From the category archives:

Think Tank

End Malaria

by Megan M. on September 8, 2011

If you read no other post on this site, read this one.

End Malaria is a collection of contributions by 62 fantastic thinkers sharing their best insights and strategies on doing great work. Kevin Kelly. Jonathan Fields. Nancy Duarte. David Allen. Pam Slim. Sir Ken Robinson. But that’s not why you should buy it.

$20 or more from every single purchase of End Malaria — hard copy or digital — buys a mosquito net and helps support Malaria No More’s mission in Africa to eradicate malaria by 2015.

Michael Bungay-Stanier and the Domino Project created this book, but neither of them will see a penny from it. All their work was done for free, in support of the project.

Every single copy of this book sold will actually save someone’s life. Children are dying from this disease every day, and the solution is so simple (and inexpensive). And for every copy someone doesn’t buy, there are kids who might have survived. And for $20 — well, that’s a few cups of espresso for most of us, and hardly worth worrying over.

This one little act has a lot of impact. For obvious reasons, we’re not using an affiliate link: Please go buy a copy and spread the word.

PS. Other excellent posts about End Malaria:

Austin Wildfires

by Megan M. on September 6, 2011

I am honestly bewildered.

I’ve spent the last week in Ohio, singing and then visiting with my family. Yesterday morning, I woke up to texts from sweethearts getting ready to evacuate and reports that there were wildfires raging all around Austin — north and south, and elsewhere in Texas. Marty is safe at home, and our neighbors likewise… but others have had to abandon their homes — with children, and animals and essential belongings if they were lucky — and as of late last night, many of them had no idea whether they’d still have those homes in the morning.

My personal safety is untouched by these circumstances, but I am nonetheless full of confused emotions. I’m currently working on an important campaign that will launch tomorrow and impact life and death situations… in another country, far away. I feel inspired by this campaign, I am determined to give it as much leverage as I can. And at the same time, I am faced with a scary situation of my own, one that hits very close to home. In a very literal fashion.

All the brainstorming about fundraising and benefit projects is secondary to this very new sensation: What am I coming home to? Who can I help? What do Marty and I have that we can share?

And of course, that’s all jumbled in with concern for friends and chosen family in Texas, the realization that I’d better not have any caffeine if I’ve already got a bit of the jitters, and sitting here, at my laptop, refreshing Facebook for the gazillionth time in the hope of hearing some good news.

I still don’t know how to feel or react, but I do have a sense that the time for action will be Wednesday, when my plane lands at ATX, and I walk out of the airport and first have the chance to (inevitably) smell smoke in the air.

These feelings haven’t resolved for me, and I can’t find a resolution for this post, either.

Read This Before Our Next Meeting

by Megan M. on August 3, 2011

In the short time I’ve had this book, I’ve been shocked at how much it’s changed the way I deal with other people.

My meetings are really only for 1 or 2 people most of the time, with occasional split coordination between 3 or 4. I thought, well, I’ll read it anyway and see what I learn.

I learned a LOT.

This book isn’t just for that companies that have meetings of 10 or 20 people at a time — it’s for microbusinesses and solopreneurs, too. It’s great material for anyone who works on a project with even just one other person. When I started doing what Al Pittampalli suggested, all my interactions improved because I was saving everyone a little more time, a little more money, and a little more sanity. It gets better than that, though.

This book has saved me decision anxiety every day since reading it, because I understand better how to make meeting-related decisions. Frankly, when you work for 1 or 2 people at a time, most decisions are meeting-related; they’re all decisions about how to communicate about a project. What has proven delightful is how smoothly things run when you use Al’s template to avoid even the shadow of traditional meetings, at any cost.

This book has brought an enormous amount of clarity to my understanding of meeting culture, including personal/professional responsibility in collaborative efforts.

This book says, Take responsibility and make the decision. It says, Don’t pass the responsibility onto a group of people and slow everything down — unwittingly or otherwise. It puts the meeting instigator on the hook for the success of the meeting and the impact of the meeting on the company’s health.

I’m on the hook for every meeting I do or do not hold, and I don’t even mind. I feel more in control of my own productivity, I feel like I’m improving everyone else’s ability to do what they do… and it’s absolutely fantastic.

Al’s written a book that makes businesses run smoothly, saves them money, and makes employees happier. It’s a really, really great book.

For the next week only, a Kindle copy costs nothing. Start implementing the Modern Meeting standard now — the sooner, the better.