Category Archives: Business & Entrepreneurship

XYBOOM Conference Discusses Workplace Community

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[Editor's note: whether you're an un-or-under-employed Millennial, Gen Xer, or Baby Boomer, you should be paying attention to an upcoming awesometastic collaboration between Service Canada, My Loudspeaker, the post-secondary community, and many change-making businesses from Metro Vancouver and beyond. It's called the XYBOOM Conference and it will be community-building at its finest!]

Vancouver, BC – January 10, 2012 – When a business loses an employee, it loses more than a staff member: employee turnover is estimated to cost more than double the cost of retainment. Loss of productivity, resources and time spent re-hiring and training are some of the burdens of employee replacement. The BC Business Council urges businesses to be more competitive in their retention strategies, suggesting investing in succession planning and staff development as solutions. The XYBOOM Conference seeks to address these issues with a dynamic, intergenerational approach.

Sustainable hiring systems and employee development and retention are key topics to be addressed at the conference on January 20th. This unique initiative, funded primarily by Service Canada brings togther business professionals and youth with experts from three generations – X,Y and Baby Boomer – to collaborate on finding strategies and solutions on mitigating the growing labour shortage.

The conference offers more than ten industry panelists who have diverse career backgrounds – including expertise in human resources, intercultural understanding, workplace organization and strategic marketing – as well as engaging, participatory workshops sessions, guaranteeing attendees will leave with strategies and insights on the issues at hand.

“The conference plays an important role in mitigating the pending labour shortage as baby boomers exit the workforce” says Alden Habacon, UBC Director of Intercultural Understanding Strategy Development and XYBOOM panelist. With baby boomers beginning to retire and a looming labour shortage, employee replacement is becoming a growing financial burden for unprepared businesses. Higher retention rates give businesses a competitive edge during labour shortages.

Business applications for XYBOOM will be accepted at www.xyboom.ca.

Hosted by My Loud Speaker, the XYBOOM Conference will be held on January 20th from 9-5pm at the Yaletown Roundhouse. This not-for-profit event will also include a live streaming feature for off-site youth participants across the Lower Mainland, XYBOOM awards for businesses, case study reports and an interactive art installation created by Gen Why Media Project at the W2 atrium from Jan 19-21st.

Please visit www.xyboom.ca for more information on the conference, issues at hand, and a complete guest panelist list.

Devon Wong – Media Relations
604 250 4662 | www.xyboom.ca
XYBOOM: January 20, 2012

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Masthead photo (The Train at the Roundhouse Theatre in Yaletown) courtesy of goldberg

The Art of the Thank You

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Wow. We’re almost in the middle of January. Have you thanked everyone for the holiday cheer upon-which they bestowed you?

It’s important to say thank you to people – or a community – who (or that) have done you right. Saying “thanks” is the good behaviour that builds the unshakeable blocks of a positive and productive community. Well, it’s not just good behaviour; it’s the right thing to do. And, whether you’re thanking someone for a gift, their hospitality, a delicious meal, or a kiss on New Year’s Eve, well-honed thanking-skills will make you a well-liked, respected and receiver-of-many-cool-free-things within your community.

All you need to do is follow this successful strategy for saying thanks.

First, here are three keys to a successful thank you:

1. Be Genuine. Mean what you say. Take some time to celebrate the gesture (gift, food, information interview, heirloom) by sharing with the giver of time/ideas/food/things how said gesture made you feel. Expressions like “Thanks very much for taking the time to cook such a delicious and nutritious meal, Mom. I know that you’re really busy and I appreciate the effort that you put into dinner. The leftovers will be great!”

2. Be Timely. Always ensure that your thank-you – be it written or verbal – happens soon after the gesture takes place. This could mean right after a big holiday meal or opening a gift. For written thank yous, such as emails or cards, try to get them in the mail or into the Internets within a day or so of the gesture taking place.

3. Be Specific. People will feel (and remember) the power of your thank-you when you focus on exactly what made/makes you so appreciative about the gesture. You might want to say, “Mom, I really appreciated the peas during dinner. They reminded me of growing up and making smiley-faces on my plate when I was 10 years old. I know peas aren’t really anyone else’s favourite thing, so thanks for doing that.”

