Accelerating collective #socent impact? @ci2iglobal is born in the afterglow of #we_b

Below is a lyrical personal story of what recently happened when I invited some worldshaping women friends to Brussels in January 2012, to co-host an experimental co-creation lab for accelerating global social impact and innovation.

I compiled these images and wrote this story (without twitter handles or links) for a Pecha Kucha evening in Brussels on 25 January, which means I had only 20 seconds to speak about each image - that's  6 min 40 sec total to tell the whole story of what was an extremely transformative experience. It didn't go perfectly, but all in all, a great learning by doing experience I can highly recommend for sharpening your changemaker presentation and storytelling skills.

I would also share that collaging and then turning the story lyrical in the days following these events were both very intense, even catalytic ways, to distill and harvest what really happened for me. I have mindfully told this from a very personal perspective, because I can't say at all that the deep shift which happened for me is representative of what everyone at the #we_b event experienced.

I do know that the whole @ci2iglobal group, however, continues to be deeply moved by what we experienced together with the amazing #we_b participants, and in our debrief and planning session after the event (not to mention dancing together until 4 in the morning in between those!).

Enjoy the story ~ I'd love comments on how it makes you feel.

(You can click on each image to see a larger version, if you need to.)

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This is a story about a mosaic 

of social entrepreneurs, changemakers and worldshapers. 

In my belief system, they are the living angels 

in which the hope of our planet currently lies. 

It’s a her-story.

that’s becoming 

a history of WE-stories.

It’s a story about accelerating the work of “changemakers” around the world.

And since I am one of them, it’s also my story. 

I first fell in love with the simple word “WE”

when I was using it to catalyze 

Webbed Empowerment 

in an East African warzone.

I'd been amazed when 

an organization “labelled” me 

a “leading changemaker” 

because of essentially personal passions 

I was pursuing.

But I became aware in those days 

that there were other people like me, 

who were driven to serve the world 

by something different inside. 

My passion for WE 

moved with later me to Brussels, 

where I’ve explored & found 

work for myself in the emerging 

global changemaker scene.

There’s lots of us now! 

At the start of this year (2012), I invited five friends 

- fellow women changemakers -

to gather from 3 continents at my home.

Each in unique ways they are my angels, and

We see eye to eye on many things.

our plan was to have a conversation

and to host a conversation 

about accelerating collective 

global changemaker impact and innovation. 

We invited a few people we knew

to join us for an experiment in Brussels. 

that we called in the invitation "#we_b."

We also committed ourselves 

to moving a conversation forward

around the world in the next 2 years. 

Worldchanging folks heard the call 

and gathered with us for this first ever WE_x co-creation lab. 

The inspiring space filled with awe inspiring people 

Their uniquely powerful energies 

humbled us 

as we bumbled through 

our group’s first time working together as a team

Round 1 of group introductions confirmed 

it would be a very exciting day

We were 20 changemakers

from 9 countries

with work on 5 continents

and unlimited passion in the room

into this pool of empowered people 

we unleashed systems thinking content

and co-creative processes

and personal reflection.

With ease the group sparked and taught each other

about how the changemaker space is emerging today, 

and explored what that could mean for each of us.

For 12 hours we conversed, we played, we ate, and made plans.

It was exhausting and exhilerating at the same time.

I learned so much. 

One framework that cut naturally across

many of our conversations was

the @Thrivable action spectrum, 

proposed by Jean who was there to share from Chicago 

Seeing our actions as changemakers 

through the lens of 

what we can control

what we can guide

and what we can nurture

was so grounding.

a collective sigh of relief

seemed to ripple through

this group of often 

over-committed over-achievers 

as we got this.

Christelle from Paris

provoked us to think about impact 

in terms of social risk and opportunity 

How might we invite 

new conversations with old system institutions and corporations,  

that re-frame the story of why social inclusion matters? 

What if 

creating social impact 

was valued in terms of 

reducing social risk? 

