OPREC ROOKIE

SERTIJAB KEPENGURUSAN HMJ

SERAH TERIMA JABATAN HMJ ILMU KOMUNIKASI FISIP UNDIP

Bertempat di Ngrembel Asri-Gunung Pati,HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip telah mengadakan acara Serah Terima Jabatan (Sertijab) pada hari Minggu,20 Februari 2011 lalu. Event tahunan yang dimulai pada pukul 13.00 WIB hingga pukul 16.00 WIB diawali dengan acara makan siang bersama,seluruh hadirin yang merupakan pengurus HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip mulai dari kepengurusan tahun 2008 hingga 2011 berbaur menjadi satu tanpa melihat berasal dari angkatan manapun. Kemeriahan kemudian berlanjut pada saat diadakannya games yang membutuhkan kekompakan dan kerjasama dari masing-masing kelompok,meliputi games tebak orang dan games tebak kata estafet. masing-masing kelompok berlomba-lomba untuk menebak dan kadangkala sering terjadi miss pada saat tebak kata estafet yang membuat suasana menjadi semakin seru dan meriah.
Setelah mengakrabkan para hadirin melalui makan siang bersama dan games,acara puncakpun berlangsung. Diawali dengan sambutan dari Ketua HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip periode tahun 2010 Ika R. Yustisia yang berpesan untuk tetap mempertahankan HMJ ini dan terus memajukannya agar menjadi organisasi yang lebih baik dan bermanfaat bagi mahasiswa Ilmu Komunikasi. Prosesi selanjutnya adalah pembacaan Berita Acara Serah Terima Jabatan yang kemudian dilanjutkan dengan penandatanganan Berita Acara oleh kedua pihak, pihak pertama diwakili Ika R. Yustisia dan sebagai pihak kedua diwakili oleh Eka Oktaviani yang untuk selanjutnya akan menjadi Ketua HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip 2011. Selain penandatangan Berita Acara,terdapat pula prosesi secara simbolis yang telah dilakukan secara turun temurun yaitu pemberian kalung dan kaos sebagai 'warisan' sejak HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip pertama kali didirikan. Seluruh prosesi sertijab ini diilaksanakan untuk meresmikan kepengurusan HMJ Komunikasi periode yang baru. Sebelum akhirnya acara ditutup,Eka Oktaviani memberikan sambutannya,Eka mengungkapkan rasa syukurnya atas lancarnya seluruh prosesi dalam acara Sertijab kali ini dan berharap semoga selanjutnya dapat lebih mengepakkan sayap HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undipy ang dapat mengharumkan nama almamater. dan tak lupa pada akhir acara diadakan sesi foto bersama dengan pemandangan yang alami yang membuat semua hadirin tetap antusias bahkan hingga di akhir acara

Rebooting Wal-Mart

Typically, I like to write about entrepreneurial companies in this space, but today’s Wall Street Journal has a very interesting story about one of the very largest companies in America…Wal-Mart. The story is Wal-Mart Tries to Recapture Mr. Sam’s Winning Formula by Miguel Bustillo. The story is a cautionary tale of what happens when you try to expand by being something you aren't and in the process, forgetting about your core customer. The good news if you are a Wal-Mart shareholder is that it appears that they now "get it' and are back focusing on that customer who they previously were taking for granted. Which of course, is bad news for Target and other competitors.

From the beginning of the article:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in the midst of its worst U.S. sales slump ever.
When it reports earnings on Tuesday, the retailer is widely expected to post its second straight year of declining domestic same-store sales.

Wal-Mart's struggles are the result of a misstep: To jump-start lethargic growth and counter the rise of competitors such as cheap-chic rival Target Corp., executives veered away from the winning formula of late founder Sam Walton to provide "every day low prices" to the American working class. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer by sales, instead raised prices on some items while promoting deals on others.

Company executives acknowledge having miscalculated and are adjusting their strategy again. The big question is how quickly the mammoth chain can turn itself around.

