First real day in Luxembourg - revisited 1 year later

Some events in our lives are so powerful that their anniversaries take us back to those moments in amazingly vivid detail. Such was my experience in going to Luxembourg one year ago. I just looked back when I started this blog and the October 25, 2005, post was "First real day in Luxembourg." I remember the disorientation, the excitement, the wonder of it all. It was a bright and beautiful day as it is in Oxford today. I went to the Universite du Luxembourg campus with several of the MUDEC faculty and we met with their faculty to see if there wasn't something we could explore together. A year later, it looks as if Universite du Luxembourg and MUDEC will combine efforts in the next couple of years and that MUDEC students will have the opportunity to engage more deeply with students from the Universite. I had nothing to do with the merger of purpose and place but it is kind of cool to know that I was there in some of the early stages of seeing this possibility.

I miss Luxembourg very deeply. It was a very difficult time for me in the early days (particularly the first 7-10 days) because I missed my routine, family, other relationships and I missed the familiarity of culture. As I grew more comfortable over time, I began to relish difference and newness. The result was that I took greater and greater risks over time - and I gained more with every bigger step I took.

Probably the most profound lesson I learned from Luxembourg was that taking risks is hard and sometimes terrifying but, if we face it with curiosity and trust in humanity, amazing things are possible. The metaphor of the Chesapeake Bay bluecrab may be instructive here. Bluecrab are wonderful and they primarily are found in the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore out to the mouth of the Atlantic. One of the delicacies that is possible is the softshell crab, which results when a crab sheds its hardened shell because to retain it would be too restrictive for new growth. The urgency of growth becomes so great that the crab sheds its protective shell and becomes a softshell crab, ready to experience the world in new and grander ways. The only hooker on the proposition is that in this vulnerable state, there could be predators (like humans) who capture the crab during this tender, transitional state. To be caught in between the former hardened and secure hardshell and the growing, developing softshell state can mean ruin. However, if the crab wishes to develop, the risk to grow a new and more adequate shell must be tolerated.

Isn't that what many of our life experiences are about - risking to shed the hardened and inadequate in order to become something better? The vulnerable state in between is terrifying. Note to self - how can I become more comfortable in between and how can I be a protector for others as they embark on something dramatically different so that they feel enough shelter to take the risk?

The world as we know it is coming to an end - revisited

"The world as we know it is coming to an end" may seem like a grim statement but it has great hope as well. This post is about death of apathy, ignorance, and complacency. It was stimulated by the October 1, 2006, sermon of Dr. Craig Barnes at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.

There have always been those who predicted the end of time, the crumbling of humanity, and the hopelessness of our struggle against it. Faith allows those who seek it to see that the end of time means only that there is a new day seeking to come forth that will be better than all those that came before. Quoting Dr. Barnes, "It is the easiest thing in the world to say that things are getting bad, or the political and military options are not working, or those devoted to violence just keep coming. Yes, all of that is true." To pronounce doom and gloom may seem prophetic but it reflects only cynicism and an unwillingness to take responsibility to shape the world as we would like to see it. "If you want to be a leader in your part of the world, then say something unique and useful. Be a man or woman of hope who lives as if the story is not over yet. Not by a long shot."

I combined these inspirational words with pictures taken by distant friend, Jake Brewer. Jake has traveled the world over and has an incredible store of pictures that demonstrate a world becoming - in every corner and especially through the hope in our children. (BTW - this post is noted as "revisited" because I looked back in my blog and found that I posted under the same topic almost a year ago. Sound like a theme?)

Social capital and healthy communities

I just looked back in my blog to see if I'd every posted anything on social capital and health in communities. I couldn't find one explicitly but the idea is certainly threaded in a number of the posts. The reason I thought I might have posted before is that this is such a constant theme as I seek to understand the connection between leadership and community.

Essentially the point is that one of the most important contributions of leadership is to enhance social capital within the community. Social capital is the degree to which all participants/members invest in the community. Investment can be the amount of time spent in community meetings, in service to the community, in talking positively about the members of the community, in making space for others to be part of the community. It's just like investing in a for-profit or not-for-profit entity; the investment doesn't appreciate unless there is ongoing attention, analysis, and enhanced commitment among those who hope to reap benefits from the organization.

A very challenging part of community life is that we are quick to seek the benefits of community but aren't willing to invest in order to reap the benefit. Thus, everyone wants to go to a great event, happening, or other privilege of a community, but far fewer members are willing to do the work to make it happen. The Scholar Leader community at Miami is a very interesting example. It is a great community of bright and interesting residents. Members want to benefit from having Scholar Leader on their resumes. They also want to benefit from the privileges of the scholarships, the programs, and the associations established through the community. However, it is a challenge when it comes to those who are willing to work to make all the good stuff happen.

One of the keys to effective community is providing flexibility for members to contribute on the topics and at the times they are able. There will never be a one-for-one exchange of investment to benefit. If everyone were to identify a contribution they can make, the equation would have a chance to balance out over time. So, for example, one member may come to all the community meetings and may get involved in planning the January Plunge trip. Another member may not come to community meetings but may be an individual who is frequently involved in late-night "bull" sessions or who is the "go to" person for a particular academic subject area. Are these two students contributing to and benefitting in the same ways? No. They do benefit in likely proportion to what they invest and this is fine. The problem is that sometimes those who are the higher investors get perturbed with the low investors and then resentment unfolds. When some members resent others for not participating, the stage for deteriorating community is set.

The "note to self" point here is that healthy communities result when the degree of social capital investment is increased. Equal contribution and benefit as well as comparable investment across members of the community is unrealistic in most settings. Learning to accept this and remaing open to the ebb and flow of member participation will go a long way to increasing the overall social capital investment and, hopefully, benefit to all.