In terms of the mediums of your thanking prowess, I always recommend a triple-bottom-line or “triple-threat” approach. [Editor's note: thank-yous should never be threatening]. First, say thank you in person, right away. Second, send a short and sweet email – follow the formula above )sometimes I list my “three favourite things” about the meal/visit/interview/party). Third, if the gesture is extra special, such as a year of yoga or, in the professional world, an information interview, then send along a handwritten thank you card. After all, everybody loves getting mail and your card will be on display as a constant reminder of how nice/awesome/thankful you are.

So there it is. The recipe for thanking people in your community.

Thank you for your time.

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Masthead photo courtesy of artnoose

The Early Entrepreneurs Experiment

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This is all kinds of community-awesome.

Earlier today, Friend of The ‘Boot, Zac Whyte, shared the video below, which is a very awesome Taylor Conroy’s Destroy Normal campaign. Check it out here:

Simply put, there needs to be more of this. Later this week I’m going to be writing a post about my volunteer experience with Vancouver’s Kidsafe Writers’ Room, and part of my article will discuss the creative horsepower of kids. The Early Entrepreneurs Experiment wonderfully gets to the heart of this fact, as it showcases how kids as young as six can have a positive impact on their classmates, their neighbourhoods and people from communities that are thousands of kilometers away.

Further to this, entrepreneurial projects provide exceptional educational testing grounds – or case studies – where learners can apply concepts (math, writing, performing, building, repairing, etc.) in an integrated capacity. Through such experiential learning, students have the opportunity to use multiple academic (and life) skills all at once in the same place as part of a team. In addition to a basic understanding of our interconnected global village as well as learning how to positively and successfully engage in the business of life provides youngsters with a head-start on building the skills that will help them to not just be – but to lead – the change that they want to see in this world.

Finally, never underestimate the power of kids’ creativity. Sir Ken Robinson has taught us that schools aren’t properly designed to engage and expand it with our communities’ kids. Which is why we should invest more in our kids’ ideas before they’re crushed by a system that encourages certain kinds of thinking that will prepare people to solve the same old problems in the same old way. And this isn’t a great way to be or to lead change.

Well done, kids!

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Masthead photo courtesy of Sustainable Sanitation

Rating Agencies: What’s Wrong With You?

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The financial crisis has tarnished many myths that have been presented as truths during the last decade or so – for example, lower taxes inevitably create wealth, autoregulation works, money trickles down, etc. However, many ideological and concrete elements of the international financial and economical system seem unwilling to die. The legitimacy and role enjoyed by rating agencies is one of them. My opinion on rating agencies is quite clear. The way they actually work is nonsense, hurtful and should be thrown out the window to set a new system.

What are we talking about exactly? There are only 3 major international rating agencies, all are private companies. Their role was initially to rate a business’ viability when entering the stock market to help investors and credit lenders make decisions. Starting in the 80′s, when states’ debts began representing huge financial opportunities, especially third world countries, theses agencies started rating countries as well. Now, they strongly influence the interest a country will pay to borrow on the international financial market. Let’s see what is wrong with all this.

First issue: rating agencies present their activities as simple technical-objective work while in reality they are extremely ideological in their core. For them, neoliberal economics is synonymous with economical science, leaving out a large part of economic thinking. For example, rating agencies do not accept Keynesian principles. A country trying to solve it’s problems applying Keynesian economics would therefore see its rating go down. I am not saying that they are wrong (actually, I am), but it is only my humble opinion. What is important here is that we are talking about IDEOLOGICAL positions, not technical work. Therefore, why should only one side be represented on such important issues? Especially when the ideological positions held by these agencies have proven themselves, if not always, often wrong. The 90′s and the 2001 Argentinean crisis, the highly regulated and robust banking system in Canada, and the Brazilian interventionist economical model are only a few examples of this.