And from the end of the article:

"Wal-Mart just went and broke it," said mechanic Mike Craig, 41 years old, lamenting that he could no longer find honey, which is now next to the peanut butter instead of near the salad dressings. "I just don't like what they did at all."

So once again, Wal-Mart is back to cramming wood pallets of $8.97 boxed wine and $8 Justin Bieber CDs into the store's corridors, recreating the messy procession of discount merchandise in the main aisles that the company calls "action alley." Now analysts are concerned that, in changing direction again, Wal-Mart risks alienating whatever higher-scale shoppers it had gained.

Bringing the Change

Dwain DeVille sent over the blog, Jack Griffin's Ouster: Lessons from a Failed "Change Agent" by Julia Kirby and at first, I wasn’t that sure I even wanted to read it. After all, it’s about a media guru and as the post points out, there is nothing the media world likes to do more than write about itself. But as I read on, I realized how often we’re thrust into situations in new jobs or when we buy a company… that we have to bring change into an organization. As someone who has had to bring change more than a few times, I particularly liked her six lessons when you’re faced with being the person who has to bring about that change. From the blog:

Avoid the term "change agent." The strange thing about Griffin's case is that he appears to have applied this "kick me" sign to himself. In most cases, it's the board that puts the word on the street that a change agent is coming. Try to keep that from happening. It's not as though the organization won't hear the news, and it's insulting. It casts veteran managers as part of the problem, not forces for positive change themselves. As one Time Inc. veteran complained to me, "it's not as though all of us had just been sitting on our thumbs." That is a classic, and predictable, response.

Gauge the internal hunger for change. It's one thing to be the agent of change in an organization that realizes it needs it; it's quite another when you're the only one in the room convinced of that. A big problem at Time, at least as far as Griffin was concerned, was that there was no such sense of a burning platform. People, therefore, would perceive any change as being done to them, not for them. It's not impossible to take a comfortable organization and get it excited about a quest, but it definitely affects how you should frame the mission.

Arrive without a vision. Reportedly, Griffin showed up on day one of his new job with a manifesto in hand. When I heard this, I couldn't help but recall some great advice from leadership gurus Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. "Somehow, through all the talk over the years about the importance of vision," they observed, "many leaders have reached the unfortunate conclusion that they as individuals must be visionaries." They spell out for less incisive thinkers what the future holds and therefore how the enterprise must be transformed. "Bad idea!" say Kouzes and Posner. "Yes, leaders must ask, "What's new? What's next? What's better?" — but they can't present answers that are only theirs. Constituents want visions of the future that reflect their own aspirations."

Go directly to "us". As leadership expert Steve Reicher and his colleagues convincingly argue, great leadership involves tapping into the psychology of "us" versus "them." This means that job #1 for a leader is to go native, immediately taking the side of the organization, uniting it against a common enemy, and building consensus on what "we" should do. From this perspective, it's clear how the work of anyone fighting the status quo is fraught with the potential to be misread. Ask yourself honestly whose side you are on — and if it's not your organizations, don't blame them for hating you.

Act as catalyst not cattle prod. Chances are, there is change energy to be tapped in the organization at some level. To get at it, think first of what might be holding it back, and address those things. As in chemistry, a catalyst lowers a barrier to effect a transformation — it doesn't apply a shock.

Surround yourself with new friends. Of all the new-manager missteps Griffin is accused of, probably the worst is his decision to surround himself with cronies. It's an understandable temptation, when you don't yet know your new colleagues well enough to say who's brilliant and trustworthy, to just recruit some folks you already know to have those qualities from past experience working with them. But nothing — nothing — is more alienating to your inherited team than to suddenly be on the outside of the inner circle looking in. It doesn't help that, in Griffin's case, the cronies were also perceived to be carbon copies of himself.

