Winter Newsletter, January, 2009
Welcome to a New Year!
Generally a new year, is a time for resolutions. We desire to make changes, some big, some small. Most of us would like to forget the last few months, with the economy slowing, the weather turning cold and the snow beginning to fall. A new year brings with it the promise of change; longer days, spring right around the corner, and the chance to make good on our resolutions.
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website. Please visit us at www.incourage.com and check out our updated site! We have been working with Jacqueline Foley (www.jacquelinefoley.com) who has helped us communicate our story and flow for the site and Mark Haak from Design for Good (www.designforgood.ca) to design a whole new look for us. We could not be happier with the site, it has a crisp, clean look, and is easy to navigate around. We hope you take the time to browse our new site and get re-aquanted with everything that InCourage has to offer. As always, we welcome your feedback.
The Upside of Contradictions
By: Tom Bowes
To say that our challenges are complex in these times is an understatement. One way to make sense of them is to understand how we contradict ourselves. There are contradictions everywhere, from comical to profoundly disturbing. We have plenty ourselves if we care to look closely enough. This essay examines the need to be clear on our contradictions so we can meet them with truly innovative solutions. Innovative thinking is what we need now especially to replace our “tried and true” responses which are often “tired and untrue”.
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The Courage to think differently - and to act!
By Jan Van der Hoop, President: Hiring Smart.
Why is it that, even when we know that a particular habit isn’t serving us well and may even be harming us, we still resist doing what we know makes logical sense to avert the inevitable? What is it about the human condition that allows us to rationalize the patently illogical, and even the irresponsible? This dysfunction shows up in our own little ‘vices’, in the way we treat the world around us, and in the organizations we lead. For more than a decade, Gallup and a host of other global consulting firms have been reporting on levels of engagement. We’ve all seen them – and they are dismal: less than 30% of the population is fully engaged in their work; another 20% are fully disengaged, and in excess of 50% are in some stage of disengagement.
Rewards go to those with the Courage to Innovate.. an article in the Globe and Mail
By: Eric Reguly
ROME -- What do nylon, synthetic rubber, the electric washing machine and the fluorescent lamp have in common? They all came to life during the Great Depression of the 1930s. These innovations, and others, unleashed a consumer and industrial revolution that helped to lift the United States from the deepest economic downturn of the last century. Eight decades later, the world faces a recession that could turn into a 1930s-style depression, with vanishing profits, failing corporations and mass unemployment. What will restore growth?
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Announcing U-Theory workshop at Kingbridge.
For those interested in profound innovation for systemic change (and who isn't?), our friends at Kingbridge, through the Alia Institute, are hosting a workshop on April 5-8 with Otto Scharmer, a Senior Lecturer at MIT who introduced the theoretical framework and practice called "presencing" in his book Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges (2007), and in Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2005), co-authored with Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. With his colleagues, Dr. Scharmer has used presencing to facilitate profound innovation and change processes both within companies and across societal systems. More information about Dr. Scharmer, his work and this must-attend workshop is just a click away!