Second issue: agencies do not even respect their own principles, namely competition. A few years ago (just before the international crisis broke out) I gave language classes – I will not say exactly which language, for those who know me might have a good laugh – to a few employees and directors in one of these agencies in their Buenos Aires office. It gave me the opportunity to talk with very interesting and smart individuals about their work. I pointed out to them 3 things that seemed problematic to my outsider eye:

1. An oligopoly, as there is not enough competition in a market limited to 3 companies.

2. Clear conflict of interest, as when they rate a business, guess who the client paying for the rating is – yes, that same business.

3. Considering the types of services they sell, they benefit from global economic growth, when more businesses need ratings for their investments, which translates into more business for them (and the other two agencies).

4. Little or no incentive to give bad ratings and jeopardize their own profits.

The employees basically answered my critiques with one simple and clear solution for these apparent problems: their work is based on reputation, so if they get it wrong they get discredited and lose clients. It seems very logical, but not in a 3 player worldwide market. It seemed obvious at the moment, and got even clearer when the financial crisis broke out that these structural contradictions make it impossible for the agencies to fill their role properly, which most importantly, is to give accurate information and evaluations of different actors (countries, businesses, etc.).

That’s all good, but how does it translate into the real world? The recent financial crisis has highlighted many of those problems. Agencies have given great ratings to crumbling institutions (Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs) and have provided their “seal of approval” to many toxic financial products that accelerated the crisis. To describe the agencies responsibility in the crisis, the US Senate Investigations Subcommittee (bipartisan) said: “when sound credit ratings conflicted with collecting profitable fees, credit rating agencies chose the fees.” Basically, they got it wrong and made money out of it. Following orthodox economics, they should be castigated, run out of business … well, that’s not what happened. Market principles might apply to those being rated, especially those unable to influence the agencies –yes, I’m looking at you Greece – but they certainly do not apply to those who are doing the rating. For rating agencies, it’s still business as usual.

Finally, one could make a case about the agencies’ usefulness in rating enterprises, with some competition and more public control mind you. However, are they equipped to rate countries? Considering that financial issues cannot be isolated from their political, social and cultural contexts, how can agencies adequately rate countries? They simply do not have the expertise to do so. Cutting social services such as health care and education engenders structural consequences a lot more complex then lowering one’s deficit, which in turn affects economic capabilities in the long run. Of course, sometimes it has to be done, but rating agencies, which base their ratings on these types of measures, don’t know anything about these complex consequences and do not pretend to either.

In short, collectively we should stop giving any importance to what rating agencies say. They are in a conflict of interest, are ideologically biased, lack the expertise to rate countries and most of all, their actions hurt millions of people for the benefit of a few. Governments are forced to implement reforms to satisfy the market in the short run, even though they are doomed to fail in the long run. Argentina got out of its terrible crisis at the beginning of the century when they stopped trying to get ratings. Hopefully we can learn from history for once.

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Masthead photo courtesy of Ken Lund (apparently it’s picture of a rating agency)

99 Ways to Leverage our Humanity – Part 4

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[Editor's note: And so concludeth the experiment. This has been an incredibly inspiring community-driven team effort - thanks to everyone who has contributed to this list! The world's Occupy Movements might be dwindling, resting or might just be unreported. Many elements of the Occupy Movement have issued demands. Personally, I see many problems with demands, as they imply binary-negotiating and/or unchangeable beliefs. Personally, I see more value and possibility in ideas and collaborative brainstorming - though this is a much harder process for certain. Some other folks share a love for collaboration and they have kindly offered their ideas in world-changing list-form. So, without further ado, here is the conclusion of this superawesome series that is meant to get our community thinking about how our brilliant, passionate, inspiring, adaptive, funny, delicious, healthy, and innovative humanity can make the world a better place. Thanks for the memories, everyone!].

How can we leverage our humanity to solve the world’s problems?

