The one thing (well, there are actually many things) that I love about doing my work through Imago is that I get to create a work environment that honors broad commitments and cultivates flexibility and responsiveness to life’s ebbs and flows.

But it hasn’t always been that way, and much of the work world is still operating from a 9 to 5, rigidly scheduled workday (or night). Enter a new trend: the results only work environment, based on what gets accomplished, but not how.

NPR has done a really fascinating three-part series on this new trend, and how it is applied to different work environments, even hourly positions. You can access the series by going here.

Anyone out there working in a flexible environment? What’s it look like?

The following video may be a bit tongue in cheek, but in all honesty, it isn’t that far off. There has been much conversation in recent months and years about the importance of acknowledging and learning from the full range of experience on the continent of Africa, and supporting the innate capacity of all Africans to help themselves and create their own solutions (as all humans can and do).

The same conversation needs to happen here in the U.S., too. And, luckily in some quarters, it is. How often do we in the nonprofit and philanthropic community, while having the best intentions, see ourselves as “saving” or “giving voice” to those “less fortunate?” I have long respected the work of John McKnight, and was forever changed by the perspective shift I gained from reading his book  The Careless Society. Check out his work through the Asset-Based Community Development Institute for tools that could radically change how you engage in community change work.

The Nonprofit Quarterly has devoted its summer issue to exploring the role of nonprofits in immigration issues. From the editors:

“Every nonprofit has a stake in how our nation deals with immigrants, including “unauthorized” or “undocumented” immigrants…with the recent increase in enforcement efforts, the delay of the immigration reform discussion in Congress and the passing of Senator Kennedy who was a pivotal advocate for rational Federal policy, it’s an important time for us all to pay attention and take action.”

In order to make this issue of the journal as accessible as possible, NPQ has dedicated webspace to host supplemental web-only articles, updates and resources. You can access the site here.

Please forward liberally to your friends and colleagues.

Recently This American Life released a special show about the housing crisis, which has been at the forefront of many of our hearts and minds for months. The show is a first-time collaboration between This American Life and National Public Radio News, and clearly explains the complicated web that has affected millions. I learned a lot.

There are leadership lessons galore throughout the story. A few that are sticking with me right now are:

• The importance of systemic perspective. Nothing we or our organizations do ever happens in a bubble, and in our ever increasingly connected world, sub-systems can – and do – affect each other in unexpected ways.
• The importance of staying awake to the potentially disastrous effects of group think. Our individual perspective and leading from our own sense of integrity and alignment with our values is essential.
• The importance of asking the question: how do I need to be/act in order for fairness to thrive? I think we often pass the buck on being accountable by saying, “but that’s the way it works/has always been,” or “I won’t make a difference. I’m only one person.” But change or stagnation happens one person at a time.

You can listen to the show by going here. It’s an hour in length, but worth it. If you don’t have that kind of time, you can go here to listen to a 12 minute version that ran on NPR’s All Things Considered.

What do you think?

p.s. on 9/25/09: This American Life has just released an update to this episode, Return To The Giant Pool of Money. You can listen to it here.