The Sunday Boston Globe article "How Facts Backfire: Researchers discover a surprising threat to democracy: our brains" is worth a read for those of us interested in our democratic life, though it certainly isn't encouraging news.  With today's technology offering an overwhelming amount of information (and misinformation), Joe Keohane who wrote the piece suggests that "It's never been easier for people to be wrong, and at the same time feel more certain that they're right."  I'm posting here mainly to call attention to the piece in case you missed it, but I did want to add a few quick observations.  read more »

At the "State of Service" event put on by MassINC & AmeriCorps Alums earlier this month, creating a new "Match.com for service" portal was the idea that seemed to generate the most enthusiasm.  In these "there's an app for that" times, thinking there's a technical solution to a challenge comes naturally.  And there is certainly some evidence that doing a better job connecting people with opportunities to participate could increase civic engagement.  Back when I was starting Social Capital Inc. (SCI), I came across a League of Women Voters study which said that roughly half of the Americans they surveyed indicated that they'd like to be more civically active, and that "lack of information" was the single biggest barrier preventing them from doing so.  We have since seen similar findings in our own local survey, pointing to the need to connect people with information.  read more »

We often talk about how to cultivate your network--what about how not to cultivate your network?  What things negatively impact your social capital?  Some obvious ones would be not returning calls, not following through on something you said you would do.  Continuously being on the receiving side of a relationship would be another.

I'm also thinking of a few situations lately that bring this question to mind...making referrals, and then seeing my contact handle the situation in a way that made me feel uncomfortable that I had made that referral.  The take-away on this is that when someone makes an introduction for me, I need to keep in mind that the person is extending him or herself by making that connection.  I need to be aware that how I proceed with that contact is going to impact my relationship with the introducer.  Being insensitive to this dynamic is another way not to cultivate your network.

These are just a few additional ideas that come to mind--I would welcome thoughts from others on how not to cultivate your network!  Sometimes negative examples can be valuable for our learning.

How do you say leadership in your first language?  This question kicked off an interesting discussion in our first Multi-Cultural Leadership Project yesterday.  Through this collaboration with the YMCA International Learning Center (ILC) in Woburn, I'll be training a dozen adult English language learners on leadership skills.  The students will be using the training to coordinate a WorldFest multi-cultural event in the community next spring.  They are very excited about the project, and the prospects of learning useful job skills while contributing to their new community.

Yesterday's group was representative of the diversity of the ILC, which serves students from 20 countries who speak 14 different languages. This brought a lot of different cultural perspectives to bear on our conversation about leadership!  read more »