Here are ideas 1-25. And here are ideas 26-50. And here are ideas 51-75. And here are ideas 76-99:

  1. Repair things. Or at the very least bring things that need fixing to the people who know how to fix ‘em.
  2. Number 13 is solid, yes. Just don’t forget to hug your friends, too.
  3. Share in sport with people. Playing basketball, volleyball, soccer, football, rugby, and even non-sports like baseball represent a shared experience that transcends language and culture. And it keeps us healthy, too!
  4. Have an opinion about triple-bottom-line sustainability principles. Discuss these opinions at dinner parties.
  5. Speaking of discussions/arguments, don’t confuse disagreement with dislike or disrespect. Embrace the power of healthy debate – echo chambers aren’t incredibly innovative.
  6. Trust people.
  7. If your/our current political system is so uninspiring that you cannot bring yourself to participate in it, well, fair enough. Here’s the thing, though. Apathy makes winners of the corrupt. So, if you don’t like the system of which you’re a part find the other people that share your opinion/values/ideas and work together to change it.
  8. Speaking of Number 82, please don’t confuse this with anarchy. In fact, we can leverage our humanity by ensuring that whenever we meet any self-proclaimed anarchist who is not named Tyler Durden that we impose structure on their life in some way. This is both hilarious and meaningful, as it could be the thing that stops anarchists from breaking stuff with no positive outcome in mind.
  9. Explore spirituality that is different from the stuff on which you were raised.
  10. Work hard and be nice to people
  11. Be a doer, not a sayer. Too many people say things but never follow through
  12. Push your boundaries by reading something you wouldn’t otherwise pick up – if you need to, join a good book club to empower a thirst for different types of knowledge
  13. Help other people – I firmly believe the key to happiness for the vast majority of people is to spend a sizable (though not overwhelming) chunk of your life making others happy.
  14. Live near your work; walk wherever you can; cycle or bus the rest of the time
  15. Feel comfortable with modesty – feel convinced that big/flashy/expensive isn’t often necessary/better/preferable
  16. Trust in the universal strength of your own mind and body.
  17. Try not to life too much in the past, too much in the present, or too much in the future – all are important and should try to be balanced out
  18. While there are a lot of problems in the world, there are a lot of people who are doing a lot to solve them. Appreciate what people are currently doing and stay positive while constantly striving to make things better
  19. Don’t underestimate the impact your actions – however small they may be – can have
  20. Spend time with animals.They’re good for the soul.
  21. As a conversation starter, ask people what they’d most like to occupy. The answers will undoubtedly be hilarious and thought provoking.
  22. Volunteer for something meaningful all year long, not just during the holidays.
  23. Downsize your life. People can do more with less. Even better, we can do less with less.
  24. Read this series, as it’s a pretty great map for how to make the world a better place.

So there it is. Now get out there and occupy some of these ideas!

Exhibition Unites Energy with Art and Motion

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[Editor's note: sometimes Kurt and I get pretty darn busy with work, life, and Kurt's lifelong plan to ensure that Johnism becomes the ideology of the next 100 years. For these reasons, we will occasionally copy and paste press releases from cool organizations and call them "blog posts" - right now is one of those times].

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VANCOUVER: eatART presents an exhibition illuminating the connection between art and energy through photography, paintings, performances and art-in-motion at the Great Northern Way Campus on December 15th.

Exhibits include interactive touch sensitive sculptures, a wearable walking machine, the first walking electric vehicle, and a 50 ft electromagnetic snake.“We define energy as the exertion of vigour or power, and the vitality and intensity of expression,” said said Emily Hamilton, Curator and Co-executive Director of eatART. “Energy manifests through art through mood, emotion, movement, materials, narrative, connection with the viewer, and sources of power and light.

eatART is a volunteer-run charity organization that provides space and support artists, performers, engineers, and robotic sensationalists to gather, network and collaborate. “We give artists the opportunity to demonstrate their explorations of energy and sustainability, promote their message and to gain exposure,” added Ms. Hamilton.

The Hangar is the event space sponsored by the Great Northern Way Campus. Located in the Centre for Digital Media Arts, it echoes the narrative of this exhibition: an industrial past with an educational present.

ART WITH ENERGY

DATE: December 15th

TIME: 7 to 11pm, 6 to 11pm for Media

LOCATION: Great Northern Way Campus, The Hangar, map

ENTRY BY DONATION: All proceeds go to the eatART Foundation to support the artists.

