lotusmedia 2.0

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation were all founded between 1915 and 1920. I usually refer to organizations this old as “dinosaurs” due to the incredible inertia that comes from being so big and being around for so many decades. I am really impressed with my colleagues at the FOR. They are really open to innovation and change. In my first week on the job, we began a blog and secured a space in Second Life!

I won’t have time to do much in SL this week because I will be traveling with about a half-dozen FOR colleagues to the US Social Forum. You can follow our exploits by way of our new blog: FORpeace.net !

If you want to see more dinosaurs evolving into full-fledged 21st century organizations, please support this effort by commenting on the blog, linking to us, or even giving money through our Change widget (right). Next on tap: social networking, RSS feeds, a whole new web site, and about a dozen internal improvements to get us really cooking with gas. It’s going to be a busy year.
Keep reading A great leap forward »

Almost a month ago, I wrote about leaving my job at Netcentric Campaigns in search of something that would make me happier while continuing my own growth professionally and personally. I laid out what I wanted from a new job:

1. Collaborative organizational structure supported by democratic management.
2. Openness to innovation at the strategic and technological levels.
3. Ability to telecommute…
4. Passion for what I’m doing…

- lotusmedia 2.0 » A brave new world

And I also mentioned in that post that I had a job interview the following day. It was with the Fellowship of Reconciliation for the position of Communication Co-coordinator. That phone interview went very well, which led to an in-person meeting, which led to a job offer, which led to a bit of a dilemma for me. I was at the point of looking ahead at the wide world of options, activating my social networks, and also looking forward to a break from work. Along came a perfectly good offer that more than met my criteria, but I was just starting my job search, not ready to end it.

I spent some time contemplating (while participating in the NetSquared conference), I spoke to colleagues, I listened to friends. I finally decided that although the timing was not ideal, this job was a very good fit, especially in terms of the criteria I had already developed. I took the job!
Keep reading Working for peace »

I just renewed my lapsed membership the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in honor of their new new Executive Director. Since they are based in San Fransisco, I don’t know much about their internal workings, but I know there have been some stumbles in the past. (Like when Diana Winston, who founded their incredible BASE program, was let go.)

I am happy to see that the new BPF director is Earthlyn Manuel, an African-American woman with a history of addressing oppression of many kinds. She seems to have all the requisite Buddhist cred, but also represents the necessary challenge to dominant culture that is an essential part of being an Engaged Buddhist.

She also has one of the coolest names I have heard in a while.