Who's thirsty for your talent?

I have a rather challenging time when I am asked to describe my ‘work’; usually because when asked to describe work we are asked to make a distinction between paid ‘work’ or unpaid 'volunteer' experience. I struggle with this as it seems to suggest that there is a different value assigned to each. I have volunteered for as long as I can remember and I have done this because I care. I care deeply about the causes that I volunteer with and I see volunteering as a part of my responsibilities and privileges as a human being. I find a beautiful synergy when I can share my skills and help others and in return know  that I am making a difference, big or small,  and gaining immense experience and relationships. 

I currently serve as a Board member for a local non profit literacy organization and have sat as Vice and Co-President for other Executives. I have spent time making and serving dinner for homeless shelters and have stayed over night to visit with clients and ensure everyone has a blanket and is comfortable.  I have facilitated workshops to help clients understand their choices for post-secondary options in Alberta and have run parenting work shops for low income families. I have been ‘paid’ for all of this work, some through monetary means and some through incredible experience and the most heartfelt of thank you’s. Both valuable and both meaningful. 

Imagine the opportunities that our organizations will have if more of our leaders can think generatively and identify talent. Imagine the opportunities if we develop the capacities in our leaders and help them think outside the typical 'human resource' box and simply identify needs in an organization and people who can fill them, paid and unpaid...talent. 

We have much to learn from each other and that shared expertise can come in many forms. We can enable each other and help each other build the capacities we need so that we may serve our ‘clients’  with integrity and with the best that we all have to offer. 

G. Donald Gale

"A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty."

Questioning my pal social media...

Everyone who knows me knows that I like my social media and the cool gadgets that go along with it! I think some of my friends actually believe I take my phone to bed with me (it’s not true by the way, not yet at least). Twitter, blogs, facebook, linked-in (and the vast selection of others that I cannot keep up with anymore) have been powerful tools to connect with old and new friends as well as to stay current on issues that mean a lot to me. I have been impressed and deeply moved by the intelligent, thoughtful and wise posts and conversations that so many people have taken the time to put out ‘there’ and share with us. I have connected with people in other parts of the world who now feel like ‘friends’.

Tonight however I am in a new domain and am feeling like I have been betrayed by a good friend; my good buddy social media. I am having a hard time understanding how people can post things that they would not say to another in person? I don’t understand this new trend that I am seeing whereby people seem to be intent on ‘catching’ others saying splashy or controversial things (out of context) and then exposing that on social media. Isn’t that something we leave to fox news? Since when do our ‘friends’ behave this way? How does this help us as fellow human beings to improve the world around us and to better understand why we all do the things that we do? How does this help us improve education or effectively change the voice of politics?

Much of this seems to be under the ‘guise’ of transparency.  I am baffled by this. What does this mean? For something to be transparent and "easily seen through" don’t we first need to fully understand that which we are looking at? This takes time and understanding; it takes effort which I fear too many of us seem unwilling to give anymore. 

My husbands eyes will roll as he reads this because he hears it over and over again in our house but I do believe that much of this come back to intent. If we could just pause and ask ourselves, “What is my intent as I write this, blog this, tweet this...”. Would you still be willing to put it out “there”? When my children read what I post can I with confidence and sincerity tell them WHY I decided to do what I did and how it affects others?

The lack of 'real' connectedness on line seems to give people a false sense of entitlement combined with recklessness. Things are said on-line that we know people would never say in person. Can we control this, should we control this? I think that we need to hold each other responsible. We need to remind each other that there is still a person behind the social media and that the people we are 'talking' about on social media are affected by what we say. 

There is much that is positive with social media but I do worry that we have moved too fast without fully considering the ethical consequences of what we do and where we want to go...

"Cheshire Puss [asked Alice] Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to", said the Cat.
"I don't much care where", said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go", said the Cat. 

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass ~~~