ARTISTS:

  • Michael JP Hall – Realization
  • Vincent VanHaaff – Resonance
  • Leigh Christie – A New Industrial Utopia
  • Frederick Brummer – Dimension X
  • G?Bikes – Powering the Party
  • Raul Casillas – Entanglement
  • Jonathan Tippett – Prosthesis: The Anti Robot
  • mondo spider - The world’s first walking electric vehicle
  • Mark Illing – Clones are People Too
  • The Cooper Bros – Panoramic Photography
  • Titanoboa project – 50ft electromagnetic snake
  • Peter Holmes – Water Portraits

Website: http://artwithenergy.tumblr.com/Exhibition | www.eatART.org

©2009 eatART Foundation

 

Community Decision Making

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Last night I had a beer and a chat with a man who is is wise beyond his years. He shared with me some great ideas about decision making in organizational environments, such as charities, social enterprises, businesses, the government, the non-government, and neighbourhoods. My friend argued that there are four kinds of decisions that we make:

  1. The ones that the leader/boss makes with no input. “Alright, sailors, I burned our ships so that you will feel a great sense of commitment to this land and, most importantly, to me, Hernan Cortes, and not that jerk Governor of Cuba!”
  2. The ones that the leader/boss makes with consultative input to/from a team. “Hey, Vancouver, we’ve developed a plan to put bike lanes everywhere. Just a heads-up. Drive carefully!”
  3. The ones that the team/people make with consultative input to/from the leader. “Hey, boss. Because I’m a Millennial and I like to customize things, I created my own performance review based on my specific skills and interests – it just feels more me, you know? Would you have some time to review it before we use it to measure my awesomeness?”
  4. The ones that the team/people make with no input. “Dear CEO of our company, I just averted a potentially horrendous brand-epic-failure on Twitter by engaging the customer immediately and solving their problem right away; this involved giving them a free service/product that we make/provide.”

The idea here is that the most effective decisions for a thriving community come from the fourth point – when in possession of a strong vision, a clear set of principles, and a wicked-awesome plan, everybody in a community knows what to do and work/business/advocacy/change/governance happens as efficiently as it does strategically as it does quickly.

And then there’s the terrible state of our poor little planet and the important decisions that need to be made in order to sustain not lose half of the Earth’s population in a tsunami-nuclear-firestorm-hurricane-drought-war.

After chatting with my friend I came home and watched the video below, which was shared by my awesome sister.

I don’t know about you, but the idea of our global team making most of the decisions seems like the best solution for the many complex problems that lie before us. And, yes, I realize the incredibly/ridiculously complicated nature of doing this. And I also recognize that it’s time to try something new and ridiculous. Because the boring old stuff ain’t working.

99 Ways to Leverage Our Humanity – Part 3

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[Editor's note: I must start by saying that what unfolds below is a team effort - thanks to everyone who has contributed to this list! So, for better or worse, many parts of the world have been recently occupied - and in some places, like Vancouver, this may or may not be coming to an end. Many elements of the Occupy Movement have issued demands. Personally, I see many problems with demands, as they imply binary-negotiating and/or unchangeable beliefs. Personally, I see more value and possibility in ideas and collaborative brainstorming - though this is a much harder process for certain. Some other folks share a love for collaboration and they have kindly offered their ideas in world-changing list-form. So, without further ado, here is part three of a four-part series that is meant to get our community thinking about how our brilliant, passionate, inspiring, adaptive, funny, delicious, healthy, and innovative humanity can make the world a better place. Thanks for the memories, everyone!].

How can we leverage our humanity to solve the world’s problems?

Here are ideas 1-25. And here are ideas 26-50. And here are ideas 51-75:

