Yes, you. Creating a movement is not beyond your abilities. It is not for someone stronger or more connected. Creating a movement is child’s play!!

Please note that there are two videos in this post. If you are viewing this in an email reader that does not see the video, please click here to view this post online. Enjoy!

Yes, I know, it’s easy to think that’s a choreographed, computer generated crowd. So let’s consider the question more seriously (and you can’t get more serious than a TED talk, even one that’s only 3 minutes long!). What does it take to create a movement?

We see role models like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi as somehow super human – more akin to gods than to the merely mortal humans they were.  Truth is, though, that both men were seen as “lone nuts” for a long time before they were elevated to the “unattainable” regard in which we now hold them.

We may assume we could never live up to the examples of a King or a Gandhi. But each of us has the ability to model the behaviors we want to see in others. Each of us has the power, right now, to be the change we want to see.

If the adage is correct that “we are the ones we have been waiting for,” we can only achieve the potential of those words when we see that potential inside ourselves. And that doesn’t just mean the “lone nuts” like MLK and Gandhi. It means that each of us has that potential.  ”WE are the ones we’ve been waiting for” means YOU!

So what will you do this week to put your highest aspirations into action? What change will you show the world is possible, just by your actions? What movement will you create, one follower at a time?

Have a great Monday, and a great week, all!

And so I am hoping you will indulge me with this special Rock Out, a tribute to the home I adopted 31 years ago this month.

People who are not from Tucson have told me they think the media image of our town has been pretty positive this past 2 weeks. Perhaps that’s because Tucson has an immense sense of civic pride. You heard that pride if you watched the tribute presided over by President Obama. It was that pride that folks across the country chided us for, saying it sounded more like a pep rally than a tribute. In truth, though, that’s part of what it is to live in this big small town – it’s the thing that allows “unfathomably horrible” to see glimmers of normal. Because in Tucson it is absolutely normal for life to feel like one big ongoing U of A pep rally.

Of course the rest of the state shakes its head for other reasons when Tucson is mentioned, the most notable being a characteristic of which we Tucsonans are perhaps the most proud (and yes, BTW, it is Tucsonan – not Tucsonian.) And that’s the fact that Tucson is a solidly progressive bastion in a state that has mostly made the news for things like huge intolerance for immigrants (in Tucson we call it racism) balanced only by its equally huge tolerance for weapons, concealed or otherwise.

Most recently in the “intolerance for anything remotely Latino” category, Arizona’s outgoing State Superintendent of Education (and new Attorney General) told reporters that his biggest accomplishment was eliminating the ethnic studies program in a particular public school district. And where was that rogue district? You guessed it. Tucson’s school district not only didn’t shut down that program – they have openly challenged the absurdly intolerant decree, continuing to teach about the people who were here first and whose nation is only an hour down the road.

So yes, we are getting our share of the news focus these days. But long before this, in a time called the 1970′s, Tucson was famous among people all over the world. It was during that time long ago that people longed to visit Tucson simply because this was the home of JoJo.

If you are reading this in an email reader and cannot see the video, click here to see it.

I confess my soft spot for this song is not because of my adopted home, but instead because of a friend from what was still at that time Yugoslavia. I had met Carmen in the traveling days of my youth, and was instantly smitten. How could you not love someone whose itinerary of U.S. must-see sights was simply a list of places she had heard of in songs?

Carmen and I had traveled together to Cripple Creek, Colorado, with Carmen singing The Band’s song the whole way up and back (never mind it is a different Cripple Creek – Carmen wasn’t in this for accuracy.) When she heard I had settled in Tucson, I could hear her enthusiasm jump off the page of her letter. “Oh oh oh! Tucson! That’s where JoJo lives!”

This particular video makes me smile for another reason, though – a reason that is connected not to the Tucson I moved to back in 1980, but the Tucson of today. And that’s because this particular performance is the 70′s equivalent of today’s flash mobs – that spontaneous outpouring of emotion of the people in the streets and windows, the joy, the pointing, the wanting to be part of something.

That’s what we’re feeling these days here in Tucson. When Gabby left the hospital to head to Texas for rehab last week, people lined the streets, waving and throwing kisses and saluting. They linked arms and wept.

