What’s oobleck? I had to ask too. It’s made of cornstarch and water, but it’s weird. At rest, it behaves like a liquid. Apply pressure, and it behaves like a solid. So if you hit it, it’s hard and your hand bounces off. Rest your hand on top, and you can sink in slowly. Obviously…
What makes you come alive? It’s not the committee list Everyone knows everyone in small towns, right? Well… I live in a place with about 30 people, and I don’t even know everyone. Next time you’re at an event in your town, look around. How many people could you name? A lot, I’m sure, but…
After my talk at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference, a couple came up to show me what they’d done with the Idea Friendly Method. On the postcards I hand out, they’d written their idea: “If our town had a small restaurant or cafe.” They live in a place with just a few hundred people, so…
A person from Alva, Oklahoma, (population 4,000) posted on the Alva Rants and Raves Facebook group, “I think Alva needs a dog park!” Right away the negativity piled on. I am not kidding, it was things like, “I took my dog to a dog park, and he got sick!” and “I’m an expert on dogs,…
Bob Hughes in Hamilton, Missouri, sends me regular updates of the Hamilton Community Alliance. I had been thinking of it as just a nice idea, and then we exchanged a few emails that changed my thinking. They hold quarterly meetings where people from different organizations and groups share what they’re up to, and they create…
The hour was up. My session on Finding More Volunteers was officially over, but people were still sharing. The conversations were so good, and people weren’t done yet. There was nothing scheduled in the room after us, so I offered to stay and keep the conversation going. They kept it going for another 15 minutes….
A couple of weeks ago, I shared how we came up with a lot of the formal organization methods that we use today: organizational charts, committees and procedural rules. Let’s call that the Old Way. It’s formal, with structure, committees, meetings, notes, reports, and accountability. A few people do most of the organizing with appointments,…
Why do small towns struggle to get things done? Why is that water line still not fixed? What’s holding up the downtown streetscape project? Why didn’t that planned thing ever happen? Questions like these often get lumped under the label of “rural capacity” or lack of capacity. Plenty of outside organizations have been talking a…
My co-founder Deb Brown and I are streamlining our work this year, so this feels like a good time to share how you can work with us at SaveYour.Town. Start by exploring what’s possible in your community. Deb and I have been doing this work together for 10 years now. We’ve learned what works and…
At the International Association of Fairs and Expositions Convention, we were talking about finding more volunteers and taking care of the ones you already have. I said: “I don’t follow up on stuff that doesn’t need to be followed up on.” If someone volunteered to fix up the garden boxes and they didn’t do it?…
What if funders and all of us really stopped waiting for perfect information and started acting now? In the past few weeks, I’ve seen the Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma take immediate action twice and change what people thought was possible. Go ahead with your study, but act now First, at the Oklahoma State University…
I’m excited to share that The Idea Friendly Guide ebook is now available! From 10 years of Deb and I working with communities across North America, I’ve put the Idea Friendly process into this practical, encouraging guide. If you’ve ever been told you need to slow down, form another committee, or wait for permission to…
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