CFA and Graduate Education by Harriet Murav, Professor of Slavic Studies and Member of CFA Executive Committee, February 16, 2009

My roles as a faculty member and as a member of Campus Faculty Association, are inseparable. The decisions that determine my capacity to work with graduate students as a Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature-- are being made beyond my control. It is only through unionization that shared governance can be recovered, and a voice in fundamental issues governing the academic workplace, including graduate education, can be had. There is no clearer evidence of this basic fact of our academic life than President Hogan's decision to pursue restructuring in the face of our own Academic Senate's rejection of his proposal. We now have two new Vice Presidents whose raises alone could fund six 50% TAships, which is two more TAships than one of my home departments currently holds.

Our lack of control over our own academic future as providers of graduate education clearly emerges in the new campus-wide assessment of doctoral programs that comes right on the heels of the block grant competition; why similar data and narratives (including student accomplishments and placements, for example) have to be submitted to a committee whose charge is obscure is not obscure to any thinking faculty member. Provost Wheeler's charge to the doctoral assessment committee includes language about determining "the strengths and weaknesses of each program" and a statement about a plan for the "dissemination of best practices for doctoral education and possibly further analysis of some programs" in academic year 2011-2012. Don't the awards made in the competitive block grant distribution of ay 2010-2011reveal what these best practices are? Well-meaning individuals will be unwittingly caught up in an allegedly consensual process that will lead to the termination of certain programs: "further analysis" leads only in one direction. Faculty serve in good faith on many committees, but without the right to collective bargaining, we will never have a voice in graduate education or any other dimension of the academic workplace.
While doctoral programs on this campus are undergoing an unnecessary review, the newly created Professional Science Master' is not. This new terminal master's degree was developed with a $450, 000 grant from the Sloan Foundation. Its staff includes a director on a 12-month salary, plus other, additional positions. Three programs are already available in the Professional Master's Program; according to the Graduate College website, more are on their way. The Professional Science Master's Program is the only graduate program, as far as I can tell, that has advertising on the Graduate College Website. Graduate College handles the marketing and recruiting of these students. Most other doctoral programs use their own faculty to design recruitment materials without help in human or financial resources from Graduate College. The PSM graduated 9 students in December 2010. They paid approximately $30,000 for their sixteen-month program; they were not required to write a master's thesis.

How does this new and expanding program fit our University's stated mission as a land-grant university to serve as a "preeminent public research institution?" Consider the word "public." Does the PSM serve the public? How many recent college graduates in the state of Illinois have $30,000? Consider the words "preeminent research institution." The graduates of the PSM did not write a thesis. What is their relation to research, except a business relation? Our preeminence as a public research institution could be undermined by such programs, which are growing in number, and gaining even more rapidly in symbolic weight as the new model for graduate education.
None of this would matter so much if the threat to traditional graduate programs, particularly, but not exclusively, those in the humanities and interpretative social sciences, were not so pressing. Pushing the horizon of new knowledge means pushing the horizon of knowledge that does not translate into dollars. The humanities and arts are at the core of the university's mission. With the help of TAs, thousands of IUS are generated, but the tuition dollars are not credited back to the units who generate them. Programs in the humanities, unjustly smeared as the welfare queens of the university, are underfunded and "analyzed" whereas new programs that have no relation to the public mission of this university are the new darlings of the campus. We as faculty have no access to the information that would tell us how much revenue the alleged revenue generating programs consume. That gift of knowledge comes only with unionization and collective bargaining rights.

We lack fundamental information about revenues and resources at this campus; we have no place at the table where decisions are made, in spite of the advisory committees on which we serve, and in spite of the Academic Senate’s best efforts. There is only one way to overcome these problems: work with CFA for collective bargaining rights for tenure and non-tenure stream faculty.

Tell Me Another Story

Yesterday I heard Mark Russell of Eric Mower and Associates give a wonderful presentation on marketing to the Entrepreneurial Society of Central New York. As a part of Mark’s presentation, he spoke about the power of stories as it relates to your brand and showed the brilliant piece called The Man Who Walked Around the World. Great piece of storytelling that makes you just want to keep watching. If you get the chance to hear Mark talk about marketing and branding, make a point of doing that.