At University Medical Center, the spontaneous outpouring of support and love, of tenderness and the overwhelming desire for peace – it is almost indescribable to be in the middle of the shrine that was, until recently, the hospital’s front lawn. People of all faiths have come together to pray in their own way, to encourage, to be together.

Because when times are hard, people need each other. I hope you will remember that as you head into your week. We need each other and we are at our best when we are linking arms with others.

Which is another Tucson thing – something folks around the state say about our home. Here in Tucson, we work together.

It is one of the first things Dimitri and I found when we began talking with people up the road in Phoenix, helping them build their community’s Diaper Bank. During that time, we were repeatedly told, “That sort of collaborative effort won’t work here. We’re not like you in Tucson. You guys all work together…” While Tucsonans wish we would work together even more closely, having worked all over the world, we are consistently impressed with the level of cooperation in our hometown.

So maybe if the rest of the world takes nothing else from this nightmare but that, we can make something positive out of this horrific tragedy.

Imagine what might be the result if community benefit organizations around the world picked up the phone right now and asked their “competition” this question:

“What can we accomplish together that neither of us can accomplish on our own?”

Have a great Monday, and a great week, all.

If you want updates about Gabby’s condition, follow her husband @ShuttleCDRKelly on Twitter

So yes, I urge you to listen to the speech and to share it with your families. Nothing speaks to humanity’s potential like this speech, and it is a gift to the ages that Dr. King lived to deliver it.  It gives us something to aspire to, to work towards every day.

As I have watched our community come together to support each other during this past week, the spirit of Dr. King shone everywhere.  For this week, we were all Tucsonans – not black or white or brown. Just us. We were – and continue to be – family.

This particular version of the song has special meaning for me this week – made more special by a confluence of events that seem scripted by the gods.

The week before the shooting that has made news all around the world, I interviewed Nancy Hunt, co-founder of the We Are Family Foundation, for the show I do for the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  And so it was that Dimitri and I spent that horrible weekend alternating between watching the news unfold and editing that interview (which I will be sharing with you tomorrow).

Over the course of the weekend, I wrote and read and then rewrote and re-read the story of the foundation – that it began immediately after 9/11 when Nile Rodgers, who originally co-wrote the song, was approached by friends from around the world, encouraging Nile to use the song as an anthem for healing.  Eleven days after the attacks, 200 musicians, actors, celebrities of all sorts gathered to create the video you see above.

Today, just 9 days after the shots that have so shaken my town, we honor the man whose short life was dedicated to the power of this huge family, to the common humanity that binds us.

It is a day to remember what is possible when we remember that we are indeed all family.  I hope that thought carries into everything you do this week.

Have a great Monday and a great week, all.

]]> http://hildygottlieb.com/2011/01/16/monday-morning-rock-out-mlk-day-edition/feed/ 0 http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/12/19/monday-morning-rock-out-62/ http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/12/19/monday-morning-rock-out-62/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 02:23:52 +0000 Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=3872 Happy Holiday Monday!

Holiday  music everywhere we go.  Viral YouTube videos of flash mobs singing and dancing. Television shows and ads filled with song.

We take it all for granted, but so much of this season is about singing, dancing, admiring, performing.  Holiday plays at school. Crafts fairs and art shows. Performances of A Christmas Carol.  Displays of Christmas lights that take your breath away.

It’s hard to imagine the holidays without all that.

But maybe we should try to do just that.  Imagine not just this time of year, but the rest of the year as well.

What would life be like without song, without beauty, without television shows, without stories to read to our kids?  What would it be like if there were no dance. No music.  No art…

I’ve been thinking lately about the fact that “art” is simply the word we use to describe all forms of human expression.  How can art be considered “fluff” or “extra,” when the ability to express and create keeps us well? Without healthy means of expressing ourselves, we wither and die – or worse, express ourselves through violence and abuse.

Margaret Martin made that point in the amazing interview she did here (you can download it from iTunes here).  Kids in the American education system, who lose interest in learning from the time they are 8 years old – UNLESS they are involved in the arts.  Gang members who stop in a mall to hear a young violinist play, gently placing money in his case.

Listening to Margaret’s interview confirms what many of us sense instinctively.  Art is not something only some of us can “do.” It is how each of us expresses our very being.  How we arrange the flowerpots on our front stoop.  The songs we sing to our children at night.  The heart that dots the i in a teenager’s name.

