Economic Mobility + Social Connection

“If you grow up in a place where low income and high income people are interacting more, you are much more likely to rise up in the income distribution yourself.”This finding by Raj Chetty's team leads to the question: “What might we do to increase cross-class friendships?” Chetty’s research finds that it’s not enough to … Continue reading Economic Mobility + Social Connection

Direction, Playful Generosity, Consistency, and Faith

What I've always known that feels more clear to me now, more urgent, is that it's not individuals that create change. Relationships create change. How we engage people creates change. While relationships with our creative and operational partners are important, what is equally as important are the relationships we establish with folks in the spaces … Continue reading Direction, Playful Generosity, Consistency, and Faith

On Composing in the Moment

Wikipedia states about Jazz music: "...no other music relies so much on the art of 'composing in the moment,' demanding that every musician rises to a certain level of creativity that may put the performer in touch with their unconscious as well as conscious states." Improvisation, like creativity, is commonly misunderstood as "anything goes." In … Continue reading On Composing in the Moment

Toward the Unexplored

https://youtu.be/rUUVaOkUcS0?si=Cxn9UzmqDHB53lJ0&t=722 In this clip (12 min. in) Herbie Hancock describes his experience in 1968 playing an electric piano for the first time. Going into the studio, Hancock saw that there was no piano in the room. Confused, he turned to Miles Davis and asked, "What do you want me to play?" Miles looked at an … Continue reading Toward the Unexplored

Simple Steps for Encouraging Participation

This is a repost from March 2012! Enjoy. Miles Davis + Kenny GarrettWe gave our SxSW panel on women in open source today. It was fun. Our panel was about encouraging women to participate in open source and open collaboration projects. By ‘open collaboration’ I mean any project that isn’t directly regulated by the market … Continue reading Simple Steps for Encouraging Participation

Making Friends

In a talk on "Emotional Education", Alain de Botton tells us that we make friends by being vulnerable. Wouldn't it be great if when we met someone at a party we could ask and answer the questions below? What would it be like to skip the small talk and get straight to the heart of … Continue reading Making Friends

When Life is Life-ing

I was at a community roundtable last fall and a wise leader made this point: "It's always when we decide to invest in ourselves that life starts life-ing at us hard." So true. It would be funny if it weren't so difficult. There is no right or wrong response. In some situations we get energy … Continue reading When Life is Life-ing

A Year of Believing

There's a popular saying: "If you're dreams don't scare you, then they aren't big enough."While we don't know with 100% certainty that things will work out, we do know that there will be bumps in the road that cause us to stumble and that the status quo will hold on tightly to its status. This … Continue reading A Year of Believing

12. Make the Leap

I heard a great story recently -- I love telling it -- of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson. She was six, and she was at the back, drawing, and the teacher said this girl hardly ever paid attention, and in this drawing lesson, she did. The teacher was fascinated. She went over to her, and she said, … Continue reading 12. Make the Leap

10. Unlikely Pairings

https://youtu.be/FJxYzCij2Ms?si=7SWxmXcXVH-MULQb The critiques are my favorite parts of the show Project Runway. Critiques are moments in the creative process in which mentors and peers chime in and give feedback on the work. Art students engage in critique every day of their education and that's why, if you work with someone who has been to art … Continue reading 10. Unlikely Pairings