I need more STAN in My Life - Do You?

I need more STAN in my life - for myself, my clients, my students, my family! STAN? Yup, Science, Technology, Art & Nonsense - STAN. STAN takes STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math) to another level.

Nonsense, the essence of STAN, puts the whimsical, visionary, inventive and innovative on equal footing with Science, Technology and Art (and engineering and math). Nonsense isn’t frivolity ~ it’s the power of wonder, imagination and creativity we had as children and somehow lost along the way.

Our organizations and companies are suffering from a lack of Nonsense. They are starving to imagine what is possible. Hey, Blue Lobsters may be 1 in 2 million, but they exist! So, this week, infuse a touch of STAN into your day ~ a wisp of whimsy into a meeting, an iota of the improbable into a project, a slight to the status quo. Please email me about what you discover!

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A special thank you to Scott Nash, co-founder of 1 of my favorite organizations, The Illustration Institute, for coining the term STAN. See some of his whimsy here.

Break the Model! How Challenging Status Quo Makes Lasting Impact

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I want to share the amazing work of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio*. They are the epitome of how to create an amazing strategic plan that achieves their mission and vision in innovative ways will (hopefully) make them no longer needed. This is not about virtue signaling, but rather my admiration and respect for their foresightful planning, impact, and gratitude for their CEO, Julie Chase-Morefield and team.

Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) started as a small local food bank serving four rural counties west of Cleveland, Ohio, and is now THE community convener for sustainable ways to reduce hunger. Their mission "Grow hope in our region by creating pathways to nutritious food," and vision of "A brighter future for all by cultivating a healthy, hunger-free community" are being achieved because SHFB doesn’t think like a traditional food bank.

Unlike most food banks that focus on the needs of the organizations that distribute the food (food pantries), SHFB focuses on the needs, constraints, and daily contexts of actual community members who need food. They treat ALL community members with dignity and respect, without judgment or prejudice, because every human deserves dignity.

SHFB has piloted and validated innovative food distribution models, such as putting pantries in local public schools - a huge success. Kids take food home to their family for dinner and weekends, reducing hunger. When COVID hit, SHFB deployed mobile pantries, serving up to 30,000 households a month. The demand for mobile pantries still continues, with 10 to 12 distributions a month even now.

SHFB has several initiatives underway to sustainably reduce hunger, such as partnering with social, health, legal, housing, job, government, and education organizations in creating a downtown HUB in Sandusky, OH and piloting SNAP Outreach 2.0 to raise awareness and support the completion of applications in their region. They have established a county-wide Food Advisory Council with Lorain, OH, to increase access to and consumption of healthy food via a "Food as Medicine" platform with healthcare providers while increasing economic development through urban farm and retail expansion (aided by a USDA grant).

Despite a 40% increase in the need for food, increases in the cost of food and cuts in funding, SHFB remains optimistic that their initiatives will sustainably reduce food insecurity in their region. They’ve already started and made an impact. I have no doubt they will significantly increase food security - and the well-being and futures of those they serve. So, please click the links, look at their plan, learn from how they leverage the strengths of others in creating their initiatives. There is so much to learn! Don’t lose the opportunity!

*Yes, SHFB is a client, but it’s not clear who really benefits as I have learned so much from working with them and am such a better person for it.  Yes, I am in the video (ugh!) – and it’s all true – SHFB is a superb organization with excellent leadership.  No, you can’t hire them away, but yes, they are hiring - go work for them!

What If We Become Radically Amazed?

Mid-April, Pemaquid, Me ~ budding begins

I’ve been wondering what habits, patterns, mindsets will remain post-COVID and which will just go away. There is one habit I’m trying to keep and I invite you to make it part of your ‘new norm’ too. It’s the habit of Radical Amazement. What the heck is that, you ask. Well, I shall answer! Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (one of my all time sages) winsomely said, ““Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.” Why? Because “Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation.”*

Mackerel Sky” so named since it looks like the scales of a mackerel

I’ve spent a lot of time looking upward this past year plus. Literally and metaphorically. The colors, patterns, movement, sounds of creatures, breezes, gusts and silence of blue, clouds, canopies, greens, whites, grays. Every single day, I am Radically Amazed at the sky (ok, Maine sky). It never gets old, it never gets less majestic, mystical, magical and stunningly beautiful. It is different every minute, hour, day and yet the same ~ a paradox of the new and the steadfast.

Please join me in Radical Amazement. Today, this week, just go outside for a few minutes and look around - take a short walk, look at the trees, grass, flowers, creatures, everything and anything, feel the breeze, cherish the stillness, and dwell in some radical amazement to rejuvenate your mind and soul … to appreciate all that we have and are despite everything, all that remains glorious despite us. And if you’re willing, share it with me here. I wish you the joy and serenity of Radical Amazement.

*Abraham Joshua Heschel’s “G-d In Search of Man”