Think Outside

HBR: New frontiers in social enterprise

phteegarden — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:53:16 +0000

Creating shared value involves value creation for business that simultaneously yields more profit and greater social impact, resulting in powerful transformations and opportunities for growth and innovation in both business and society. The concept of creating shared value focuses on the connections between societal and economic progress, and has the potential to unleash the next wave of global growth and competitive advantage.

https://archive.harvardbusiness.org/cla/web/pl/product.seam?c=8062&i=8064&cs=1b64dfac8e4d2ef4da5976b5665c5540this

It is particularly relevant to businesses and nonprofits seeking to understand and refine strategies for the future. It highlights the blurred lines between social, business, and governmental spheres. Understand this trend and argument to craft better strategy.

Brainstorming for a New Perspective | Professional PR

phteegarden — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:17:30 +0000

short story about not overthinking ideas as a means of helping get new perspective. reminds me a little of some ideas in Gladwell’s Blink.

Brainstorming for a New Perspective | Professional PR.

Executive-Report-Sustainability-and-Corporate-Culture.pdf (application/pdf Object)

phteegarden — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:58:21 +0000

This interesting report is about embedding sustainability into an organization’s culture. It defines “Organizational culture of sustainability” as a culture in which organizational members hold shared assumptions and beliefs about the importance of balancing economic efficiency, social equity and environmental accountability.

It presents a framework for embedding sustainability into an organization’s culture based on literature review and a look at successful practices.

One of the more interesting pieces from a Think Outside perspective are the practices that it suggests for embedding innovation around sustainability. It suggests that innovation around sustainability can be supported by building the momentum for the change and building the capacity for the change. The idea of the momentum for the change which is really about building awareness and buy in. Building awareness by framing the issue, communicating, and allowing people to experiment with the idea.

Think Outside focuses on the idea of experimenting with the idea not only on the job but in training and team building sessions. Experimenting in these lower risk environments can help people come to new conclusions about the value of sustainability.

Executive-Report-Sustainability-and-Corporate-Culture.pdf (application/pdf Object).

Can meditation change your brain? Contemplative neuroscientists believe it can – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs

phteegarden — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 02:16:25 +0000

“We all know that if you engage in certain kinds of exercise on a regular basis you can strengthen certain muscle groups in predictable ways,” Davidson says in his office at the University of Wisconsin, where his research team has hosted scores of Buddhist monks and other meditators for brain scans.“Strengthening neural systems is not fundamentally different,” he says. “It’s basically replacing certain habits of mind with other habits.”

via Can meditation change your brain? Contemplative neuroscientists believe it can – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs.

What habits of the mind do you cultivate? Do they help you gain new perspective? Do they help you consider problems, people, issues, and work in a different way?

Short Article on Organizational Culture and Executive Transition

phteegarden — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 03:38:55 +0000

Organizational Culture and Executive Onboarding | Leadership
November 18, 2010

Guest blog submitted by Krista Peterson This dialogue about onboarding and new leader transitions is so multi-faceted, and there are so many interesting directions we can go. Let’s go deeper into the aspect of culture.

http://managementhelp.org/blogs/leadership/2010/11/18/organizational-culture-and-executive-onboarding/

New book–Nonprofit Organizational Culture Guide

phteegarden — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:21:02 +0000

The Nonprofit Organizational Culture Guide: Revealing the hidden truths that impact performance has just been published by Jossey Bass. As lead author on this book, I can tell you it has been a long time in the writing. It is also a wonderful testament to how collaborative writing (even though it is time consuming) yields better results. If you want to better understand why nonprofits behave the way they do and if you want to help them perform even better, check out this book.

You can find out more about the book and organizational culture at revealorganizationalculture.com