We are expressive beings.  Our ability to express ourselves makes us healthy, whole.  Without that means of self-expression AND appreciation for the expression of others, we die.

Art saves lives.

So this holiday season, if you are thinking about a last minute gift, get tickets to a local performance. Buy a piece of artwork from a local gallery. Do something that speaks to the soul – of the person who receives the gift, the person who created it, and the person giving it.

And please, as you consider your last minute donations this year, write a check to a local arts group – or your local arts coalition.  Tell the world with your dollars: Art is not separate. It is not extra.  Art is humanity is life.

Have a great Monday, a great week – and regardless of whether or not it is a religious holiday for you, a great Christmas – one and all!

My recommendation: Head to iTunes and download all the Making Change interviews to listen over the break.  You will head back to work inspired from head to toe!

]]> http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/12/19/monday-morning-rock-out-62/feed/ 3 http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/10/31/monday-morning-rock-out-61/ http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/10/31/monday-morning-rock-out-61/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:41:04 +0000 Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=3638 It’s Monday! This is not an ordinary Monday, though. On this day between the Halloween that took over this past weekend and the US Election Day we will face tomorrow, today we have a moment to rest, to see more clearly.

A month ago, I posted about the solace and meaning we can find in each other – not just in those with whom we agree, but in all of us, living and being on this planet together.

Today those thoughts feel even more pertinent than they felt a month ago.

And so, begging your indulgence, I am re-posting those thoughts here, but adding a gift at the end – a video that I hope will help you find connection in this election week, when the media is doing its best to convince us that connection is rare.  Because it is not rare. It is, in fact, all around us.

October 1, 2010

Summer is lingering far too long here in the Arizona desert.  So every day, I check the newspaper forecast to see when we will finally see autumn.

Today’s paper told me that in several days, there is a 5% chance of rain.  And I found myself throwing down the paper in total exasperation.  ”Really?” I said aloud to the dog, “A 5% chance it will rain?”

Translated to a more useful forecast, there is a 95% chance things will be sunny and clear. Yet as they do every day, the weather prognosticators focused their limited newspaper ink not on what was likely, but on what was unlikely.

What does that have to do with building a world where we naturally and reflexively treat all beings with kindness?  Everything.

Kindness is the norm. Kindness surrounds us everywhere and all the time.

UNkindness is the exception.  Despite what we see on the news, people are not overwhelmingly horrible to each other. If they were, life would be unlivable.  (And in fact, in those rare places where UNkindness is the norm, life is, in fact, unlivable.)

And yet we believe that exception is the norm.

That belief no doubt stems from our fears of how horrible that exception can be and often is.  But that doesn’t make it true.

Our deeply held belief that unkindness is the norm influences everything about the lives we lead, the work we do, the laws we pass.  Our assumptions guide our actions.

Studies may find that we are, at our core, empathic beings.  Given our deeply held beliefs that that is not true, we choose to ignore those studies. We look instead for signs that reinforce our beliefs that deep down we are all greedy, fear-driven, ego-centric beings who will, left to our own devices, act badly.

“We are what we think,” said the Buddha. “All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we create the world.”

There is a 95% chance it will be sunny today. There is a better-than-even chance that you will find kindness all around you today.

What would it make possible – in our work, in our nations, in our politics, in our lives – if that kindness was what we conditioned ourselves to expect?

As you go about your work and your life this week, what would it make possible if you faced the people around you with humility, with grace? If you smiled as you let them go ahead of you, literally and figuratively?

“You go, then I’ll go.” I am awed by the possibility that simple act can bring.

Have a great Monday, and a great week, all!

The video at the original post from October 1 includes a talk by Jeremy Rifkin, sharing studies to back up the observation that we are, in fact, empathic beings. You can see that here.

Pollyanna Principle #4 says that “Being the change we want to see” means walking the talk of our values.” Gandhi’s words do not tell us what to do to change the world; on the contrary, they tell us that it is how we be in the world that makes the biggest difference of all.

How we comport ourselves, the things we say – the things we think. If we say kind things, giving people the benefit of the doubt, we are being role models to those around us.

If our conversations come from a place of fear and separateness, if those words ripple into hatred, into bigotry and bullying – we are being role models to those around us then as well.

If you cannot see the video in your reader, click here to watch it online.

As we consider moving past the intolerance that is growing everywhere around us, let’s aim towards our highest potential as a species – beyond mere “tolerance” and “inclusion.”

