What I’m Thinking About
I recently facilitated a couple of staff training sessions and board retreats. As I always do, I started off with helping attendees consider and articulate their “why.” Why do they serve their organization? Obviously, I’m playing off the insightful work done by Simon Sinek. I usually use my own “strategic why” as an example to help get their thinking process flowing because otherwise too many answers begin with because I was asked to serve on the board or because it was an available job. Pushing them to dig deeper, I usually pre-empt such thinking by stating similar responses are off limits (explaining why, of course). During the course of these recent engagements, I came across this video from the City of Suffolk, VA related to the opening of their new non-congregate homeless shelter.
I’ve been involved in this project since the early days of renovation and it’s among the work that I’m most proud of as a consultant. Watching the video reminded me of two things. First, I love what I do. Second, mystrategic why resonates as strongly with me now as it did when I discovered it about four years ago. You see, I want communities to thrive and wholeheartedly believe that communities can thrive only when their nonprofit, local government, and faith communities are thriving. So, I work with these sectors to help them strengthen their organizations and, as a result, strengthen their communities. That’s my why and it motivates all that I do. Still, it’s nice sometimes to be reminded of how your work has helped a community thrive and I’m grateful to the City of Suffolk for including my voice in their video highlighting the Western Tidewater Shelter. What’s your why?
Something Practical You Can Use
I love to read – it’s all nonfiction and mostly about ways to engage with others. I’m currently reading Brené Brown’s Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit. I usually don’t share about a book until I’m finished with it, but I just completed her section on Deep Curiosity and wanted to share because Brown provides something practical we can all use. According to Brown, Curiosity is recognizing a gap in our knowledge about something that interests us and becoming emotionally and cognitively invested in closing the gap through exploration and learning. She goes on to explain how deep curiosity requires courage and humility. You’ll have to read the book to get the full explanation. What struck me as practical is that curiosity is not necessarily a distraction. If fully explored it can be an incredible tool for building competency, expanding expertise, and being generally more open to the ideas of others. For years I’ve attempted to become more curious, if for no other reason than to be more open-minded. Now I see it as a skill I can develop to be more effective in the work I love.
Spotlight
I have a list of favorite authors, thinkers and speakers and many of the names I trust are accomplished in all three areas. Two of my favorites are Brene Brown (see article above) and Adam Grant. If you don’t know who these people are, get to know them, it’ll be worth your effort. Just recently, Brown and Grant joined forces and launched The Curiosity Shop. Talk about a double bang for your buck! I love how they model curiosity, vulnerability, and the somewhat lost art of intellectual discourse. They’re unafraid to disagree, equally brilliant and able to articulate their positions on a wide range of topics and, perhaps most importantly, demonstrate how we can all work towards common ground even through (maybe especially through) disagreement. They have great podcasts of their own that I highly recommend but if you want to listen to a conversation that totally enthralls the listener and offers tangible takeaways, give The Curiosity Shop a listen. I did and now it has a place in my selective podcast library.