Bonnie from Chicago and Carolina from Buenos Aires

led discussions about scaling impact which left us wondering:

Must we all scale our impact?

Or can we find ways to work together 

to achieve the impacts we seek at scale? 

There is only so much each of us can do, 

to control, guide, & nurture 

the world’s current transformation.

But collectively

We are a new landscape 

that’s daring to emerge

and through modeling with clay we learned:

We each define the impact we seek to create in this lifetime,

We each bring our own dynamic to the landscape,

and We each determine the direction we face 

as we keep moving forward to serve 

Our group included changemakers 

at every stage of the European talent pipeline. 

we were students and start-ups,

consultants and thought leaders and 

directors from globally operating organizations

We’re still developing the basic language 

to talk about what we do,

and why we do what we do. 

Our simplest shared truth is that 

we exist as a real community of human beings 

who feel called to live our lives in service to the earth’s 

transformation today. 

It might sound to some of you

like our heads are in the clouds.

But as an angel who joined us reminded me, 

each of us sees something different in the clouds. 

and learning from what we all see

is the essence of the magic 

that tapping into our collective wisdom offers. 

The perspective we gain when we gather 

helps all of us to see how to reach higher

another nugget from her, and this frilly doodle 

that floated in from one of the many flipcharts

have given me a new appreciation for ginger lately

Did you know that ginger is a rhizome? 

I’m told it’s a unique biological concept, 

that needs no beginning or end to grow

the nodes grow where they are called to grow 

without any perceptible effort

like the conversation that #we_b became

So people left us inspired, 

some embarked on new paths of commitment and collaboration

The conversation moved online

with #we_b angels like @ladyniasan and others

organizing themselves to connect and 

to share all their many thoughts. 

But although this first #we_x lab was done

we knew, 

the real harvest was yet to come.

In the afterglow 

a warmth of women’s wisdom infused my Brussels home,

where we debriefed and distilled, 

seeking meaning in it all

for another 12 hours.

With a renewed sense of common purpose, 

but still without clarity on what we’d actually done, 

we pondered ci2i logo options and 

discussed and discussed and 

asked ourselves, 

again and again

Where does the #we_b conversation lead us? 

For me personally, clarity came

once everyone else had finally gone.

In the house all empty and reflective 

The silence started rumbling 

as an organized unjumbling

of the many thoughts in my head

began to crystalize 

and spill itself 

onto the screen. 

It was our ci2i group’s mosaic 

of content and tools and process and future plans. 

It that thing that drives me on this path.

Forming a clear picture
where there hadn’t been one before

of an approach - our collective approach - 

to nurturing the changemaker’s call 

to learn and become

who we are and what we can do

in this emerging new landscape 

we're co-creating. 

Working together to guide this discovery

in ourselves and in others, 

is a natural way forward 

my angels see eye to eye on 

and I love it 

since there is nothing else we can control. 

For each changemaker carries our own cross for change

and follows our own integrated personal and professional development path,

that leads us toward the kind of impact on this transformation that 

we are each here to make.

And every day, 

more and more brilliant and 

driven people 

are picking their up their own crosses for change

and pursuing journeys in service to the earth's renewal, 

toward humanity's higher good. 

Look around and see us everywhere, 

gathering in places like Brussels every day.

Are you one of us?

I’m glad they like ginger in Thailand,

since Chiang Mai is the next step in my own unique journey

Now preparing for new projects in the orient 

I feel oriented. 

#we_b was a powerful affirmation for me

of the the thriving existence of a global tribe 

to which I know I belong.

I can only wonder 

at what we’ll see 

at #we_c !!

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Special gratitudes to @appliedwisdom, @bonniekoenig, @christellevh @carolinatocalli @nurturegirl and the #we_b participants for all the amazing inspiration.

Thanks to you as well for reading and commenting if you feel so inspired. Feel free to share.

Follow us collectively at @c2iglobal

I'm at @ChristinasWorld