OPREC ROOKIE DAN BSO

Bedah Peminatan Komunikasi

Bedah Peminatan

Komunikasi Strategis dan Jurnalistik

Pada hari Rabu 16 Februari 2011 HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip telah melaksanakan acara Bedah Peminatan di Ruang Teater Kampus FISIP Undip Tembalang,acara yang dimulai pukul 09.00 tersebut membahas mengenai program peminatan yang ada dalam Ilmu Komunikasi yaitu Komunikas Strategis dan Jurnalistik. Pada mahasiswa Komunikasi yang akan memasuki semester ke 4 (mahasiswa angkatan 2009) memang diwajibkan untuk memilih salah satu dari 2 program peminatan tersebut. Dr. Turnomo Rahardjo (Kepala Jurusan Ilmu Komunikasi Undip) yang memberikan pembukaan dalam acara tesebut menghimbau agar para mahasiswa dapat memilih program peminatan yang sesuai dengan keinginan dan kemampuan masing-masing, “jika memilih janganlah karena dipengaruhi oleh kawan,harus yang sesuai dengan keinginan pribadi,supaya kedepannya kompetensi yang ada dapat berkembang dengan optimal”. Untuk selanjutnya Djoko Setyabudi, S.Sos, MM mulai menjelaskan mengenai peminatan pada Komunikasi Strategis. Pembicara tersebut menggambarkan suasana perkuliahan yang terjadi pada kelas Komunikasi Strategis dikondisikan sama seperti yang ada di perusahaan-perusahaan yang sebenernya, “pada komunikasi strategis dikondisikan seperti di luar,ada yang berperan jadi owner dan klien pada suatu perusahaan sehingga PR (public relation) bertugas untuk menjadi seorang marketer dan memanajemen perusahaan tersebut” menurutnya komunikasi yang strategis adalah komunikasi yang disusun dengan sistematika tertentu untuk mencapai sebuah tujuan tertentu pula,strategi dan etika yang ada pada wilayah sosial tidak dapat disamakan dengan wilayah komersil maupun politik,sehingga diperlukan keahlian yang dipelajari melalui komunikasi strategis

Berbeda dengan komunikasi strategis,komunikasi jurnalistik akan lebih banyak berkecimpung pada bidang media massa seperti koran,televisi,dan radio. Pada mata kuliah Produksi Studio mahasiswa dituntut agar dapat membuat dan menulis berita,kemudian diolah dan lalu di tampilkan pada khalayak,”bahkan cara menghandle kamerapun ada ilmunya” ujar Yanuar Luqman,M.Si sebagai pembicara yang menjelaskan mengenai komunikasi jurnalistik. Nurul Hasfi, M.Si menambahkan bahwa Ilmu Komunikasi bahkan sudah mulai merambah pada dunia online journalism sebagai bentuk bahwa Komunikasi sudah mulai merambah pada dunia maya,sejauh ini Komunikasi Undip juga sudah bekerjasama dengan berbagai TV lokal dan beberapa media cetak sebagai wadah partisipasi bagi mahasiswa Ilmu Komunikasi Undip.

Selain menjelaskan mengenai bidang apa saja yang terdapat pada masing-masing program peminatan,para pembicara selanjutnya lebih cenderung menjelaskan mengenai mata kuliah yang didapat jika mengambil komunikasi strategis maupun jurnalistik. Sebagai penutup pembicara berpesan supaya peminatan manapun yang mahasiswa pilih adalah sama saja asalkan mahasiswa menjalaninya dengan serius dan terus berusaha mengembangkan potensi dirinya.

Pada sesi terakhir terdapat sesi sharing oleh mahasiswa angkatan 2008 yang mempresentasikan mengenai contoh tugas yang sudah pernah mereka kerjakan yang berhubungan dengan peminatan komunikasi strategis dan jurnalistik,diantaranya adalah tugas melakukan liputan investigasi dengan melakukan penelitian yang sebenarnya yang terjadi di lapangan yang lalu diolah dan disusun menjadi sebuah liputan berita investigasi. Dengan adanya acara ini Rindhianti Novitasari sebagai Ketua Panitia berharap dapat memudahkan mahasiswa dalam memilih peminatan yang sesuai dengan keinginan dan kemampuan yang ada.

