in a chapter marked miscellaneous
because the writers could find
no other way to categorize me
In this world where classification is key"
-Stacyann Chin, If Only Out of Vanity
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
You're Invited: IdeaMensch Minneapolis!
Stories surround social entrepreneurs. They first need to discover an idea or innovation in their story of self amidst this time and place. Then they need to get great ideas out of their heads and off the ground. Storytelling and conversations are a necessary part of that process, helping to build supportive relationships, constructive critiques, and the partners to pull things together. Then storytelling becomes part of scaling up, helping ideas go viral, and in seeking local applications of a concept or product. To that end, Clem Auyeung has worked to put together an incredible event for Twin Citizens and the IdeaMensch crew (as they trek the Lower 48 in search of amazing ideas and local community connectivity). See tonight's details below and see how you can be part of the story, too!
IdeaMensch is on a mission to try and inspire as many people as possible to get started working on their ideas. They are in the midst of their 48-state road trip across America to do just that (http://im48.co).
They are stopping in Minneapolis on Monday, August 13th (today!) to gather our local entrepreneurial community to share their experiences of bringing to life their ideas. Here is a pretty good article summing up what we're doing --http://ideamens.ch/NbRLtO
Mario Schulzke -- the founder of IdeaMensch -- and his crew will be shining the light on our local entrepreneurs to share their story and they would like to invite you to join them!
The more people with ideas get into the same room, the more we can support each other, the more we can learn from each other – and the more ideas will be brought to life. If you know anyone who is eager to get started, is working on their idea, or would like to meet others doing the same, please invite them, too!
Date: Monday, August 13th
Time: 6-9 pm
Location: Joule 1200 S Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454
Eventbrite page: http://imminneapolis-eorg.eventbrite.com/
Speakers:
Jody Ross, The Laughter Center
Melissa DeLay, The Message Maven
Sid Tincher, SwirlyGig Industries
Emily Torgrimson, Eat for Equity
Friday, August 10, 2012
Friday Fun: Participation Nation!
Lynette Dumalag recently sent along the following note to Torch Partners about Participation Nation, including a great idea to solicit as many submissions from local volunteers and organizations as possible. See her bio below and her email following that, and consider sharing the stories you know of or have been a part of here in Minnesota. Thanks for your civic leadership and championing, Lynette!
Lynette is an Associate at Nelson, Tietz & Hoye, Inc. where she helps organizations meet their real estate goals. Lynette is involved with TORCH Community where she currently serves as Partnership Director. She is also involved with the nonprofit affordable housing developer Aeon and serves on both the Connect Young Professionals Group and on Aeon's board of directors.
Lynette is an Associate at Nelson, Tietz & Hoye, Inc. where she helps organizations meet their real estate goals. Lynette is involved with TORCH Community where she currently serves as Partnership Director. She is also involved with the nonprofit affordable housing developer Aeon and serves on both the Connect Young Professionals Group and on Aeon's board of directors.
Hey TORCH Partner!
I was listening to MPR/NPR this morning on my way to work and I heard that NPR is writing a story about people doing things in the community to help connect with one another - they are calling this story Participation Nation.
Since MN is well known having a high number of citizens involved in philanthropy and volunteerism, wouldn't it be great to show HOW generous our community is? I know we Minnesotans tend not to brag about what we are doing - but we should at least tell our unique story!
Here is the link to the story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/participationnation/2012/08/02/157639147/-w-e-pluribus-unum
I thought I would send this to all of you - it would be great if you could submit your story! It could be about your volunteer or your YP group.
Thanks,
Lynette Dumalag
Thursday, August 9, 2012
[Blog Buddies] Millennial Families: Reinventing [Home] Life, Generation-Sell Style
Our good friend, Kate, blogs at Perpetually Nesting about deliberately living a dynamic and diverse life and connecting the points to see the constellations of our shared existence. Deep stuff, indeed! In blogging and sharing about perpetually growing and changing as a parent in this complex time in history, Kate offers a unique perspective on how the rising generation is beginning to shape our shared future - not just in the professional and civic realms, but also in family and personal life. Read more below for her thoughtful take on how Millennial families will reinvent (home) life.
Posted on Jun 4th by Kate
I was born in 1982. I am 30 years old.
That means I straddle the millennial/gen-x continuum. It also means that when I left the workforce at age 26 to have my first son, my friends were either in the first years of their careers or still pursuing terminal degrees. When I left work to have babies, our generation was at the bottom of the professional hierarchy, and I was the first among my cohort to do the motherhood thing. At the time, our generation was full of assistants, paralegals and interns, med students and analysts.
And in 2008, as I waddled my pregnant self out of that J-O-B for the last time, I didn’t realize that I was embarking on a professional journey. I thought I was going home to be a housewife, but it was so much more. The economy simultaneously crashed and the social media revolution began, I started to get antsy at home. My slightly younger colleagues were relegated to jobs as baristas and long-term unpaid interns. So…
It was the perfect time to have another baby!
