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 A free e-newsletter spotlighting systemic thinking and innovations in leadership, management, and organizational development. Please forward to your colleagues. 
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FACE
TO FACE Weaving Relationships, Shifting Mental Models: An Interview with Sayra Pinto |
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PEGASUS
CONFERENCE UPDATE |
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LEARNING
LINKS A New Executive Curriculum |
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FACE
TO FACE
LP: What was happening in Fitchburg and Leominster that necessitated this regional initiative to support education in the Latino community? SP: These “twin cities” are experiencing a number of issues universal to smaller urban centers. For decades, they have been in economic decline. And over the same period, the Latino community has grown exponentially; it now comprises 40 percent of the total population of Fitchburg and 22.5 percent of the total population of Leominster. Nevertheless, over the last 35 years, there has been little progress in integrating Latinos into the mainstream community here. Leadership is needed to ensure access to employment, good housing, and education. LP: What efforts had been made in this area prior to the inception of the Coalition, and how did they set the stage for your work? SP: The Spanish American Center has been working steadily at the grassroots level for almost 40 years. Under the direction of Neddy Latimer and Angelita Santiago, they have built a network of people with a reputation for being credible, compassionate, and values-driven. But various dynamics—racism and poverty—have kept them pretty isolated and limited. With the confluence of forces supported by the emergence of the Coalition, I hope we can help the Center expand from a reactive social service framework to become the locus for leadership development work in the Latino community. Another leader who has been pivotal in this area is Dr. Asquino. As president of the local community college for the last 19 years, he has been building an agenda around civic engagement and service learning while encouraging the college to be rooted in the community. He has, in his own way, been building capacity for the region to meet these leadership challenges. LP: Tell us how the Coalition goes about its work. SP: It originated as part of a larger effort, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, to assemble cross-sector multi-stakeholder teams to look at educational challenges for the Latino community in three Massachusetts cities: Holyoke, Worcester, and the twin cities area. We were the only group that took a systems thinking approach and committed to having a broad community development agenda. We knew that the key to sustainable systemic change lay in shifting mental models. So, we adopted the approach of using organizational structures already engaged in some kind of systemic change effort—grassroots, business, civic, or educational structures—and infusing the concepts of dialogue and values alignment to help stakeholders talk with and understand each other. |
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PEGASUS
CONFERENCE UPDATE
New
Keynote Presenters Bring Global Foresight and Visionary Leadership
Early
Registration Rates for 2006 Conference |
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LEARNING
LINKS What is the most valuable contribution executives make to their companies, expertise or leadership? I say leadership. The latest scientific findings indicate that brainy but dogmatic bosses rarely rise to be stars in an age when organizational speed and flexibility are the keys to survival. Time magazine sifted through the current thinking and reported, “New brain research suggests that emotions, not IQ, may be the true measure of human intelligence.” If the evolutionary pressures of the marketplace make EQ, not IQ, the hot ticket for business success, individual executives need to know how to cultivate it. I have a proposal: embrace a highly personal practice aimed at improving these four adaptive skills: 1. Practice Self-Awareness. Think of this as thinking differently on purpose and noticing what you’re feeling and thinking. 2. Use Imagery. Set aside time each day to dream about what you want to achieve. 3. Frame and Reframe Events. Every time something important happens, assign as many interpretations to it as possible. Then go with the interpretation most supportive of your dreams. 4. Integrate the Perspectives of Others. The next time someone interprets something differently than you do, pause to consider that a gift of perception is being offered, if you’ll only accept it. Although the recommendations suggested above may appear simplistic, they are based on what we know about the mechanisms of the mind. The bad news: it’s hard to change the power of habits. The good news is that it is possible to change our behaviors. But you must have a discipline for doing it. Read the complete article or see The Systems Thinker, V14N3 (April, 2003). Subscribe to The Systems Thinker |
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| Copyright 2006 Pegasus Communications. Leverage Points® can be freely forwarded by e-mail in its entirety. To obtain rights to distribute paper copies of, reproduce, or excerpt any part of Leverage Points, please contact permissions@pegasuscom.com. | |||||||||||||
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Linda
Booth Sweeney is a researcher and systems
educator with a doctorate from Harvard’s
Graduate School of Education. She has
been a key contributor at recent Pegasus
Conferences, where her weaving and thematic
integration have fostered deeper learning
and understanding.
Co-authored
by Dennis Meadows, the Playbook gives step-by-step
instructions for exercises/games designed
to stretch and build learning and systems
thinking capabilities. A new DVD in the
package includes videos that illustrate
good practice in introducing and running
30 games. An ideal resource for facilitators
working with aspiring systems thinkers,
the Playbook is packed with enjoyable,
hands-on exercises, powerful debriefs,
and "Voices from the Field."
When
a Butterfly Sneezes: A Guide for Helping
Kids Explore Interconnections in Our
World Through Favorite Stories
Buy
Volume 16 (2005) and get a 1-year
newsletter subscription or renewal
at less than half
the
price!
Sayra
Pinto is
the director of the Twin Cities Latino Coalition, a community
organization in northern Massachusetts that applies systems
thinking concepts in building cross-sectoral alliances with
the aim of ensuring that Latino families achieve their highest
potential. In a forum session at the November Pegasus Conference,
Sayra and coalition partners Ed Cronin, the chief of police
in Fitchburg, MA, Dr. Daniel Asquino, the president of Mt.
Wachusett Community College, Dr. Sergio Paez of the Leominster
Public Schools, Angelita Santiago of the Fitchburg Public
Schools, and Neddy Latimer, Executive Director of the Spanish
American Center in Leominster, will share stories and lessons
from their work together.
Eamonn
Kelly is the author of Powerful Times: Rising
to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World, and CEO of Global
Business Network (GBN). He is central to GBN’s leadership
role in the evolution and application of scenario thinking and strategic
conversation to help organizations change and innovate in fundamental
ways.
Roger
Saillant is president and CEO of Plug Power, an innovative
fuel cell manufacturer that is changing the way energy is harnessed,
distributed and used. With equal measures of vision, humility and
drive, Roger models a tireless leadership style grounded in the
knowledge that the work we undertake today will never be completed
in our lifetimes.
The
Westin Hotel in Waltham will provide an intimate and community-friendly
atmosphere. But space will be limited! So, we encourage you to
register as soon as possible. Sign up by April 23 for only
$1150. Additional discounts for teams
of 4 or more! Also, take advantage of a special subscription price
for The
Systems Thinker® Newsletter—only $89 for a one-year
subscription when you register (regularly $109).