attended a special reception for donors and had a chance to talk one-on-one with Morris Dees who told us his own personal story about how SPLC got started, a story that illustrates in a powerful way what can happen when you dare to be who you are and see what you have for the sake of doing what matters (i.e., the three principles of the Renewable Organization^TM).

Leading Through (Any) Crisis

How do leaders lead through times of trouble, uncertainty, and crisis? We have five suggestions that can help leaders in any organization. But we were sparked to make this list because several of us on the ARE team are members of a religious denomination that has been rocked by a recent change in policy. In the aftermath, some people in the denomination are rejoicing; some are frustrated and angry. A few have left the denomination and/or are considering leaving. What concerns us is that so many of our leaders are allowing this latest crisis to knock them off track. Some of them are running around like fire fighters without a chief, madly trying to put out every flame they see without aim or effect.

Notice we said "this latest crisis." 

This isn't the first. It won't be the last. It may not even be the worst.  AP religion writer Rachel Zoll reports that The Great Recession has made things even harder than they were before for financially strapped faith-based organizations and communities across the religious spectrum (both liberals and conservatives) --- and that it doesn't look like things will improve even after the economy begins to turn around.   (Read the rest of Rachel's article here.) 

The fact is, if you're a leader - in any organization - you're going to face all types and sizes of crises, some caused by things beyond your control and others of your own making. Here are five suggestions to help leaders in any organization lead through troubled times and unexpected circumstances: