I’ve learned an incredible amount over the past decade helping changemakers work more collaboratively and skillfully. (If you don’t know me or are not a regular reader of this blog, you can read up on my background.)
It was a fulfilling, but difficult path, and I’d love to find ways to make it easier and safer for others who are similarly motivated and with similar values. This was a big motivation for founding Groupaya, and I loved every chance I had to do it.
Even though I’ve left, I’m still fortunate to have great people requesting my help. I say no to most requests, but if the project is small or informal enough, I’ll occasionally say yes. I’ve been using these projects as opportunities to give associates real-life opportunities to practice, with me at their side giving guidance along the way.
I’d like to do a lot more of this. I’m curious if there are other changemakers out there in the world (or who at least read my blog) who would be interested in working and learning with me on small-scale (for now), real-life practice opportunities.
Here’s what I’m looking for:
- Living in San Francisco. If you’re not here, I still want to know you, but right now, I want to focus my energy on people who are local.
- Passion. If you’re in it for consulting leads, go elsewhere. If you’re in it because you’re passionate about changing the world, about activating the potential of groups, both large and small, and about learning, then I want to know you.
- Beginner’s mind. This is the big one. I want people who are anxious to learn at all costs and who aren’t too high-falutin’ to get their hands dirty. (Literally, in some cases.) Motivation and attitude are far more important than experience. Definitely don’t flash your OD / OB / OL degrees or your facilitation certifications or your daily consulting rate at me. I don’t care, and it will likely bias me against you.
You don’t have to be a consultant, aspiring or practicing. In fact, I’m particularly interested in working with changemakers embedded in organizations.
Interested? Drop me an email (eekim-at-eekim-dot-com) or leave me a comment below. And please share this with others who might be interested!
Okay, I'm 45 minutes north of San Francisco, but I find myself down in the city more and more often, so maybe I'm close enough to qualify. I've recently realized that I've been sloughing off recently, working on change that doesn't scale terribly well, and it's time to get back to the big ideas.
The particular issues that are currently fascinating me are understanding complex systems, particularly in the interplay between municipal financing, transportation and development patterns, and the "internet of things"/"personal clouds" space. I have no idea what the additional commercial prospects are for either of these, but they fascinate me because I think we're on the cusp of huge revolutions in our understanding of them, and because both have the prospect of further shaping and changing our world more than the Internet already has.
And both can also be tackled by the individual; they've got bits that are small enough to bite off and chew.
I love the model. Recently I was able to pull a colleague in for collaborating on a piece of client work (the Rome one I had mentioned to you!) and just the interplay of learning with/from each other was rich. It also asked for a different level of attention and self reflection –> which is always a rich learning space for me. I look forward to you keeping us "further away" folks posted.
Eugene, can you rhapsodise a bit about how you connect other people to each other? Is there a strategy or set of lessons you've learned about that, or is it something more ad-hoc? I ask because your post here makes me immediately jump to thinking of people I want you to meet. But then on reflection it occurs to me that neither they or you are in quite the right position at the moment to be able to do something for each other. So, do I just forget about it, and figure I'll think about it again when the time is right? Or is there something smarter that you've discovered through your practice?
If I know both parties are busy, I might wait before introducing, or simply mention them to each other so at least the names are in the backs of their heads. If I think they have time, I'd introduce them anyway, regardless of whether or not they can do something for each other. (Doesn't always have to be about that!)