Book review - Everyone Leads

With a title like Everyone Leads, this book caught our attention. A book claiming to inspire readers to see new leadership possibilities within themselves and their communities.. is definitely up our alley! 

The book's conversational tone makes it seem as if you are chatting with author Paul Schmitz. The first chunk tells the story of his innovative and  grass roots organization called Public Allies. It is, in fact, the organization that Michelle Obama worked in early in her career.  Still going strong across the United States (website), Public Allies identifies talented young adults from diverse and under-represented backgrounds who have a passion to make a difference, and helps them turn that passion into a viable career path.

The book, outlines the five core leadership values of this organization; 

1. Recognizing and mobilizing ALL of a community's assets
2. Connecting across cultures
3. Facilitating collaborative action
4. Continuously learning and improving
5. Being accountable to ourselves and others.

These are values that resonate with our work. In fact, much of the language and the "how-to" strategies run parallel with Raising the Village - relationships, leadership and strengths. Given our work with community collaboratives, we took a closer look at the chapter on facilitating collaborative action. Here are some of our favourite passages.

"Building teams is about building trust. 

Exercises and processes can help prevent common pitfalls..."

 "Leadership is inherently a collaborative process. 

Leaders inspire, persuade, and engage others to work with them on common goals." 

"Self awareness and interpersonal collaboration also extend to the formal and informal organizations that constitute communities."

"Being collaborative is a commitment."

The book offers an exercise that helps to identify and acknowledge strengths. Each individual writes the answer to the following questions and shares with a partner. We challenge you to answer them!

• What two gifts, talents or skills make you a valuable family member and friend?
• What two skills make you especially good at your paid or volunteer work?
• What talent do you have that not many people know about?
• What are your 2 or 3 favourite hobbies?

Let's take it farther!!  Here is a fun way to match your strengths and natural gifts to your role as leader and community builder.  Try our self-assessment quiz: What is Your Group Leadership Style. Are you a mover & shaker? a clarity seeker? a strengths creator? or (yikes) a group process killer?!

Embrace your strengths and offer up your gifts as everyone leads! 

Everyday Leadership

With the brilliance of a master story-teller, Drew Dudley (TEDx Toronto) shares a delightfully funny and poignant story representative of the moments in people's lives (that they perhaps don't even remember) that make profound impacts on others.

Watch it - a quick 6 minutes that will have you smile.

We have ALL played one of the roles in these "lolly-pop" moments of everyday leadership.  His argument is that;

 "... as long as we make leadership something bigger than us, as long as we keep leadership something beyond us, as long as it is about changing the world, we give ourselves the excuse not to expect it everyday from ourselves and each other.

...And yet, when we can value the impact we can have on each others lives, we can begin to re-define leadership in terms of lolly-pop moments: how many we create, how many we acknowledge, how many we pay forward, and how many of them we say thank you for."

Similarly, when we take away the glory and pedestal from "leadership" and welcome everyone to step up to the plate in their own way, the concept of shared leadership becomes concrete and attainable.  Whether actions impact the life of a child, a stranger (in his story), an organization or a whole community, the intentional valuing of everyday leadership will make it happen more.



In our book, we identify three actions that both foster shared leadership and celebrate the kind of everyday actions that stimulate profound and positive change;
1.  seeking out leadership in others
2.  balancing power
3.  learning along the way. 

Dudley touches on the biggest barriers to all three actions.  Fear.  He quotes a poem by Marianne Williamson which we have dug up for your to enjoy in full. Wow!

Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson

it is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

[Often said to have been quoted in a speech by Nelson Mandela. The source is Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, Harper Collins, 1992. —Peter McLaughlin]


Village Raising Questions
What role can you play to encourage others to value everyday leadership?
How will you foster shared leadership?

RTV #46 - The shared experience of absurdity

A Year of Raising the Village. Week # 46:The shared experience of absurdity.

12 minutes.

In 12 minutes Charlie Todd shares the hilarious antics of ImproveEverywhere - his organization that brings laughter into the everyday.

Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity | Video on TED.com

In the first story, the group secretly films a subway passenger's reaction when 6 guys enter the subway - all at different stops, not interacting with each other - with NO PANTS.  Not only hilarious, it is also a wonderful reflection on humanity and the power of connections.  He says at one point that "as soon as something becomes a share experience, it becomes less weird or scary and more fun."