And with that, I went from an unrealized public health professional with an (Canadian) ivy league education to a pregnant mother of a six month old. I started parenting, home-making (literally figuring out how to do dishes with two babies around) and blogging (to stay sane) while my generation struggled outside of the house to make some sort of dent in the worst recession since the 1920s.
Oh we struggled to forge a path, any path. Friends posted on facebook asking for help with rent, others couch hopped for months on end – and it’s not over yet. We just had the worst economic month of the year.
Back in 2008, many of us entered grad school with the full knowledge that we might never get to use our graduate studies in real life. Not that there’s anything wrong with education for education’s sake, but many of us felt like we were just killing time. It turns out that we were building roads. All that barista-ing frustrated us, so we became business owners. Our generational struggle has transformed us from emo hipster lackies into self-made emo hipster survivors. We’re resourceful now, and still fiery.
Our generation is still pushing, but now that I’ve re-emerged into the professional realm, I see that we’re rising too. And with our rise, comes a lot of unexpected change.
We’re different. We’re strange in a scary, threatening, diverse, exciting and motivated way, both professionally and in our private lives. We do things differently, but that difference is useful. Take my family for example. I have a new career that is sort of informed by my masters degree, but not always. I am multi-disciplinary, multi-passionate: a blogger, a business owner, acommunity problem-solver, a mother of two awesome, empathetic and creative humans, and a full-time seeker of what’s next. Just like you.
Our generation is driven by impossible dreams: to make money and also do good; to be individual innovators and social entrepreneurs. We believe that we can be an independent army – collaborative rather than competitive. We believe that we are more powerful than what the generations above us want us to think, and that’s a profound thing. Our generation is informing a complete and total cultural shift. And that shift, I think, starts at home.
We believe that we can be good leaders and great parents, and we’re willing to break molds in order to make sure that happens. And as more and more millennials become parents, we’re going to change home-life, too.
We are less willing to accept the status quo, more willing to customize. T, for example, recently made me a consulting widow. 4 days a week, he is at work for at least 12 hours; on the fifth day, he does more like 9 or 10 hours, and apparently it will get worse. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t take his job as Daddy just as seriously. We’re going to find a way to find quality, even if it means finding another way. And I’m going to start telling you about it, here, and anywhere else that will have me.
Our generation is productively subversive. We’re going to be the ones to figure out how to balance family life with our professional worlds and rebuild our nations into thriving, global, boundless places, starting in our houses. I hope I can make a drop in that bucket here.
If you aren’t in my generation, hold your horses, you’re still invited to come along. I’m not saying that you don’t embody these qualities. I’m not saying that you don’t value what I value. In fact, I know many fifty-somethings who espouse the innovation, forward thinking attitude of change and financial risk taking that puts us on the brink of a cultural revolution – you were the first wave that led us here. I’m saying, I guess, that those of us who feel this way have reached critical mass, and I’m totally and completely glad, despite all of the terrible things that keep happening in the world, that I live, right now. I can’t wait to see what new families innovate in the years to come.
Are you a millennial or Gen-X professional? Are you starting a family? I want to hear from you. What will you do differently, either professionally or domestically? What will shape your decisions about work-life?
That means I straddle the millennial/gen-x continuum. It also means that when I left the workforce at age 26 to have my first son, my friends were either in the first years of their careers or still pursuing terminal degrees. When I left work to have babies, our generation was at the bottom of the professional hierarchy, and I was the first among my cohort to do the motherhood thing. At the time, our generation was full of assistants, paralegals and interns, med students and analysts.
And in 2008, as I waddled my pregnant self out of that J-O-B for the last time, I didn’t realize that I was embarking on a professional journey. I thought I was going home to be a housewife, but it was so much more. The economy simultaneously crashed and the social media revolution began, I started to get antsy at home. My slightly younger colleagues were relegated to jobs as baristas and long-term unpaid interns. So…
It was the perfect time to have another baby!
And with that, I went from an unrealized public health professional with an (Canadian) ivy league education to a pregnant mother of a six month old. I started parenting, home-making (literally figuring out how to do dishes with two babies around) and blogging (to stay sane) while my generation struggled outside of the house to make some sort of dent in the worst recession since the 1920s.
Oh we struggled to forge a path, any path. Friends posted on facebook asking for help with rent, others couch hopped for months on end – and it’s not over yet. We just had the worst economic month of the year.
Back in 2008, many of us entered grad school with the full knowledge that we might never get to use our graduate studies in real life. Not that there’s anything wrong with education for education’s sake, but many of us felt like we were just killing time. It turns out that we were building roads. All that barista-ing frustrated us, so we became business owners. Our generational struggle has transformed us from emo hipster lackies into self-made emo hipster survivors. We’re resourceful now, and still fiery.
Our generation is still pushing, but now that I’ve re-emerged into the professional realm, I see that we’re rising too. And with our rise, comes a lot of unexpected change.
We’re different. We’re strange in a scary, threatening, diverse, exciting and motivated way, both professionally and in our private lives. We do things differently, but that difference is useful. Take my family for example. I have a new career that is sort of informed by my masters degree, but not always. I am multi-disciplinary, multi-passionate: a blogger, a business owner, acommunity problem-solver, a mother of two awesome, empathetic and creative humans, and a full-time seeker of what’s next. Just like you.