  1. Hike.  Get out in nature’s bosom.  Commune with the forest spirits.  Skinny dip.  Roll in dirt.  It’s clean.  Sit.  Listen.  Yell!  Pee your name in the snow (men only, I think).  Play capture the flag.  Know Nature.  Know Its value to you personally.  Because you can’t want to protect something if you don’t even know what it is.
  2. Cycle.  You’ll see more and feel good.  Buy rain pants and suit up.  You’ll be dry under you clothes (and naked!).  Be visible.  Cyclists are the future:  fuckin non-motorized, non-electronic cyborgs on wheels.
  3. Draw.  Not for art’s sake.  For communicating.  Long before we wrote, we drew.  On cave walls and on bark and hide.  Appreciate the symbolic nature of signs and symbols, and the miracle that allows all humans to interpret them.  Ed Emberley is a prophet.
  4. Drink.  Water.  H2O.  Its ubiquity only adds to its many mysteries.
  5. Learn.  A language.  Or several.  Or even just a smattering of words.  Knowing another’s tongue is the quickest way to break the ice and will allow you to more easily understand ‘the other’.
  6. Objectify.  Be partial.  Know that your opinions are opinions and based on what you believe you know.  Do not mistake passion for rightfulness.  Choose to be emotional; do not make emotional choices.
  7. Listen.  You talk too much.  Listening allows for ideas to reveal themselves to speakers who may not even know they have such ideas.  If you can’t listen, pretend to listen, as this often has the same effect.
  8. Keep.  Imbue physical objects with meaning.  A ring, a rock, or even a house.  We are physical creatures living in a physical world, not virtual avatars.  Don’t tear down old buildings.  Believe in ghosts and spirits.
  9. Teach.  To teach is to learn well.  Whether it be abstract or practical knowledge, by teaching it you will learn it deeper, and it will become you.
  10. Smile.  In monkeys it lowers tension and creates group harmony.  We are all monkeys.  Faking is acceptable as it often leads to the real thing.  Emotions and your facial muscles are inextriclaby linked. You can fool your own brain.
  11. Don’t.  Don’t do anything.  Eke.  Survive.  Be simple.  Learn the art of inertia.  Laziness is godliness.  The planet will thank you for it.
  12. Think critically. Do not accept things for what they are and ask lots and lots of questions.
  13. Perform. Sock puppets, Shakespeare, Improv, and Musicals are great ways to tell stories as well as tackle the pesky problem of fearing public speaking.
  14. Dance with people. And, to quote a wise man named Jim, “never let the rhythm control your dancing.”
  15. It might’ve been said before but it bears repeating: learn another language. This will help when you visit other places. And it will really help you visit communities not just tourist attractions.
  16. Have heroes and role models who exist in the real world, not the hyper-sexed and overly violent fictional worlds of so much media.
  17. Send handwritten thank you cards. First, because it’s the right thing to do. Second, people love getting mail and, let’s face it, the cards are outstanding advertising for your personal brand!
  18. Be skeptical and question authority. This doesn’t mean rebelling against anything and everything; it just means that you shouldn’t take everyone at their word all the time.
  19. Strive to be a bit more of an armchair economist so that you can understand – and share knowledge about – the complex workings of the global financial system.
  20. Commit to keeping the complex complex. Sometimes simple solutions come at the erosion and sacrifice of necessarily complex and important things.
  21. Remember that the things you own end up owning you. The only logical solution here is for you to give your things away so that they can own other people.
  22. Take off/out your headphones and/or earbuds and listen to the world around you. This will expose you to funny things, interesting things, and things that will inspire you to engage members of your community in conversation.
  23. Collaborate. Like a symphony. Working together is the only way that we’re going to pull ourselves out of this mess.
  24. Find common ground with someone who has a totally different worldview than you. It’s possible. I mean, Kurt and John do it every day on this blog!
  25. Recognize that humanity’s adaptability will see us through tsunamis, earthquakes, peak oil, and the zombie apocalypse; however, there will be catastrophic collateral damage and many of us will not survive the next 100 years. Try your best to be okay with this fact and also try really, really hard to not be a weird survivalist who makes people super uncomfortable while riding the bus…

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Masthead photo courtesy of Kurt Heinrich, who is awesome.

99 Ways to Leverage our Humanity – Part 2

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[Editor's note: I must start by saying that what unfolds below is a team effort - thanks to everyone who has contributed to this list! So, for better or worse, many parts of the world have been recently occupied - and in some places, like Vancouver, this may or may not be coming to an end. Many elements of the Occupy Movement have issued demands. Personally, I see many problems with demands, as they imply binary-negotiating and/or unchangeable beliefs. Personally, I see more value and possibility in ideas and collaborative brainstorming - though this is a much harder process for certain. Some other folks share a love for collaboration and they have kindly offered their ideas in world-changing list-form. So, without further ado, here is part two of a four-part series that is meant to get our community thinking about how our brilliant, passionate, inspiring, adaptive, funny, delicious, healthy, and innovative humanity can make the world a better place. Thanks for the memories, everyone!].