Let’s reach for kindness – embracing, nurturing, joyful kindness. Even and especially to those with whom we disagree.

“Hate never dispelled hate,” said the buddha. “Only love dispells hate.”

So teach love. Teach kindness. Teach it not with just your words, but with your whole being.

Because being the change we want to see means walking the talk of our values.

Have a great Monday, and a great week, all!

For a pull-no-punches, modern day, Sarah Silverman version of this message, click here.

]]> http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/10/17/monday-morning-rock-out-60/feed/ 2 http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/10/10/monday-morning-rock-out-59/ http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/10/10/monday-morning-rock-out-59/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:25:55 +0000 Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=3421 Happy Magical Monday, everyone!

And it is indeed magical. After last week, I cannot help but see magic in everything around me!

Last week, in a small room papered with wisdom and passion, six of us shared our dreams for the future we want to create. We laughed and we cried and we learned. In between, as those who have taken our class know, we ate and ate some more, nourishing our bodies as we nourished our spirits.

One cannot experience our immersion course without realizing in your bones that every one of our dreams for the future of this planet is realistic, practical, doable. As I closed my eyes to sleep this weekend, I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve; the power we have to turn our dreams into reality overtook me at every turn, making me want to dance, to play, to dream…

If you are reading this in an email reader and the video does not appear, click here to see it.

Every one of these classes feels like it is a dream. For five days, we explore what it takes to create an environment where changemakers can reach for their highest potential.

Governance consultants and program evaluators, fundraising consultants and strategists – they transform before their own eyes (and ours), finding gifts that have been there all along, waiting quietly to spring into action to create the world we all want.

We do our best to model the fact that creating visionary community change is practical and doable.

That working from humility – knowing the wisdom is in the room, and learning how to listen for that wisdom – is practical and doable.

That learning to replace judgment with compassion (and learning the extent to which we do, in fact, judge) is practical and doable.

That kindness can rule not only our work, but our lives.

And that if we consultants can learn what it takes to catalyze change, our clients can learn it, and their communities can learn it – the true meaning of all of us modeling the change we want to see.

“My dreams are bursting at the seams,” says the song. Today, still high from a week where we watched “consultants” grow into their role as “visionary changemakers,” my dreams are indeed bursting at the seams.

And everywhere I look, I see ten million fireflies lighting up the world.

Have a great “lit up” Monday and a great week, all!

With love and admiration to Kim, Tesse, Debbie, Kesha and Dimitri.

For a beautiful a capella version of this song, click here.

It is dedicated to all of us who build community, pulling seemingly disparate pieces together to make a graceful whole.

It is dedicated to the interconnectedness of arts organizations and human services, of global poverty groups and local animal welfare groups. And within all those spheres, the coming together of supposedly “competing” groups, seeing each other as partners.

It is dedicated to the notion that we all want the same ultimate end result – healthy, resilient, joyful, humane, vibrant communities, and that, like cells in a body, each of us is doing a piece of the work to attain that vision.

But mostly, it is dedicated to Hildy Gottlieb.

No, not me. Really. There is actually another Hildy Gottlieb.

The lives of these two Hildy’s are like night and day. Bright lights meets Birkenstocks. Hollywood mogul meets community organizer. Laurel meets Hardy.  We could not be more different, and yet…

(November 2011 Update: YouTube pulled the initial video. You can view it here It’s wonderful and will make you smile, so I hope you’ll link through!)

I learned of Hildy 20 years ago, when she was mentioned in Time or Newsweek as being the talent agent for the likes of Eddie Murphy and Keanu Reeves. She learned of me 20 years ago, when a friend driving through Tucson saw my name on a real estate sign.

Over the years, our paths crossed only in the occasional Googling of one’s own name.

And then, when The Pollyanna Principles came out, I sent her a copy. The note that went along with the book said, “It’s probably time we meet each other.”

When Hildy called the office, Nick answered the phone and looked like Santa or the Easter Bunny was on the other end. “It’s Hildy Gottlieb,” he said.

We talked for an hour that first time, finding we have much more in common than our names, and much more in common than our different paths would suggest.

In Los Angeles last month, after 20 years, the two Hildy Gottliebs finally met. And while we talked a bit about each of our careers, mostly we just talked about life. Aging parents, children making their way into the world, our frustrations, our joys.

