April+5-6+Resources

The convening surfaced various resources for others to explore:
//What's been written about the April 5-6 convening://
 * Eugene's post on "[|Nouns, Verbs, Hairshirts, and Network Philanthropy]" -- //really// helpful reflections on language
 * Eugene's April 6 blog post on how funders need to celebrate what they own and not fear leading.
 * Diana's April 10 Working Wikily blog post, quick relections on takeaways from the gathering

//Other resources recommended by participants://
 * Stephen Johnson wrote a book titled __Where Good Ideas Come From__ that is great for thinking about how to nurture innovation in the initiatives we support, and in our own organizations. He's also produced a YouTube video on the topic, available here.
 * Conversation with Jeff Stamps and Jessica Lipnack on the history of various theories that have influenced networks [a copy of the video was sent to participants via YouSendIt].
 * Beth and others have created a Google Doc for network weavers that has “lived” for over a year and a half, in which people go back and forth. To access the Sandbox Google Doc, click here.
 * There is a Greenpeace site that highlights failures in international development, where people post in exquisite detail what isn’t working. To access the site, click here.
 * C-P Squared is an online CoP on CoPs. There is some material on their site on how to examine your practice in front of your peers. There's also a book titled __Researching your own practice__, which covers the discipline of researching your own work.
 * We can learn a lot from from improvisation. The Applied Improvisation Network teaches skills that are critical for working with a network mindset (e.g., being comfortable of uncertainty, trusting your colleagues, and sharing control). They believe that holding tightly to one idea as the only way to succeed is not going to succeed — for example, if one actor pretends like he is in a spaceship, and another on the same stage pretends she’s on a horse, they won’t be able to work together; they must compromise. At some point, all they have on stage is each other.
 * Someone recommended a blogpost by Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch, on the danger of networks that consider only one component of an organization (e.g., how well nonprofits can get products out to their constituencies or host meetings ) versus having a view of the organization as a whole. Funders need to build into their model a view of the grantee as a whole (vs. one program), because changes in one part of the organization can influence other parts; moreover, they need to encourage the grantee to come to them with problems that can influence their ability to deliver on their work.
 * We were able to find a similar blog post on how Technology is both Constructive & destructive... Does anyone know which of Caterina's blogpost may have been referenced here

Go back to April 5-6 Convening Notes.