Bedah Peminatan Ilmu Komunikasi

Pada hari Rabu 16 Februari 2011 HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip telah melaksanakan acara Bedah Peminatan di Ruang Teater Kampus FISIP Undip Tembalang,acara yang dimulai pukul 09.00 tersebut membahas mengenai program peminatan yang ada dalam Ilmu Komunikasi yaitu Komunikas Strategis dan Jurnalistik. Pada mahasiswa Komunikasi yang akan memasuki semester ke 4 (mahasiswa angkatan 2009) memang diwajibkan untuk memilih salah satu dari 2 program peminatan tersebut. Dr. Turnomo Rahardjo (Kepala Jurusan Ilmu Komunikasi Undip) yang memberikan pembukaan dalam acara tesebut menghimbau agar para mahasiswa dapat memilih program peminatan yang sesuai dengan keinginan dan kemampuan masing-masing, “jika memilih janganlah karena dipengaruhi oleh kawan,harus yang sesuai dengan keinginan pribadi,supaya kedepannya kompetensi yang ada dapat berkembang dengan optimal”. Untuk selanjutnya Djoko Setyabudi, S.Sos, MM mulai menjelaskan mengenai peminatan pada Komunikasi Strategis. Pembicara tersebut menggambarkan suasana perkuliahan yang terjadi pada kelas Komunikasi Strategis dikondisikan sama seperti yang ada di perusahaan-perusahaan yang sebenernya, “pada komunikasi strategis dikondisikan seperti di luar,ada yang berperan jadi owner dan klien pada suatu perusahaan sehingga PR (public relation) bertugas untuk menjadi seorang marketer dan memanajemen perusahaan tersebut” menurutnya komunikasi yang strategis adalah komunikasi yang disusun dengan sistematika tertentu untuk mencapai sebuah tujuan tertentu pula,strategi dan etika yang ada pada wilayah sosial tidak dapat disamakan dengan wilayah komersil maupun politik,sehingga diperlukan keahlian yang dipelajari melalui komunikasi strategis

Berbeda dengan komunikasi strategis,komunikasi jurnalistik akan lebih banyak berkecimpung pada bidang media massa seperti koran,televisi,dan radio. Pada mata kuliah Produksi Studio mahasiswa dituntut agar dapat membuat dan menulis berita,kemudian diolah dan lalu di tampilkan pada khalayak,”bahkan cara menghandle kamerapun ada ilmunya” ujar Yanuar Luqman,M.Si sebagai pembicara yang menjelaskan mengenai komunikasi jurnalistik. Nurul Hasfi, M.Si menambahkan bahwa Ilmu Komunikasi bahkan sudah mulai merambah pada dunia online journalism sebagai bentuk bahwa Komunikasi sudah mulai merambah pada dunia maya,sejauh ini Komunikasi Undip juga sudah bekerjasama dengan berbagai TV lokal dan beberapa media cetak sebagai wadah partisipasi bagi mahasiswa Ilmu Komunikasi Undip.

Selain menjelaskan mengenai bidang apa saja yang terdapat pada masing-masing program peminatan,para pembicara selanjutnya lebih cenderung menjelaskan mengenai mata kuliah yang didapat jika mengambil komunikasi strategis maupun jurnalistik. Sebagai penutup pembicara berpesan supaya peminatan manapun yang mahasiswa pilih adalah sama saja asalkan mahasiswa menjalaninya dengan serius dan terus berusaha mengembangkan potensi dirinya.

