Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

I am a fan of all things Rosetta Thurman and I highly recommend that you read her and follow her and pay very close attention. Smart, funny, gifted, passionate, going places.  She recently wrote a post (Diversity is not the right word) that really resonated with me and touches on a topic that I have   [Read More…]

Ten things everyone should understand regarding diversity and inclusion… ten things View more presentations from joe gerstandt.

Was recently reminded of a favorite passage of mine from Lila, by Robert Pirsig (Thanks Ronen!) and thought I would share… “But if you manage to absorb it and not pass it on, that’s the highest moral conduct of all. That really advances everything, not just you … some of the great moral figures of   [Read More…]

I have been thinking about community a lot lately.  I recently finished participating in a learning circle that was focused on community and read and re-read some wonderful books from Peter Senge, Peter Block, Margaret Wheatley and others with really wonderful perspectives on community.  I have also been struggling to clarify part of my role   [Read More…]

I got invited to a meeting once.  It seemed a little surreal at the time and it still does now, when I think about.  I was doing a lot of work with high school students and college students at the time and shortly after facilitating a summer camp for sophomores and juniors, I got a   [Read More…]

“Leadership, simply put, raises our consciousness, because we cannot solve the problems and challenges we face with the same thinking that caused them.  Leadership is not the propagation of our own ideas, constructs and theories, however worthy they might be.  It is the raising of consciousness- in body, mind and spirit- in self, culture and   [Read More…]

Let me cut right to the chase on this post, I have three points to share… I stole the name for this post from a great article I read recently. Harmony = Bad Conflict = Good I know, I know…as a peace lover and diversity advocate I am supposed to be all about harmony right?    [Read More…]

I am a reader and a while back, I read a heap of books about science.  I was really interested in chaos theory, emergence, complexity, autopoiesis and read about little else for a couple of years.  One of the concepts that has always stuck with me and I believe to be very relevant to human   [Read More…]

Perception vs. Reality, Good vs. Evil, Life vs. Indifference, Omaha, BP and Deep Thoughts for a Monday morning Every time that I hear the phrase; “perception is reality,” it chaps my ass a little.  I think that this is becoming a very dangerous idea for us.  I understand that perception matters.  I understand that in   [Read More…]