How can we leverage our humanity to solve the world’s problems?

Here are ideas 1-25. And here are ideas 26-50:

  1. Find photos from the nineteenth century. Strive to emulate the facial hair styles found in the photos. It is hard to take yourself too seriously with a silly looking beard or mustache and the world would likely be a better place if we all took our ourselves less seriously.
  2. Find your passion. And help others find theirs, too.
  3. Volunteer at something. It could totally sync with your interests and talent and get you the experience you need to start a career, or it could be a task, trade or activity that makes a difference and/or brings you pure joy.
  4. Strive to eat foods that are inspired by other cultures and contain locally harvested ingredients.
  5. Go camping. And take an urbanite with you so that they can see the stars!
  6. Honour your grandparents. Ask them to talk about their lives. Listen with pure love.
  7. Practice compassion. You may not be able to take on all causes, but you can send your support in spirit. Leverage those warm fuzzies, draw from the marrow of your own sorrows, and send loving understanding out to all who struggle.
  8. Forgive someone. Feel that painful weight you’ve held in your chest for years? Let it go.
  9. Come to your senses, and no, I don’t mean your common sense. Savour delicious morsels, pause to listen to cello players peeling out beauty in the subway, lift your face up to the sun.
  10. Another way to leverage your humanity is to make out more often. Grab your lover and take luscious long moments to reconnect. Simple pleasures will fuel you in the good fight.
  11. Do whatever you can to empower women, especially in the developing world. Honestly, doing what we can to be in possession of more female leaders will make the world a better place.
  12. Speaking of #31, to the senior citizens (about 78% of our readership) out there, leverage your epic knowledge of life, the universe and everything and tell it to one, or several, young person/people.
  13. Speaking of #37, which spoke of #31, to the young people (about 4% of our readership) out there, write down our elders’ life lessons. Ideally, digitize them on the Internets.
  14. Google “Slow Food.” When you begin to think about the taste and texture of what you consume, you also start to think about the quality of your food and where it comes from — it’s amazing what we realize when we slow things down.
  15. Watch a TED talk once a week. Start with this one.
  16. If you have children or you want to have children, consider what poet Kahlil Gibran wrote: “ You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the earrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.”
  17. Laughter feels so good. Find the “funny” in as many things as you can. People are more likely to listen if they think you don’t take yourself too seriously.
  18. Take the opportunity to gain a basic understand of how the law works; of how your body works, of how your car works and how your computer works. And the teach your children. It’s nice to be able to fix even the most basic of problems, yourself.
  19. Personally, I think this is one of the most important things you can possibly do to change the world: tell the people you love, like, and care about how you feel about them. Today. This week. This year. Text, email, call or set up a coffee date. It’s hard at first but if we close ourselves off to the words that heal others, we risk hurting ourselves.
  20. Start a book club and hand over your reading time to someone else — you never know where inspiration is going to come from.
  21. Continue to give to charities but consider whether the non-profits you support encourage the people on the other end to climb up and out of poverty and prosper. Kiva is a great organization to start with as well as charity:water.
  22. Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. Also, let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.
  23. Get involved in mentoring; inspire someone who is coming up in the world and also soak up wisdom and experience from people who have been where you want to go and done what you’re planning to do.
  24. Listen actively and carefully. Showing that your absorbing someone else’s story is a immensely rewarding experience both for yourself and for the one telling the story.
  25. Have children. The world recently reached 8 billion and we have a population crisis. Yet, having a child can be the ultimate affirmation that another life will make your world better.

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Masthead photo courtesy of Kurt Heinrich, who is awesome.