Lets look at how ImproveEverywhere is a great example of village raising.

1.  Absurdity, play, laughter and extraordinary behaviour help to shake up our thinking and take our participation up a notch.  It reminds us of our experience in a flash mob dance . It felt refreshing to be a part of something different for the sake of joy and playfulness!

2. On a similar vein as Charlie's comment on shared experience, complex community issues become less overwhelming when they become a shared endeavor. Together we can share the load and create more meaning along the way.


Doing crazy stuff together...sounds like fun!  It is well worth the 12 minutes!

Check out these other blogs that speak to play & humour.
Re-energize- 7 easy ways to bring humour at work
Remember to play
Locate your playing field
How attached is your community? (speaks about play in community)
Tips for Group Toys

RTV Week #10 - Talk: Then Put it into Practice!

A Year of Raising the Village - Week #10.

Think about what you are putting into practice!

We have spent the last two days in the Fraser Region (just outside of Vancouver) at an Early Childhood conference "Put it into Practice". We were stoked to share our Village Experience with others as well as to learn from an interesting troupe of keynote speakers in the areas of evidence, quality and leadership. Taking time to think about the application of evidence brought to mind a passage from our book Raising the Village. See if this scene is familiar to you at all...

Sleeves rolled up, furrowed brows, slumped shoulders, a heaviness in the air...Weighed down with an all-consuming responsibility, no one in the room dared pause for so much as a coffee break. The participants were focused, intense, and determined to wade through the fog and confusion. In front of each chari was a stack of papers bursting with negative statistics and cold statements about the well-being of children in the community. On the one hand, the documents held great validity and interest for those around the table. On the other hand, the information they bore failed to reflect the spirit of the community or the hard work that this group and others had dedicated to children and families. The overwhelming task before them was to make sense of the data, define the key issues, and make a plan to better meet the needs of the community. (Raising the Village, 2009)

This is a situation many of us working with communities can relate with. It can feel heavy when faced with cold hard facts and yet it is these cold hard facts that can be the fuel to keep us seeking new ways of working together. When faced with data - take time to talk about it, ask questions, vent emotions, look at it from different perspectives and then talk some more. Through conversations that matter, a process will be revealed.

It's worth the heaviness.

At the conference we heard some great ideas about HOW to "put it into practice" that resonated with how we try to show up. Here are our top 3.

1. Working together is what it is all about. Truly! We could choose to work harder (hmmm) or get smarter (huh?) or partner better (yeah!!!)

2. It is never just ONE thing that derails development...so it's not going to be just ONE thing that fixes things either. This is so true whether it is applied to child development, business development, collaborative development - you name it.

3. Take time for deep conversations so that WE change and then we'll actually be able to MAKE change. (oooh gives goosebumps!) As Einstein said, you can't solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.

Village Raising Question:

How do you deal with cold hard facts?

What are you putting into practice?

RTV #4 - Sharpen Your View! Distribute Cameras to Children and Families

A Year of Raising the Village: Week #4 - Using PhotoVoice with Children and Families

Give children and their families a creative opportunity to contribute their perspective on community. Perspective - literally - through the lens of a camera. Ask them to take photos about their lives in general or about a specific issue. Celebrate their contributions and then USE what you learn in community planning. 


While including the voice of children and families is important it can also be challenging - see our previous blog on listening to parents.  Photovoice is a very special methodology that can be used with citizens of any age.  Here are some links to give you some more direction and inspiration. They offer examples of the power of photovoice with children and families!

Children as Photographers This research study looks at children as photographers. It is a large-scale research project looking at how and why children take photographs – which can shed some light on how to approach a photovoice project and give some realistic expectations of children at different ages.

Kids With Cameras Kids with Cameras was founded in 2002 by photographer Zana Briski out of her work teaching photography to children in Calcutta's red-light district. She believes that photography is an effective tool in igniting children's imagination and building self-esteem.

The New Orleans Kids Camera Project The New Orleans Kid Camera Project was created to address the psychological and emotional impacts of Hurricane Katrina on children returning home to New Orleans. Through the use of photography, creative writing and mixed media, children from flooded neighborhoods explore their environment and express themselves, their stories and feelings with their friends

PhotoVoice These projects uses photography to enable those that have traditionally been the subject of such work to become its creator - to have control over how they are perceived by the rest of the world, while simultaneously learning a new skill which can enhance their lives.

