Dialogue

2010: Serving the Emerging Paradigm

By December 28, 2009

by Pia Infante In this New York Times’ 2009 Year in Pictures snapshot, I was reminded that this Administration, for all its disappointed high hopes for year one, does attempt/intend to do a successively modern iteration of public dialogue.  And even though this picture documents the improbable meeting of four men, the public dialogue I’m…

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What are the Rules of Engagement in Copenhagen?

By December 8, 2009

By Pia Infante As the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen kicks off a two-week gathering of 110 world leaders and roughly 15,000 delegates, I must admit that I’m intensely fascinated about the mechanisms for dialogue and decision-making at an event that some analysts have already predicted will fall quite short of a unilaterally…

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With Or Without God

By November 23, 2009

A couple of experiences of late call my attention to a rather large question. First, I sang with my choir at the How Sweet The Sound gospel choir competition to 13,000 people who congregated to hear gospel music… which is, well, about God, or Spirit, or the Universe, or the Divine Essence, or the vast…

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Beyond the Rockstar Paradigm

By October 29, 2009

During a plenary at TWI grantee Interfaith Youth Core’s conference Interfaith Youth Work: “Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World”, I was struck by Representative Keith Ellison’s, 5th Congressional District of Minnesota, vehement statement: “let’s differentiate between leaders and leadership.”  Clearly positional leaders can demonstrate very little leadership while those of us without positional authority can offer…

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Indepedent Sector's Future Lab: They Built It and They're Not Coming

By October 21, 2009

By John Esterle I recently got another email from Independent Sector trying to solicit input and ideas for Future Lab: An Ongoing Challenge for the Nonprofit Community to Chart a Vibrant 2020. The Lab is a well-intentioned effort to promote online dialogue and collaborative thinking that IS has clearly devoted considerable time, energy, and money…

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