Our generation is driven by impossible dreams: to make money and also do good; to be individual innovators and social entrepreneurs. We believe that we can be an independent army – collaborative rather than competitive. We believe that we are more powerful than what the generations above us want us to think, and that’s a profound thing. Our generation is informing a complete and total cultural shift. And that shift, I think, starts at home.
Image Credit: Bob Jagendorf
We are less willing to accept the status quo, more willing to customize. T, for example, recently made me a consulting widow. 4 days a week, he is at work for at least 12 hours; on the fifth day, he does more like 9 or 10 hours, and apparently it will get worse. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t take his job as Daddy just as seriously. We’re going to find a way to find quality, even if it means finding another way. And I’m going to start telling you about it, here, and anywhere else that will have me.
Our generation is productively subversive. We’re going to be the ones to figure out how to balance family life with our professional worlds and rebuild our nations into thriving, global, boundless places, starting in our houses. I hope I can make a drop in that bucket here.
If you aren’t in my generation, hold your horses, you’re still invited to come along. I’m not saying that you don’t embody these qualities. I’m not saying that you don’t value what I value. In fact, I know many fifty-somethings who espouse the innovation, forward thinking attitude of change and financial risk taking that puts us on the brink of a cultural revolution – you were the first wave that led us here. I’m saying, I guess, that those of us who feel this way have reached critical mass, and I’m totally and completely glad, despite all of the terrible things that keep happening in the world, that I live, right now. I can’t wait to see what new families innovate in the years to come.
Are you a millennial or Gen-X professional? Are you starting a family? I want to hear from you. What will you do differently, either professionally or domestically? What will shape your decisions about work-life?
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
You're Invited: Minnesota Facilitators Network "Creatively Exploring Mindset: Facilitation’s Killer App?"
As 2012 election efforts seek to target conversations with those voters who are still persuadable, the Minnesota Facilitators Network will host a similar conversation around using mindset as an analytical lens for malleability and new understanding. Dennis Stauffer will present "Creatively Exploring Mindset: Facilitation's Killer App?," and offer powerful ways of thinking about what facilitators do and how it impacts those who they facilitate. Moreover, attendees will gain a greater self-awareness of what influences and empowers them - great information to have at the ready when facing the barrage of campaign commercials this fall!
Dennis Stauffer delights in helping folks discover powerful new insights, insights they can apply in their personal as well as professional lives. He is a recognized thought leader on the behaviors that drive innovation…behaviors we all need to engage in to successfully navigate the future.
Dennis is an Emmy award-winning journalist, and author of Thinking Clockwise, A Field Guide for the Innovative Leader, which received the Fresh Voices Award.
He is trained in the facilitation of Creative Problem Solving. And he is the co-developer of the Innovator MindsetTM Self-Evaluation Technology, a uniquely powerful tool that evaluates the personal and organizational mindsets that enhance or undermine innovation. Innovator Mindset was recently included in a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Based in Minneapolis, Dennis delivers keynotes, seminars and other interventions for clients throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Minnesota Facilitators Network (MFN)
MFN FREE Open Meeting
August 9, 2012
5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
This year’s theme for MFN is Exploring the World of Facilitation: Collaboration, Creativity and Complexity.
With this theme in mind, Dennis Stauffer will present:
Creatively Exploring Mindset:
Facilitation’s Killer App?
Facilitation’s Killer App?
A growing body of research into the impact and malleability of a person’s mindset informs fields as diverse as education, psychology, creativity, innovation and leadership. We are now coming to understand what a profound impact our mindset has on how we perceive, interpret, imagine and impact the world around us.
Dennis will speak on how treating mindset as an analytical lens provides powerful insights and options for facilitators seeking to “move” the people in the room to a new place, a new understanding, a new level of effectiveness and performance, as individuals, as teams and as organizations.
Understanding mindset also provides us with a powerful vocabulary for describing the impact that facilitation has.
Participants will leave this session with:
· Powerful ways of thinking about exactly what you are doing as a facilitator and how it impacts those you facilitate.
· Strategies for achieving rapid, sometimes immediate shifts in the way people think, behave and interact.
· Greater self-awareness of what influences and empowers you as well as others.
· The ability to articulate your work as a facilitator in new and compelling ways.
Dennis Stauffer's Biography
Dennis Stauffer delights in helping folks discover powerful new insights, insights they can apply in their personal as well as professional lives. He is a recognized thought leader on the behaviors that drive innovation…behaviors we all need to engage in to successfully navigate the future.
Dennis is an Emmy award-winning journalist, and author of Thinking Clockwise, A Field Guide for the Innovative Leader, which received the Fresh Voices Award.
He is trained in the facilitation of Creative Problem Solving. And he is the co-developer of the Innovator MindsetTM Self-Evaluation Technology, a uniquely powerful tool that evaluates the personal and organizational mindsets that enhance or undermine innovation. Innovator Mindset was recently included in a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Based in Minneapolis, Dennis delivers keynotes, seminars and other interventions for clients throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
