Make Inspiration a Priority

November 29, 2011
Posted by ajlovesya

I spend a great deal of time trying to master the skills I need to have the career I want. Becoming a better writer? I push myself to read and write daily and seek feedback. Connecting people to the resources they need to be the change they wish they see? I pay attention to trends in social change careers while working with those ready to put their passion into practice.

Stuck in the Daily Grind

I love what I do. Yet doing what you love can be hard. As a result, it is still easy to get caught up in the daily grind of working and lose sight of your purpose. So while writing and connecting excite me, lately I have been forced to think more about how I can refocus on my work to ensure I am learning and savoring every minute of it.

For example, ever have a day (or week…or month) where you just can’t remember what you did? Or when someone asks you what you do, you can’t explain it? Do have trouble pinpointing exciting moments that have moved you forward this year? Do you have a sense of what moving forward means? This isn’t just a matter of finding the right work. It’s also about keeping the right mindset as you work.

Get Inspired

How can we stay focused on our purpose and truly live and learn in the moment? What’s been helpful for me is setting aside time to be inspired.

Define Inspiration: I like reading. I like being able to take my time and talk to the text. What moves me most are materials that focus on addressing and overcoming doubt, embracing failure, profiting from passion, and showing gratitude.

Seek Inspiration: I want my soul to be rocked regularly. In order for this to happen, I make it a priority. I’m not just open to it in terms of keeping an open mind and heart when things come my way (although it certainly helps); I set aside time to read and reflect while making plans to act. I ask people what inspires them and how. I subscribe to blogs that consistently ask hard questions while encouraging me to reframe my thinking.

Share Inspiration: I do it here and other places online. I hop on the phone with loved ones and share my joy and ask them to do the same. I also share my inspiration by acting on what I’ve learned. The best way to share a message is to embody it.

Inspiration doesn’t look the same for everyone. One of my closest girlfriends finds her inspiration during Bible Study where she is encouraged to think critically and share with others her understanding of the Bible. The stories of compassion, the ambiguity of certain text, and the community of learners all help her keep sight of her purpose.

So what inspires you? How do you act on that inspiration to help you stay focused on what matters?

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How do you know you’re making a difference?

October 19, 2011
Posted by ajlovesya

Last night I attended a presentation by idealist.org about a new program they are piloting in NYC that will allow people to act as Connectors in their communities. These people will help others find the resources and networks they need to take action on an issue they are passionate about, online and offline.

I walked away from the presentation with a renewed appreciation for the daily actions people take to try to make a difference and how the barriers to engagement can easily be surmounted with the right support. During the Q&A someone in the audience asked how idealist.org would measure progress to see if the project is successful. One measurement would be how many people are willing to talk to others about the program and invite them to join. While the answer is related to the project, it made me wonder: Is telling others in our lives about our activism the hardest part of taking action?

Why is this so hard?

My first year of college I took a course on black women and religion. I was learning about various religions black women practiced and how those religions helped them navigate sexism and racism. After the first few classes, I was eager to share my experiences with my mother. My enthusiasm was met with concern and suspicion. Indeed, her first reaction was: “Don’t come back an atheist.”

That comment led to a discussion of beliefs my mom held about education, religion, and social change, a conversation my mom and I hadn’t had before yet shed light on our differing views on touchy issues.

I share this story because it reflects a challenge that many of us encounter in social change work: sometimes the most difficult conversations around social change, passion, and progress happen with the people in our lives. Our family members, friends, and loved ones. Maybe it’s because their potential disagreement with our views hits hardest. Maybe it’s because we’re afraid it may cause a rift in our relationships. Maybe it’s because you know that these kinds of conversations won’t end well. In any case, I think this is often why it is easier to engage in conversation with strangers around some of these touchy issues. It gives us a sense of security: they don’t know me, so no worries.

Where can you begin?

Yet I find that having these kinds of conversations with the people in my life and connecting them to the resources they need are signs that I am making a difference. I know I am making a difference when:

My mother reads an article about a social justice issue in New York City and asks me to discuss it with her,
My best friend wants to explore her passion and comes to me for advice,
My sister wants to volunteer and asks me where she should begin,
My boyfriend wants to learn more about the social change work of business people he admires and looks to me for information

By taking action, no matter how small, we send a message to people in our lives that taking action is possible. You, in this way, become a connector as others see you as a living example of how they can get involved and ask you for advice.