Pada sesi terakhir terdapat sesi sharing oleh mahasiswa angkatan 2008 yang mempresentasikan mengenai contoh tugas yang sudah pernah mereka kerjakan yang berhubungan dengan peminatan komunikasi strategis dan jurnalistik,diantaranya adalah tugas melakukan liputan investigasi dengan melakukan penelitian yang sebenarnya yang terjadi di lapangan yang lalu diolah dan disusun menjadi sebuah liputan berita investigasi. Dengan adanya acara ini Rindhianti Novitasari sebagai Ketua Panitia berharap dapat memudahkan mahasiswa dalam memilih peminatan yang sesuai dengan keinginan dan kemampuan yang ada.

Launch Box Digital

I ran across this post about Launch Box Digital at the blog of Sramana Mitra, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant who founded 1M/1M.

Written by guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Chris Heivly, executive director of LaunchBox Digital, an accelerator program for entrepreneurs based in Durham, North Carolina. The program structure and workings are similar to Y Combinator and TechStars.

Irina: Hi, Chris. Let’s start with a bit of history.

Chris: LaunchBox Digital started in 2008 in Washington, D.C. We ran an accelerator session in the summer of 2008 and summer in 2009 in Washington, D.C. Last year, we decided to move that to Durham, North Carolina, and ran an accelerator session in the fall of 2010.
We have a full-year physical location now in a really cool restored tobacco warehouse. The address is 334 Blackwell St. in Durham, North Carolina. It’s called the American Tobacco campus. There are about 35 software companies as well as venture capitalists and venture banks. It’s a nice, tight little ecosystem of entrepreneurs, mostly software-oriented entrepreneurs as well as some other businesses.

Irina: Do you still have accelerator sessions?

Chris: We do. It only runs three months of the year. We’ve taken space all year round, and we’re augmenting the three-month accelerator with some mini programs that can also offer value to entrepreneurs in the area. This is the first year we’ve had full year space, where someone like me is committing time all year round. We’re going to do more than the three-month accelerators.

Irina: What kind of organization is LaunchBox Digital?

Chris: It’s definitely a for-profit. It’s set up like a venture fund. We’ve secured funding from a bunch of limited partners around the area. We then invest in up to 10 companies a year, in our accelerator session. We take a piece of equity for that – 6%. It’s set up like a venture fund.
There’s a group of us at LaunchBox Digital that [will] manage that fund over the next four years. We hope that some of those companies provide a nice exit, which provides a return back for our investors, like a standard venture fund.

Irina: Do you invest in all of the companies you incubate?

Chris: Yes. The way the program works – by the way, this is very similar to Y Combinator and Tech Stars. If you’re familiar with those, it’s a similar model.
We have an application process. We accept up to 10 companies. If you’re accepted and you come in to the program, we provide an investment of $20,000 per company. For that, we take a 6% common equity interest in you. That’s the investment part.
Then we offer the program, which is all about mentorship and guidance. That runs for three months. We provide space, $20,000, advisory, and mentorship and for that, we take 6%.

Irina: If entrepreneurs are accepted and they have to come to North Carolina, they pay their own travel expenses, right?

Chris: That’s correct. They have to be here for the three months of the program. We built some arrangements outside of Launch Box with some of our partners to help facilitate their finding short-term leases for three or four months. We try to make that as easy as possible for them.
Irina: Do you have an industry preference?

Chris: Sure. At the highest level, they’re all software . . . there’s got to be a fairly large software component. We’re not doing pharma or life sciences or medical devices or dry cleaners or restaurants. These are all software or Web-based companies. To give you an example, we had seven companies that we went through in our first session here in Durham. There were two healthcare IT companies. There was a social media tool. There was a Web analytics company. There was a Web-based fantasy sports meets gaming, kind of a new gaming craze, a different spin on that. We had a Groupon-like company that came through. They’re pretty broad in scope, but they’re all software oriented.

Irina: At what stage of development do you prefer them to be when they come to you for acceleration?

Chris: It’s funny, that target keeps moving around a bit, but for the most part – well, to give you an example, we had one company that had a concept and had not written one line of code before they applied. At the same time, we had a company that had more than 40 paying customers. Generally, most companies are between alpha and pre-revenue. I just gave you two examples of someone who wasn’t an alpha and someone who was generating revenue. So, concept to less than $500,000 in revenue is the typical target.

