Meta-Leadership Community meta-leadershipcommunity.org

Recently, several of you began receiving some invites from me to connect outside of the meta-leadership online community or I might have begun following you on Twitter or Google +.  The effort is one that springs from the '12 in 12' Initiative, where several of the goals for 2012 were directed at building connectivity with cross-sector leaders this year.   These leaders may be ones that you know of in your community, yet have not had the opportunity to make that initial contact with or maybe someone separated by geography.  These leaders may be ones that you might not ever had the opportunity to know without the resources of the meta-leadership community.  Regardless, take a few moments this week to scan the contacts within the meta-leadership community, whether locally or through the main Groupsite and reach out to make contact with someone that you have not met before.  Use the online community as that springboard to help identify someone that you would like to get to know better and take the plunge. 

The thought behind this kind of pursuit is that the more of us that are connected through multiple channels the better able we are to lead within the meta-leadership framework.  The connections provide a base from which to continue to build a strengthening relationship with leaders that have the unique insight into the meta-leadership philosophy while also being those that will probably be the ones that we will respond with when that next crisis hits.   It is somewhat an effort to help build that ‘culture of preparedness', as General Honore' says, in that it helps us continue the effort of keeping cross sector connectivity and relationship building forefront in our minds.  These connections can then become not only great ways to better know our community leaders, but also can become strong social media resources when the next ‘incident without precedence' occurs. 

One of our members in the Tampa Bay Summit site that I have recently made connection with, Dr. Charmaine Rose, is prolific in her postings of great quotes.  You can find these on Twitter through her profile www.twitter.com/DrCharRose  , through a connection with her through LinkedIn or on her blog at http://www.drcharrose.com/blog/.  Recently one of her quotes, one that I have cherished through the years, which comes from Mahatma Gandhi, sparked a thought related to our online community here and in the efforts  each of us are engaged.  Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish the world to see." 

As I have strived to build connections with some of you over the past several weeks, I have been so very impressed with the wealth and breadth of knowledge and experience we have within the online community members.  Sometimes, that experience level or expertise might not be quite evident from your profile or input within the online community, yet as we connect through these other channels, all kinds of different facets emerge.  With all of the resources available online, though, it can still be a challenge finding someone's profile on Twitter or maybe a blog they post to, or a personal web page.  The effort, though, is more than worth it.  By reaching out through the various social media portals available, you can find out so many different aspects of these member's contributions and specialties. 

The Meta-Leadership online community can somewhat become a launching point for you to identify who best to connect with within a particular sector or who has an activity level or expertise you would want to learn from or share information along that subject.  The online community provides a rich environment to connect with these leaders outside your sector and/or geographic area and is a great place to begin your efforts.

With this New Year upon us, take it upon yourself to create that, ‘world you would want to see'.  Become that ‘change you would like the world to see', as Gandhi has said.  Proactively go out and make some of those new contacts in the coming weeks by exploring and identifying the various means by which each of us these days communicate who we are.  Whether it is a website, a profile on FaceBook or LinkedIn, or maybe a Twitter or Google+ profile, consider making that contact with one of your fellow meta-leadership members, in addition to the online community.  Make a new friend across sector, just like we do in the Summits.  Set the example for those emerging leaders within your organization and show them what an asset the meta-leadership philosophy can be.  Invite some of your current contact to connect with you through the Meta-Leadership online community.

As you make these connections, be sure to share with us, your fellow online community members, those interesting people and resources you find.  You can do this through a quick Discussion Post or maybe sharing a blog entry.  If you, yourself, have a particular Twitter profile or blog entry you would like to share with the other members, let us hear about it.  Share some of your knowledge through a blog and repost that information within the online community.  In this way, as we build these connections across multiple portals, we continue the efforts started within our individual meta-leadership summits as we build cross-sector connectivity, and in turn, build a stronger, more prepared and more resilient community and nation.