I went to the Champions for Change gathering to challenge my skepticism about community impact. I am glad I did. I advanced my thinking on a number of things, and I loved the oatmeal for breakfast, a Tamarack tradition.

This piece is about our practice as community workers, our mindset, our tendencies to resist the transformative leap. Sometimes it feels like we are standing on the edge of convention, a wide chasm between us and the “New World,” and looking down at the gremlins of risk and failure.

Often we learn from being dysfunctional, performing poorly, or getting too positional. This is a short lesson I learned.

Despite the fact that collaboration is not an end in and of itself and not always necessary, the non-profit sector has convinced itself it is must be done, no matter what. It’s like the salt we automatically shake over the food on our dinner plate, without so much as a thought as to why.

This posting is from a manuscript in progress that explores mythologies around such things as collaboration, partnerships, competition, and duplication of services.

I wonder. Have we have been hoodwinked. co-opted, and led to the altar of a false god – or at the very least, an imperfect one?

Over the years I have been blessed to work with many different leaders and to hold leadership positions myself. Here a few tips I have picked up along the way.

Like most people, I wish for a lot of things in my life. I hope my children will be happy. I hope my family loves me as much as I love them. I would like more money, who wouldn’t? I hope for less violence and pain in the world. I also wish I could be more like Ernie.

An Edmonton report on the increasing pressure to move the homeless along.