FLOW
July 2008 
Reflections on June - Spring
Posted on Jul 4th, 2008
by 
Jeff Klein
Jeff Klein
I don't know about you, but June was like a catapult for me. A real Spring, into Summer. I suppose it is the times in general, and a certain time for me and others I am around, but the movement is unquestionably accelerating, which is evoking various responses for me, including:
Overall, it all seems to be working, but I must admit, I still find myself banging into things (like door jams) a little more than normal.
Here are a few other reflections...
Working for Good
Peace Through Commerce
Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs
Conscious Capitalism
Collaboration Technology
That's all for now....
"Work is love made visible." ~Khalil Gibran
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and beheld that service was joy.” - Rabindranath Tagore
- Finding ways to reduce friction and to let things flow, which include
- relying on trust built over time and encouraging people to take more responsibility for making decisions
- engaging more allies, collaborators, and partners to share creation and production
- moving through conflicts faster and smoother (by not holding onto positions and fostering a context for communication)
- Slowing down while speeding up... meditating, walking, and taking breaks during the day to pause, breath, and reflect
Overall, it all seems to be working, but I must admit, I still find myself banging into things (like door jams) a little more than normal.
Here are a few other reflections...
Working for Good
- I've conducted a handful of interviews with friends and colleagues who are working for good, including Anne Marie Burgoyne (Portfolio Director for the Draper Richards Foundation), Elad Levinson (Pounds for Poverty, and with whom I am designing a W4G workshop - great fun!), Magatte Wade-Marchand (Adina for Life and Diama Foundation), Cheryl Fields Tyler (Fields Tyler Consulting), and Yasuhiko Genku Kimura (Vision in Action). What a blessing and a gift. So much passion, wisdom, intention, and commitment. Working for Good is definitely alive and well.
- Among the many questions I asked each of them, I pose a couple to you here now, and welcome your response:
- What does "working for good" evoke for you?
- How do you define success?
Peace Through Commerce
- Michael Strong and I had an amazing meeting Wednesday with Evan Anderson, Deputy Director, International Reconciliation and Peacemaking, at the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation at the National Cathedral. Among other things, Evan is working deeply on a project to foster reconciliation between the US and Iran. He contacted me after I presented at the National Cathedral during the Women, Faith, and Development Breakthrough Summit, and is fascinated and excited by the idea of peace through commerce and sees the critical role it plays in establishing a foundation for dialog and other communication and relationship building processes to work. We have actively begun exploring ways to work together to engage the faith community in Peace Through Commerce initiatives.
- Thursday we convened with our collaborator Tim Fort, Executive Director of the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at GWU and a leading academic authority on the relationship between peace and commerce, and representatives of other organizations which will be collaborating to present a PTC conference 13 - 15 November at GWU, and to explore a deeper and ongoing alliance, which we have been cultivating and designing. Incredible meeting and great energy moving forward.
- Will soon have a PTC promotional video to share with you, produced by Free to Choose Media on behalf of FLOW.
Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs
- Michael Strong, Julie van Amerongen and I met with Cheryl Fields Tyler and four others from her team (including Diana Arsenian) last Monday to catalyze a deeper collaboration between us all to "build out" and activate the plan for the AWE campaign. Lots of great energy, focus, and strong intention.
- Monday I convened an AWE meeting in NYC, which was great. Among other things, it deepened our connection to the group producing the Women's World Conference in Sophia Bulgaria in 2010. There will be an ongoing collaboration between our AWE alliance and the SWWC.
- In addition to institutional partners, we are beginning to engage individual "talent" as part of the AWE Alliance, beginning with dynamic women entrepreneurs and brilliant women development economists.
Conscious Capitalism
- I have to admit, this is a lively one. Facilitating collaboration and an alliance here is multi-dimensional, beyond anything I've encountered before, but the ball is definitely rolling. I am about to sign up 5 or 6 companies to serve as initial collaborators, in connection with the fall CC "event." Specifics to follow, but suffice it to say that these are incredible organizations.
- By engaging these companies, we have booked nearly half of the spaces for participants at the event, so please understand if I cannot invite you this round. I suspect we will convene a much larger event next year, while still designing for collaboration, engagement, and an intimate experience.
Collaboration Technology
- Elad invited me to work with him to design and facilitate a session during a SF Bay Area YPO conference (Elad will be on his honeymoon, so I will get to facilitate without his noble support). The focus of the event is How Social Networking and Collaboration Technology is changing business. This opportunity, as well as the process of designing the CC and other events, and exploring new tools to build the FLOW and other websites, is exposing me to a panoply of new tools, and to explorations of the relationship between tools and consciousness, and behavior. A couple I like are www.openteams.com and www.mindjet.com.
- These technology tools also raise questions about collaboration practices and culture, and how the tools embody and facilitate practices and cultivate a collaboration culture. I welcome any insights or information you have on this issue and any tools you recommend.
That's all for now....
"Work is love made visible." ~Khalil Gibran
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and beheld that service was joy.” - Rabindranath Tagore
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