We all have so much more in common than the few things that separate us. We all suffer, we all seek joy.

And so this week’s Rock Out is dedicated to all we have in common.

Pick up the phone this week, and call the leader of an organization that is 180 degrees different from yours. Find out what you have in common. Find out where your paths converge.

Like Hildy and Hildy talking about kids and life over drinks. Like Laurel and Hardy dancing to Santana.

Have a great Monday and a great week, all!

Many thanks to my friend Ted Vachovetz for this delightful video!

Starting today, we will begin sharing what we have been thinking about, as we have spent the last few months asking ourselves questions such as

“What will it take to create the conditions that will lead to a world that relates to itself from our highest potential as humans?”

“What will it take for all of us to naturally and reflexively respond to each other with kindness?”

“And what programs can we develop at Creating the Future that will move this world towards that way of being together?”

Impossible? Hardly. Unless something is physically impossible, it is absolutely possible!

If the video does not show in your email reader, click here to view it on the site.

As Arnold Toynbee noted over 50 years ago, this modern world is in the unique position to “dare to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective.”  As we begin developing the core programs at Creating the Future, that is precisely where those programs will be aimed – at our vision of a world that is thriving physically, intellectually, emotionally, creatively, spiritually.

The “Nonprofit” “Nongovernmental” “Civil Society” “Community Benefit” “Social Enterprise” “Citizen” sector is poised to create that world. We have no other motives but to make our world a better place. We have the resources. We have the knowledge. We are poised, ready, a force to be leveraged to create the world we all want.

Over the coming months here at Creating the Future, we will begin to engage that larger conversation about what it will take to create the path of cause-and-effect that can indeed create a more humane world.

For now, as you head into your week, please start each day by remembering WHY we all do this work. Take a moment to see the whole forest before the week drags you into the trees (and the leaves and the cells…).

Have a great Monday and a great week, all!

]]> http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/09/26/monday-morning-rock-out-57/feed/ 3 http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/08/15/monday-morning-rock-out-56/ http://hildygottlieb.com/2010/08/15/monday-morning-rock-out-56/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:37:35 +0000 Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=3122 This is a special Rock Out. Not that they’re not all special, but this week is a bit different.

First, this week is the mid-point of my semi-sabbatical. I wish I could say I’ve holed up doing nothing but writing and exploring. But having decided to do this only 2 weeks prior to doing it, I couldn’t magically make all my work vanish.

So yes, I am spending hours every day writing & reading & thinking & exploring.

I am also tying up loose ends for our corporate taxes. And working on a project for a coaching client. And planning a new consultants workshop we’ll be doing in Los Angeles next month.

So that’s the first special thing this week – seeing that I can incorporate into my worklife huge swaths of time for writing and thinking and being. That all it takes is my intending to do so – holding myself accountable.

WOW! Suddenly it is the first day of my sabbatical all over again, because every day can be the first day of my sabbatical! Every day I can get my “real work” done while giving myself loads more time to do the REAL “real work.”

I feel empowered. I feel energized. All while preparing our taxes. Wow. This is the first day of my life.

If you are viewing this in your email or a reader that doesn’t show video, this link will take you to the website where you can watch the video. Link to site here.

The other reason this week’s Rock Out is special is this: This week is my birthday.

In my early twenties, I realized I could make my birthday last a full week simply by adding these words to everything I wanted to do: “You have to – it’s my birthday.”

Ice cream sodas for lunch, afternoons at Larchmont Park, evenings at Rye Playland, nights in a divey local bar. My friends indulged a full week of playtime, birthed by the words. “You have to – it’s my birthday.”

It’s been 30 years since I’ve felt my birthday in every cell of my being. Suddenly, though, at age 53, every day feels like the first day of my life.

So let’s celebrate!

First, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you to celebrate by helping us build Creating the Future. Whether it’s 53¢ or $53 or $53,000 (a girl can dream…) – please click on the button in the right-hand column, to help support this movement for being the change we want to see.

But that doesn’t hold a (birthday) candle to what I really want.

What I really want is that you consider the things you wish you had time to do. And right now, hold yourself accountable for doing them – starting today. Because this is the first day of your life, too.

So do it now. You have to – it’s my birthday.

Have a great Monday, and a great week, all!

Photo: Me & my Aunt Gul