Sharing at The Humber Embassy

On Monday evening, Feb 14, I had the privilege of joining Trevor Gingerich at The Embassy at Humber ( see posting September, 2010) to talk to their gathering. As I explained to the group, it was a lot easier to get there than the first time I went ( Oct 6, 2008) where I assumed that I would be able to find the meeting without problem just by arriving on campus and looking for its signs. Well, it was the Embassy's inaugural Monday meeting, Humber College was a whole lot bigger than I ever imagined, and the signs never materialized. Indeed, no one I asked had any idea whatsoever where I might find this meeting. When I finally stumbled across it, the meeting was over, things were being packed up, Trevor was gone and I chatted with a few students. This would be about a year before I started my present position – and it was my wedding anniversary, to boot. I had gone into serious relationship debt over a meeting I never actually got to see.. :P

Monday Night @ Embassy Humber

Back to the present. Humber is a big institution. The Embassy, through the commitment and effort of its students, has found considerable favour with the institution. They are able to meet in the commons area which allows them visibility and accessibility. At present, they are meeting right near the cafeterias and across the commons from where they met in the fall. It allows them to have a sense of relative privacy, while being open and easily accessible.


I took the opportunity to talk about “living for eternity now”. Specifically, I talked about what I have learned since 12/11, the day Dave died. Far from focusing on death, my questions revolve around:
 What does it mean to truly live the life we have been created and called to live?
How can we live meaningfully without a vision of The Bigger Picture?
What’s preventing us from Living “ All In and All Out” both of which Dave did in spades.

 Again, it was moving to see how his life and words had a way of focusing us all on what it really important. They point us to Jesus – who embodies all that is truly Real.


I must confess, though. In looking back, I realize that there was what I could only describe as a spiritual battle taking place before and after. I wasn’t as much aware of it when I was actually in the middle of it, but more so when I had a couple of days to think about it all. I take that part of the biblical cosmology seriously, with the proviso that it receives no more ( or less) than its proper due. Given all of that, I count it all privilege and joy.

It is really encouraging to see what God is doing in and through The Embassy.

Church In The Box

One of the privileges I have is working with the chaplain of Redeemer University College, Dr. Syd Hielema, as an adjunct chaplain. As he words it – he is a reformed guy with pentecostal leanings and I am a pentecostal guy with reformed leanings.

Actually, I was sort of a John the Baptist for him, forerunning as a part-time chaplain at Redeemer ,from 1997 to 2006, clearing the way for a full time chaplaincy position. Anyhoo...., he invited me to join him this year, a day per week – which helps augment my income and provides yet another avenue for me to pour into the emerging generation. This includes my own son, Jordan, who is actively involved in the life of the school. Working in both secular and Christian institutions, I recognize that there are challenges and opportunities in both, with considerable common ground.



One of the privileges of working at Redeemer is being able to work with the spiritual ‘keeners’, who see Redeemer as a means to the greater ends of being worldchangers. Like any school, students will vary in their reasons for being there, but there is a solid core of them who are there on a mission. Some of those students are involved in leading what is called “Church In The Box” ( CITB ) where, as I tell them, they are not a church but they are doing church. It is Church as a verb, if you will. Once per month around a thousand young people gather to worship, hear a speaker and be challenged in their faith.




Corey, Paul and Team...



The beauty of it is: the students pretty much do it all. They develop the themes, discuss and select the songs, lead the worship, do drama and creative arts, greet, pray, do prayer ministry, run the AV and lights, select the speaker and whatever else it takes to pull off the biggest production at Redeemer outside of convocation. They have a faculty advisor, Richard Wikkerink, and chaplaincy input and oversite, which has proven helpful for continuity and guidance.

Tag Team Scripture Reading

Anyway, last night was the February CITB, featuring a well loved professor of English at Redeemer, Dr. Deborah (Deb) Bowen. Deb, picking up the theme of “Sidekicks of The Faith” talked about a “ministry couple” namely, Aquila and Priscilla.   A & P were friends of the apostle Paul used strategically by God in the propagation of the gospel. In a humble, personal fashion she described current examples of key people who had modeled 'gospel partnerships' and who had made an impact on the life of both her and her husband, Dr. John Bowen.