PhotoVoice – St. Louis Maternal Child and Family Health Coalition

The photography project was part of a PhotoVoice Empowerment Initiative in which the mothers were asked to create a window on their neighborhoods, their needs and perhaps illuminate why health and prosperity remain so elusive.

Village Raising Tip:

Not only will organizers learn a TON from the children and families who contribute – but the participants, themselves, will feel a sense of ownership and belonging to an inclusive community planning process. 

Be a Mischief-maker

Be a Mischief-maker!
Photo Copyright Tammy Dewar

We are huge Seth Godin fans. His little nuggets of counter-intuitive thinking evoke something deeply motivating and, to be honest, uncomfortable. His opinions shoot out like little burrs that get stuck in the brain and, frankly, bug us until we translate his “business” and “marketing” focused brilliance into something that is relevant as community developers.

His book “Tribes” appealed first because of the title with it’s very village-like sound.  For the first two/thirds, we found it validating and aligned with our penchant towards change and innovation; it was like preaching to the converted. By the time we got to the last 100 pages we were feverish with anticipation to sink our teeth into something.  He did not disappoint.

After closing the book we were determined to be more of a mischief-maker than I ever was before. He convinced us that leadership requires more bravery and if we want to change things, improve things and create a better future…we simply have to do things differently than what has been done before.

“If you are not over the top, you’re not going to have any chance at all of making things happen.”  (pg 86)

When we look around at the work done in the area of the early years and the people who have done the work, we want to celebrate the consistent, focused, caring diligence of these individuals who GET it (that our society can prevent many social issues by investing in quality early years for children). We are also compelled to shout out a call to action: Let’s not work our tails off to maintain the status quo! 

Usually fear gets in the way of positive change. Along with fear of the unknown (which takes a little confidence) there is the fear of being criticized. Lets not worry about potential criticism when we make great things happen. Lets reframe criticism as an earned “ badge of honour” because it means we have blown away people’s expectations. Let’s raise a little mischief and start being remarkable.

Village Raising Question:

How can you create something that critics will criticize because it challenges the status quo?

Group Consensus – Just what I wanted!

“I’m so happy we reached group consensus – our decision is exactly what I wanted.” Stop the Raising the Village bus! Is this truly a statement that reflects a consensus result? Perhaps, but first consider what consensus means to you and the group or community you work with.

Consensus is a process that empowers an understanding between people where there are no individual winners or losers. It is a decision making route where each person may feel fully, partially or maybe not at all reflected in the final decision, however they can see how the decision benefits the “whole” or the larger system (in this case the village).

How do groups reach consensus?

We recommend starting with hearing all participant voices in different ways. This may range from individual reflection time to small and large group discussion. Reaching consensus is not about pushing through votes, being “right”, or campaigning for your personal choice. It can be viewed as an opportunity for you to share your ideas and thoughts…with the chance to then sit back and open yourself up to hear other ideas.

Katrina Shields, a social action leader, describes how to reach consensus in her book In the Tiger’s Mouth. “Consensus requires a group that is willing to work together and trust there is a solution, as well as patience and perseverance. It requires us to come to meetings with our minds not fixed on a particular solution or position; in the light of hearing all the possible positions we may modify ours.”

Shields goes on to describe a step-by-step consensus process: (adapted)

a) The facilitator states the issue clearly and in an unbiased way
b) Discussion is invited, proposals are put forward, no individual dominates
c) A pause for reflective silence is included
d) People are welcomed to share - who agrees and disagrees with proposals (not people)
e) The facilitator states and restates the position of the meeting as it emerges until agreement is reached
f) If agreement is not reached, ask if anyone is willing to “step aside” – they do not agree but accept the decision proceeding. If not, the issue gets tabled to allow more time for individual and group reflection.

In our experiences with groups, we aim to reach consensus by saying… “Let’s talk about it until we can all sleep at night.”

Group consensus can be a tricky process. We recommend these other resources too. The Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision Making by Sam Kaner or the Quaker model at http://www.earlham.edu/~consense/mats.htm

If you find yourself in group decision-making mode, find a consensus process that works to get a decision made and leaves people feeling satisfied and heard.

Village Raising Question:
In what ways does a consensus making process support shared leadership?

Upcoming in RTV blog: Watch for more on consensus including how to use it to unearth group values.