With 2009 approaching quickly, I realized "wow we only hosted 2 cafes in 2008!" What is going on here? Why can't New Commons get its act in gear and put a cafe together.

Oh yeah, time and "timing." Too much going on but excuses, excuses.

What was really eating me, was the fact that so many of you said you would love to attend a cafe but the time, day or month just conflicted with so much that you were working on...

For every woman who attended a cafe, I know of 4 that couldn't attend due to a conflict-- serious conflicts: lay offs, can't find a babysitter, husband/partner had a major commitment that you had to support, too tired, getting to Providence was difficult due to lack of public transportation, and a lot of other very real reasons. Not only are we too busy, but like hungry parasites, too many others rely on us "being there."

So here we are with My Soul at Work website.

A site that is for you to take part in, join online, comment on the conversation at your convenience: day, night, any time. Yes, you can lurk you don't have to join, but please do, so we know who you are and we can further support you aspirations and enterprising ideas and practices in bringing more Soul at Work...no matter what your "work" is. As we all know, what is known as "women's work" is constantly expanding and redefining itself for the better of man-kind!!

Join in, post your profile (even if just an alias), post your services and goods (we want to know what your work is), and if you like join in as an author and post on our Self, Tribe, Workplace, and World blog sections. You are the expert...our focus is to get you connected and supported to other women who are also leading with Soul at Work.

 

 

 

Amazing.

That is all there is to write, it would seem. Women from diverse backgrounds came together to hear Ann-Marie’s story about how she took the entrepreneurial plunge in 1997 and went from social worker to internet maven to business owner. Yeah, it took guts, and listening to her instincts telling her that this was the right thing to do. Ann-Marie bared it all, including her current challenge to unplug herself from the business to “just be”. She started with her story, and quickly went into the challenges and the position that mattered to get the business to the next level. If there ever was “self-less” ambition (see Robyn Frye) this was it: it was all about what made Embolden Design grow…and Ann-Marie grew too.

On March 5th we invited Amy Kalafa to our cafe to show here film and talk about the movement and her leadership practices. (see my earlier entry about the movie) The film shows not only the problems with our school lunches–don’t serve real food anymore, food is now a “commodity”, a product and significantly vendors are competing with real food–and the increasing child health, obesity, and learning problems have been building over the past 30 years, to the point that the CDC is now forewarning: “for the first time in history, our nation’s children will live shorter lives than their parents.” I just wanted to shout “stop the madness” and Amy’s film shows us how we can make simple small changes (like add a salad bar with fresh vegetables). But it takes willingness to say yes to all the other “nos” and well, offer up a multiple bottom line perspective.

One of the key "seeds" the group took from Robyn's talk was about how being more 'humble' and 'vulnerable' is a  tool for leading an organizaiton.  Robyn said these two behaviors helped her to hire the right people, ask the right questions, make the best decisions, and importantly to let go of other people's expectations so she could yeild to the "roller coaster" ride. The difference between a "WEEE!" and a "Whoa!" is how much you're willing to let go!

How do you bring being humble and vulnerability to your work so you can "throw" your hands up on the roller coaster ride?