Our best wishes for 2010
Posted by Gayle Gifford on December 23, 2009 in Great quotes
The universe was
a place of wonders,
and only habituation,
the anaesthesia
of the commonplace,
dulled our sight.
– Salman Rushdie
Archive for the ‘Great quotes’ Category
“We need to build community chemistry.” R. LeBouef
Posted by Gayle Gifford on December 18, 2009 in Great quotes
My newspaper carried a front page story of a business where the employees decided to foresake their $20 per employee company paid holiday dinner and run a food drive instead.
What really jumped out from that story for me was a comment made by the branch manager, Ray LeBouef:
” the corporate rationale for the annual holiday dinner is that ‘it builds team chemistry. But I think we need to build community chemistry‘ ”
Thank you, Ray, and the employees of Tractor Supply Company in Coventry, RI, for brightening up my morning.
September 21: International Day of Peace
Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 21, 2009 in Great quotes, Profiles of passion and courage
“We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace… We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 1964
Listen to the Lion
Posted by Gayle Gifford on August 29, 2009 in Big ideas, Great quotes, Profiles of passion and courage
“Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference. The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream that all Americans can advance together…
“A fair prosperity and a just society are within our vision and our grasp, and we do not have every answer. There are questions not yet asked, waiting for us in the recesses of the future, but of this much we can be certain because it is the lesson of all our history: Together a president and the people can make a difference. I have found that faith still alive wherever I have traveled across this land. So let us reject the counsel of retreat and the call to reaction. Let us go forward in the knowledge that history only helps those who help themselves.
“There will be setbacks and sacrifices in the years ahead but I am convinced that we as a people are ready to give something back to our country in return for all it has given to us.
“Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all.”
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention 1980
More kindness.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on August 9, 2009 in Great quotes, Tidbits
We agree. Our world could use a lot more kindness.
We spotted this sign on Trinity Church in Boston.
A thought for Monday morning
Posted by Gayle Gifford on June 8, 2009 in Big ideas, Great quotes
“Every moment you are alive you can learn something very deep, but you will never know it unless you are listening.” John Maeda, President, Rhode Island School of Design, from an interview in Color Magazine.
11/100 Things about Nonprofits: Measure the right thing
Posted by Gayle Gifford on April 13, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Big ideas, Effectiveness, Great quotes, Strategic Thinking
“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.” Warren Buffet’s quote in Wired Magazine on the formula that led to the downfall of Wall Street was aptly quoted by Phil Buchanan, the Executive Director of the Center for Effective Philanthropy in an exchange on the Tactical Philanthropy blog.
This reminds me of a quote in Boards that Make A Difference by governance guru John Carver that has always stuck in my head. “A crude measure of the right thing beats a precise measure of the wrong thing.”
All this was stirred up for me by the recent buzz within the world of philanthropy for measures to better direct donor giving to “what works.”
There is a real danger in oversimplifying what works.
While I’m completely in favor of focusing the attention of our sector toward processes that produce real community results, I’m wary of reliance on simplistic nonprofit rating systems (e.g. GiveWell) that attempt to duplicate for mission effectiveness the same style of rating formulas that Charity Navigator and others use to rank nonprofits by their financial metrics. We already know that judging a nonprofit solely upon the percentage of program expenses tells us nothing about community results and, in many cases, not even a terribly lot about nonprofit financial effectiveness.
How can we better use the indicators that do exist to influence whole systems change and not just randomized philanthropic endeavors? Read More >>
For tough times “Manage cautiously but think ambitiously”
Posted by Gayle Gifford on March 4, 2009 in Big ideas, Great quotes, Strategic Thinking
“Manage cautiously but think ambitiously” I scribbled in my notebook. Those well spoken words were shared by Jeremy Nowak, a nationally recognized leader in urban development and the CEO of The Reinvestment Fund, who was the guest speaker at the first annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts & Humanities hosted by the City of Providence.
Mr. Nowak’s talk focused on the role of arts and culture in redefining and revitalizing cities. As part of its effort to capitalize on this enormous local asset by rebranding as “The Creative Capital”, Providence has recently launched a community planning effort called “Creative Providence: A Cultural Plan for the Creative Sector.”
Throughout his talk, Mr. Nowak wove an exciting and hopeful thread for a bold reimagining even as we experience the grim unraveling of an economic tapestry based on debt.
Using Philadelphia as an example (he hadn’t toured Providence yet) Mr. Nowak offered a number of illuminating examples of how artists and creative sector entrepreneurs, using an appreciative approach, “uncover, express and repurpose assets.” Two examples included resuing heavy industrial mill buildings for creative industrial workspace or reclaiming vacant lots for a sculpture park that helped redefine neighborhood. The question posed to the room was how that ability of artists to see can be harnessed to truly reinvent cities that are searching for new identities and economic models.
In thinking about the many interesting concepts presented last night, I woke up this morning thinking again that this third sector of ours needs to stop apologizing for the way it works and stop idealizing some fictitious “smarter than us” for-profit business and leadership model. Instead, we need to reclaim and boldly proclaim our unique way of seeing based on quality of life, a belief in public service and a philanthropic compass to guide our action. It’s time to take the high ground for the what, the why and the how of the work we do.
For Presidents’ day
Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 16, 2009 in Great quotes
“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.” – Abraham Lincoln
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, page 79
4/100 Things – Times change, fast. You need to keep up.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 2, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Big ideas, Good reads, Great quotes
If you didn’t have a sense of urgency about building a resilient and adaptive organization before, hopefully our economic meltdown has convinced you that times change.
In case you are still resisting, try reading Tom Peters “Re-imagine Manifesto!” “Tomato TomAh to.” It’s assigned reading – along with Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind and a Peter Block’s The Answer to How is Yes – for the students in my Strategic Communications and Organizational Change class at Simmons College.
The world is different. Times have changed. Have you?
Or are you still doing everything the same way and expecting different results?
A taste of Tom:
“They say ‘We need an Initiative.”
“I say ‘We need a Dream. And Dreamers.’
“They say they need a “vision” born of McKinsey.
“I say we need a “Grandiose Dream” born of a Passionate & Intemperate Belief that the world can be a different, better place.”
Amen.