Yet sometimes we all need a little push to get involved and to invite others to join us. Idealist.org had some great questions to get the conversation started:

What do want to do (to make your community, or the world, a better place)?
Why haven’t you done it?
What would help you to do it?

Easy enough, right? My plan is to ask more people in my life these questions and reflect on them myself. Are you willing to do the same?

What do you think? How can you engage people in your life about making a difference?

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What the rise of young entrepreneurs reveals about the future of social change

June 17, 2011
Posted by ajlovesya

In a recent article in Stanford Social Innovation, Carol Sanford explores the growing trend of young people opting to be entrepreneurs rather than pursuing careers at organizations. What stood out to me in her post was the last paragraph:

NextGenNow leaders are not social entrepreneurs because they don’t start with social or environmental problems, and build businesses around them. They start with and stay with their own drive and a unique vision. They use their personal passion to find ways to contribute in the world.

Up until now we’ve been hearing about how young people want to be involved in social change and are pursuing careers in the nonprofit sector or as social entrepreneurs. However, in her research she sees that young people are beginning to change the world without necessarily making that an explicit goal or pursuing a typical career at an organization. This is a unique shift in perspective, one that I think has many implications for social change and nonprofits.

What impact will young entrepreneurs have on social change?

1. Social change is a built in core value: Making the world a better place is simply a way of living. It’s not an additional action added onto an already hectic day. Instead it’s making conscious decisions about what we buy, what we eat, how we travel, and how we live.

2. Social change is more accessible: Once we remove the need for an organization to be at the center of a movement or social change in general, it becomes easier for people to feel as though they can take action wherever they are.

3. Social change is expected: Greater accessibility and the shared belief that all actions should have a positive impact will mean that people expect others to be mindful and engaged in social change. There is no reason not to be.

So what do these changes mean for nonprofits?

I see higher standards for nonprofits and the view of nonprofits as facilitators. Because people will no longer see a need for nonprofits (demonstrated in the rise of free agents for example) nonprofits will have to prove their worth and work more creatively with entrepreneurs. And as people build businesses and reshape their lifestyles in order to have a positive impact on the world, they will need information, access to like minded people, and social/economic capital, resources nonprofits can either provide or help young people find.

Of course many questions arise that young entrepreneurs often ignore, some of which I addressed in a presentation I gave at Demos on leadership challenges facing the sector. Specifically, how do we address the gaps in entrepreneurship along race, class, and gender lines? And are young people actually challenging power structures or just finding new ways to be part of them?

What do you think? Are we ushering in a new approach to social change? What impact do you forsee, if any, on nonprofits?

The Mother of All Public Service Diversity Programs and Reports

May 16, 2011
Posted by ajlovesya

I posted these resources in my previous post about diversity in the nonprofit sector but they are so good they need a post of their own.

Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Public Service: A Review of Leadership Development Programs in the US (PDF) is is a great list of resources–funding, trainings, programs, etc–for organizations interested in building diversity and people of color interested in developing skills to thrive in the sector. It reports on a 2010 project developed at NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action in support of the National Urban Fellows (NUF) Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative.

Here is a summary of the document:

This document features existing leadership development programs for people of color in public service and general leadership programs in public service that focus on diversity. We defined leadership development programs as formal programs with allocated resources that provide specific content expertise and skill building in a group setting. These programs are designed to help people advance their leadership capacity and/or advance professionally.

Over 60 pages of opportunity.

The good people at NYU Wagner and NUF have also published: Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion: Insights from Scholarship (PDF) a literature review of works on leadership and race.

Here is a summary of the report:

In a report released in partnership with National Urban Fellows, RCLA scholars examine recent research on leadership and diversity, with a focus on public service. They find that scholars are linking diversity with adaptability, arguing that learning how to build organizations that effectively leverage racial diversity can foster the leadership capacity to adapt to other kinds of diversity and thrive in an increasingly complex environment. Yet there is less agreement in the literature on just how to do that. Limited empirical research in the public service field has resulted in a dearth of evidence for what works, even two decades after the diversity agenda has become a focus for public service organizations.

Creating diverse organizations is hard. However NYU and NUF are providing the research and the resources that organizations can use to at least try building diversity.

Read. Share. Discuss.