Dear Valued Associate, Back with another newsletter, as the creator intended. You’ve probably been seeing a lot of intentionally distracting publicity about “fake news” the past few weeks, as well as a lot of disturbing new data about the tragic loss of so many small town newspapers in this country. It reminded me of something that… read more →
Dear Valued Associate, And on a lighter note, welcome to spring – Easter’s on its way! This month’s issue is made from powdered wildflowers, baby bunnies and sunshine. So pull up a chair, click on side 1 of Led Zeppelin 4 and enjoy this current installment. Stay curious, Godec Facilitating Tough Crowds and Understanding Outrage… read more →
Are You Informed? If you’re at all familiar with the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Public Participation Spectrum, you know that the listed range of public influence level categories begins with ‘Inform’. And if you learned about the Spectrum from a licensed IAP2 instructor, you should also have learned that just ‘informing’ people, in… read more →
Dear Valued Associate, I saw former FBI Director James Comey speak a few weeks ago. Regardless of how you actually feel about him, he’s an interesting guy – and really tall. He talked about focusing on ‘the good that follows the bad’, which, as you can imagine, serves him pretty well these days. He also… read more →
Facilitation Tips and Belonging to a Gang? I belong to a motorcycle gang. I’m also in a bicycle club. I never go to the meetings, I don’t actually know many of the other respective members, and I don’t usually see them unless we meet on the road, but we have a bond and a code… read more →
Dear Valued Associate, Punxsutawney Phil crawled out of his burrow on Groundhog Day and did not see his shadow, which means six more episodes of Gwyneth Paltrow selling organic cucumber colon cleansers on Netflix. In honor of this occasion, here’s a wide ranging smorgasbord of ideas and tips that I think you’ll find useful. TPC wants… read more →
Dear Valued Associate, I’ve rewritten this intro several times in the past few days but it never felt quite right, and then I facilitated a meeting last week. It was with a group of people representing various interests that have been meeting regularly for a couple of years to build consensus on an important and complex… read more →
Dear Valued Associate, In the spirit of the season I remember a quote by Thomas Paine (the Common Sense guy) who said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” On that note, 2019 may test democracy more than it’s been tested in a very long time, and go… read more →
Dear Valued Reader, You can breathe now. The campaigns are over, you may now safely return to your television. Living in a key battleground state, I’ve enjoyed the most expensive U.S. Senate race in history and some of the most vitriolic and vicious ads for a whole range of offices that have ever been produced. It’s… read more →
What is Normal? A constantly changing normal is the new normal. When you think about it, you realize that time changes all of us and makes the previously odd or out of place common and more acceptable. Consider fashion, music, or attitudes about right, wrong, fairness or honesty. Change happens, and people and their values… read more →