As the new year begins, it is an opportune time to reflect on the past year and clarify vision and direction for the year ahead. Strategic questions enable people and organizations to move from the known (present) to the unknown (future) – exploring possibilities, seeing new options, and realizing where new information may be needed…. Read more
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The Diversity Innovation Connection
At last week’s Green Innovators in Business Network Solutions Lab in Cambridge, MA, participants explored how to accelerate innovation to bring low-carbon solutions to market on a big scale. Accessing diverse perspectives is key to finding the innovative solutions to challenging problems, as illustrated by case studies of Innocentive and EMC. Searching Wide for Innovative… Read more
Overcoming "Functionally Insane" Short-Term Thinking
This blog begins a series of posts about permaculture, drawing on what I am learning in a Permaculture Design Course I am taking with Chop Wood Carry Water Permaculture in Nottingham, NH. Green Biz reported on a recent speech by Al Gore where he shared a story of a survey of CEO’s several years ago…. Read more
A Network Approach to Local Food Systems: Vermont Farm to Plate
Vermont is building on the growing movement for local food systems and making this a major economic development and job driver. To accomplish this, a 10-year Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, based on a comprehensive view of the local food system, was developed with input of 1,200 people. The plan and its goals have broad… Read more
Building Trust before a Crisis
One of the memorable stories of 9/11 is what unfolded in response to the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 at the Pentagon. On that Tuesday morning, a plane carrying 10,000 gallons of fuel going over 300 miles an hour crashed into the building, ultimately killing close to 200 people. Consider the challenge emergency responders… Read more
Fragmented Bureaucracies or Integrated Policy Coordination?
NPR’s Living on Earth show recently ran an interview with David Suzuki, author of “The Legacy: An Elder’s Vision for Our Sustainable Future,” where he shared a moving story illustrating the interdependence of the temperate rainforest ecosystem. He contrasted that to how compartmentalized our government agency approaches are to “managing” our forests. Coincidentally, the same… Read more
Strategic Questioning
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” —ALBERT EINSTEIN Since many of the challenges we face… Read more
Five Tips for Care and Feeding of Networks
In a recent strategy project with a cross-sector network working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we explored what it takes to coordinate collective action and to capture the full potential of the interconnections within the network. Facilitating goal-oriented teams is fairly straightforward; however, even more value can be created for each participant and the network… Read more
Amplify What Works as a Frame in Strategic Planning
“Well, that meeting was not nearly as painful as I expected.” This “ringing endorsement” came from a participant in a strategic planning workshop we co-facilitated for the environmental department of a large corporation. Part of what made this meeting more engaging than most was a focus right at the start on identifying what was working… Read more
Inspiration on Earth Day
On Earth Day, we offer some quotes and strategic questions to inspire your thinking: We live in an era where truth is most often found by looking away from the spectacle presented to us. – Rebecca Solnit What are the positive stories of change that are rarely covered in the media? Millions of people across… Read more