Reminded

Nice to meet you, Mr. President

One of the perks of attending the Clinton School of Public Service is the chance to meet former President Bill Clinton. That happened this past week. It was definitely exciting to shake the hand of a former president, but even more exciting was the opportunity to hear him speak to our class. He sat in a room with roughly 50 of my classmates and I and answered questions for two-and-a-half hours, then spent another half an hour answering more questions in the foyer of the school.
What an incredibly gifted person he is. I sat there in awe as he spoke in depth about any topic we asked about. Everything from Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize to the war in Afghanistan to the genetic similarities of all humans. I marveled at the sheer amount of information he could recall instantly and then weave coherently into a response. And the stories he told. Almost every response included a story of a personal experience he'd had with someone somewhere in the world. Each story filled with hope, and never superficial. He never sounded like a typical politician. Always genuine.
I'd heard about his gifts with people, but I couldn't believe how true they are. I really wanted to ask him if there were any skills he practiced in order to magnify and develop his natural gifts. Hopefully, I'll get another chance to speak with him again someday. Maybe he'll come visit me if I get the chance to go to Israel this summer to work with HIPPY.

Michelle Rhee, HIPPY

Since my last post several significant things related to trying to Make a Difference have occurred including: talking with and listening to Michelle Rhee, my group's first run in with intergroup conflict, and a meeting with a representative from HIPPY.
The long delay in posting is mostly a result of Michelle Rhee. I've spent more time thinking about her message than anything else in the last two weeks. I should have been posting my thoughts as I had them, but she gave me so much to think about that I still don't feel like I've sifted through it completely. Hopefully, a well-reasoned post will follow sometime soon.
Similarly, I think a post about how my group dealt with some team dynamics issues would be useful for any students who are reading, but I need a little more time than I have right now. {once again, homework gets in the way of learning. :-) }
Most recently, I had a meeting with a representative from HIPPY to talk about potential International Public Service Projects this summer. Several very promising possibilities in Israel, Australia and Canada. I'm looking forward to learning more about each of them. And I'll try to do a better job of keeping you posted.

Just Cool

I'm really trying to stay focused on the topic of Making a Difference and serving the public in these blog posts and I'm sure I could do that with this most recent experience. But really it's just cool.
Tonight, as part of the Clinton Public Speakers Series, I listened to Taylor Branch speak about his new book "The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President". That was cool because the book is about private interviews and conversations between Mr. Branch and President Clinton that no one has record of except, Mr. Branch and President Clinton.
Also in the audience listening was none other than Kevin Johnson (standing to my left), former NBA star and current Mayor of Sacramento. After Mr. Branch's speech I got to meet the guy who I spent hours watching and loving to hate because he was so good at slicing thru the San Antonio Spurs defense. He was cool enough to take a picture with me and my classmates Ivan(ley) and Mahmoud.
Awesome night!

Lance Armstrong was lucky

Until I can watch the video of the speech that I had the good fortune to see live a couple of days ago I won't be able to directly quote Doug Ulman, president and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. However, I'm pretty sure at one point in one of the best speeches I've ever heard Mr. Ulman said Lance Armstrong was lucky to get cancer. Ulman went on to say that cancer gave Lance a purpose into which his good intentions could be focused. Lance has used his celebrity to benefit millions through cancer research and awareness.
As powerful as those statements were, the part I really want to listen to again is what came next in the speech. If I remember correctly (which if you know me is a really big IF), he said there are plenty of other celebrities who likewise want to use their status to do good, but don't know which issue to focus on. They have a lot of passion and desire to make a difference, but aren't sure where to start.
That sentiment hit home for me for two reasons:
One, it's true for me. I'm here at the Clinton School trying to decide how to use my gifts and talents for the benefit of all and I have no clear idea how to do that. I, and several of my classmates, are searching aimlessly through thousands of potential NGOs and non-profits as we try to decide where to conduct our International Public Service Projects. Lacking a clear direction, almost all of the organizations look very worthy and somehow not quite right simultaneously.
Two, more significantly, I believe it's true for most, if not all other people. People would use their energy to benefit others if they could just find a starting point they deeply believed in. How to help others find that starting point is a question that continually nags at me.

While I continue to ponder it, I'd strongly recommend we both go back and take a look at the speech will be posted here within a week.

Universal Nudge

Classmate and friend Adam Moreland recently used the term 'universal nudge' during an assignment to describe...I hope I'm representing his concept well when I say...how we end up where we are when we're open to possibility.

This has been a week full of possibility. Or, as one of the Clinton School staff described it, 'opportunity overload'. On Wednesday alone we met Neil Guiliano, politician and gay rights activist, Wenda Weeks Moore, of the Kellog Foundation, and Matt Flannery, co-founder and CEO of Kiva.
The night before meeting all of these people my group and I were in Pine Bluff officially starting our project with them. It's taking my brain a while to sift through all of these experiences to see what gold is left behind.
From all of these experiences, here's what stands out:
1. I loved co-facilitating our conversation with TOPPS staff and board members. I have a clearer understanding of their organization now. I think there's more facilitation in my future.
2. I have a better understanding of politics, but don't really think it's something I'd like to pursue. I'm trying to remain open about the intersection of facilitation and politics.
3. The work of Foundations, like Kellog, is fascinating. I'd like to know more about the details of how Foundations choose who they disperse grants to.
4. Kiva is just plain cool. Despite really enjoying talking with and listening to Matt Flannery and thinking very highly of the organization, I'm not sure I want to pursue working with them for my International Public Service Project. Something about money just bugs me.

Add in to the mix that today I'll be listening to John Read, president and CEO of Outward Bound.

Plenty of possibilities...start nudging, universe.

With a mid-term and a group presentation and the beginning of my group's project and a book review and an all-weekend leadership retreat for the national IMPACT conference all happening within the next 5 days, it's a little difficult to remember how long ago I met Dr. Hanmin Liu of the Wildflowers Institute. He spent the better part of last week in the role of the visiting scholar at the Clinton School. I first met him on Tuesday or Wednesday at a dinner that I considered skipping out on because of the abovementioned workload. I'm glad I didn't.
Unlike the other speakers and scholars who have visited the school, whom I mostly listened to as they spoke, I had the good fortune of listening to and speaking with Dr. Liu multiple times: first at the dinner, then in conversation with our class, then again at his presentation for the Little Rock community. Each time we spoke he caused a shift in how I view communities. His ideas were new enough that I had to give them careful thought to begin to grasp them, but true enough that I intuitively felt like I knew what he was talking about.
Even if my path doesn't cross his again, I'll consider him a mentor. Which makes me think differently both about being mentored and mentoring. It can be done in a long relationship that develops over time, like the type promoted by Big Brothers/Big Sisters or in a few thought-filled conversations.