99 Ways to Leverage Our Humanity

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[Editor's note: I must start by saying that what unfolds below is a team effort - thanks to everyone who has contributed to this list! So, for better or worse, many parts of the world have been recently occupied - and in some places, like Vancouver, this may or may not be coming to an end. Many elements of the Occupy Movement have issued demands. Personally, I see many problems with demands, as they imply binary-negotiating and/or unchangeable beliefs. Personally, I see more value and possibility in ideas and collaborative brainstorming - though this is a much harder process for certain. Some other folks share a love for collaboration and they have kindly offered their ideas in world-changing list-form. So, without further ado, here is part one of a four-part series that is meant to get our community thinking about how our brilliant, passionate, inspiring, adaptive, funny, delicious, healthy, and innovative humanity can make the world a better place. Thanks for the memories, everyone!].

How can we leverage our humanity to solve the world’s problems?

  1. Read and teach more history so that we understand where we’ve come from and that we’re going into a dark and scary place if we keep up this path of taking, making and wasting nature, people, and the environment.
  2. Count back your ancestors to the early decades of the Industrial Revolution (mid-18th century). Think about how far we have come in so few generations. Think about the costs. Try to imagine the world and your decedents in two centuries (six to eight generations) time.
  3. Make people laugh (I recommend Demetri Martin) or wear funny/awesome superhero costumes on days that aren’t Halloween.
  4. Play sports, particularly soccer, as it is the most accessible and global-reaching sport that we have going at the moment.
  5. Throw and attend dinner parties.
  6. Embrace used corduroy things, for they are artifacts of a noble and honourable fabric.
  7. Create art and artists, support artists and their art.
  8. Stop for a moment and refocus on your mission, you’ve probably strayed a little from your core goal and a little refocusing will help you do the good you originally planned. *unless you’re @cobracommander, then please feel free to be distracted.
  9. Learn to play an instrument from another culture. Bongos/congas/the ukulele count if you’re North American.
  10. Plant stuff, all over the place.
  11. Get a bike, get on that bike, and ride through your communities. You’ll discover where you live is way more interesting than you ever thought it was from your car, and you’ll be doing your part to help alleviate the obesity crisis as well.
  12. Do something really nice for someone completely out of the blue. Make sure it’s not in response to something nice they did for you.
  13. Hug a stranger.
  14. Befriend a farmer. A lot of them are nice people and they have a lot to teach us. Plus they make it possible to buy good, local and healthy food in bulk, dropping the price point down from the farmers markets or yuppie focused organic butcher shops.
  15. Spend time writing. The internet makes consuming culture very easy and I imagine many of us are reading, watching and listening to a wide range of content every day. Creating is a very different process and it helps focus the mind and forces you to really think through your opinions. If you need an outlet, I imagine the Daily Gumboot is still accepting applications.
  16. Read Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man. Think about our government. Imagine ways to change it, improve it, and fix it. Don’t give up on representative democracy. It is still a radical ideal that we need to strive towards; not something we need to replace.
  17. Try to learn something new every day. Continual passion for learning can only lead to growth and development – a crucial foundation to soling the world’s problems
  18. When you disagree with someone, try to understand the situation from their perspective. And be open to changing your stance. Defensiveness has not gotten anyone anywhere.
  19. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that owning more things will make you more happy. It will not.
  20. Travel.
  21. Read item #16. In addition to striving for representative democracy, strive for deliberative democracy.
  22. Master a craft and share it.  None of us are good at everything but we’re all good at something.  Figure out what that something is and pursue it.  Look for mentors as you learn the craft and once you’ve mastered it become a mentor.
  23. Embrace the spirit of the Infinite Tomato Project to make your home more food secure.  Learn how to save seeds, grow your own food, cook what you’ve grown, preserve the harvest, and become attuned with the seasons.
  24. Ferment things in your home, whether bread, pickles, beer or wine.  Yeast are micro-organisms that humanity has been cooking with for at least 4,000 years.  In today’s fast-food culture they can teach us patience as they take hours, weeks or years to do their work.
  25. Do something new every month to reduce your environmental footprint.  Completely changing lifestyles that we are accustomed to is hard.  Gradually introducing new behaviours and focusing on one thing at a time makes it easier.

Part 2 (ideas 26-50) will be on the blog next Monday, November 28.

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Masthead photo courtesy of Kurt Heinrich, who is awesome.