Dr. Allen asked me to write a fourth blog yet again from just ten minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. If you read my last blog, you know that we experienced another COVID-19 surge a few weeks ago. The good news now is that California has...
I have been following the news with interest as our government declares a succession of job categories as “essential to the economy.“ This trend began with the usual sectors like energy, infrastructure, IT and communications, but has rapidly expanded to individual...
In a 24/7 news cycle, we focus on events as if they are discrete and separate from each other. This way of reporting doesn’t help us understand or make meaning of the world around us. It’s like our stories are all moving parts on a dance floor. Dancers would...
Definition of jitterbug intransitive verb. 1 : to dance the jitterbug. 2 : to move around or back and forth with quick, often jerky movements Many of us are trying to understand and create meaning around the social justice, public health and climate disruptions ...
My annual visit to the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota is a personal tradition this time of year. After six months of working from my home office it was wonderful to drive for four hours and not end up in the same place I left! Being in a different...
A Disruptive Report Card Report cards are feedback loops on how well we are doing in different subjects. I thought it would be fun to create a Disruptive Report Card that provides feedback on how well we are adapting and leading in this time of major disruption. You...
My colleague wrote this piece a few months ago. When I read the quote “As a civilization, this is the moment when we either learn how to fly or we come crashing down,” the post grabbed me immediately. I’m republishing it here, with Michelle’s...
The Curve is Back and We are Back to Pause and Reflect My name is David Erskine and Dr. Kathleen Allen asked me to write a third blog from just ten minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. As you may be aware, California has re-closed its...
Katie Boone is a colleague of mine who does system change work from her position as Innovation Manager at the Future Services Institute based in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. We were talking the other day about how intentional...
On June 25, 2020 I hosted a call with three colleagues as part of our Leading Through Disruption series. In these Zoom calls, we use nature’s adaptive cycle to frame the topics. With its 3.8-billion-year history of helping nature adapt to disruptions and change,...