Dr. Bowen Presents:

I love that worship team. The leader, Corey, has both skill and presence. I want to find out sometime what it is that made him into what he is. Yet the cool thing is that he does not dominate. Like a great quarterback, he distributes the ball. It’s a great combination. Anyway, kudos to the entire CITB team for another job well done.

Come Be The Fire....

Tell A Story

I learned a lot of things during my time working for the Walt Disney Company. But one of the most important things I learned is the power of stories. For those of us in the nonprofit space, while it’s often easy to quote lots of statistics dealing with numbers of clients helped, students, people helped; there is nothing more powerful than telling a story about the folks we work with. Keep in mind, that whether you work for a nonprofit or a for profit organization, stories are a powerful way to tell others what you're doing and how you're doing it.

Thanks to our friends at McKinsey and Company who forwarded this article along…take a look at The power of storytelling: What nonprofits can teach the private sector about social media.

Job Vacancy Azura Activation & Multimedia

AZURA Activation & Multimedia, sebuah perusahaan yang bergerak di Bidang Event Management & Production House membutuhkan ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE (Kode : AE) dengan kriteria sbb :

Syarat Umum :
Usia maksimal 28 tahun
Pendidikan S1
Mempunyai minat besar bekerja dalam bidang activation & multimedia
Mampu berbahasa Indonesia dengan baik
Menguasai bahasa Inggris, lisan maupun tulisan
Bersedia bekerja full time
Bersedia mengikuti proses seleksi di Jakarta (biaya sendiri)

Syarat khusus :
Memiliki kemampuan komunikasi, persuasi, presentasi dan salesmanship yang tinggi
Suka bersosialisasi dan mampu membangun networking
Dapat bekerja dengan target penjualan di bawah tekanan deadline
Memiliki pengalaman di bidang sales activation & multimedia diutamakan

KIRIM LAMARAN BESERTA CV & FOTO TERBARU KE :
adrian.yudi@feminagroup.com

DITUNGGU PALING LAMBAT 15 Februari 2011

The Senator Comes to the Falcone Center

Great day today for the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship as United States Senator for New York Kirsten Gillibrand was at our South Side Innovation Center this morning. Senator Gillibrand convened a roundtable discussion to hear from veterans and area business leaders about how the government might work to ensure jobs for New York veterans. During the session, the Senator discussed her plans to provide tax credits for businesses who hire vets, provide more job training for veterans, and better facilitate the transition from active duty to the job market.

The Post Standard’s follow-up article provided information about the session. The South Side Innovation Center is a 13,000 square foot community based microenterprise incubator operated by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. The SSIC, which was opened in 2006, offers offices with phones, computers and furniture; shared conference rooms; training and resource rooms; a resource library; large equipment use and reception area services at a low cost to local entrepreneurs. The SSIC currently houses 24 resident businesses, serves 300+ non‐tenant clients, and provides training, workshops, classes, networking, and mentoring opportunities to approximately 1,000 other individuals and entrepreneurs.

We NEED to be There....

Sunago @ UVic

I had to write a 200 word piece for our updated Mission Canada publication, SUPPOSE that we will put out in the spring.  As you can imagine, it is difficult to stuff " a quart into a pint bottle", but here is what I submitted this morning, before the editors get their hands on it....... It came in just under the limit.


We  NEED  to be there.

• When their minds are opened to engage the broader world. When they lay down a foundation for the rest of their lives.

• When they ask big questions. …What really matters? How can we know? Why should we care?

• When their lives are in flux.. engaging questions about their future

• When they are looking for friendships, community, purpose, value, identity, meaning, a bigger picture.

• When faith is attacked, undermined or negated.

• When they dream big dreams… and make big choices.

• When, whether they realize it, they are looking for God

• When they have the potential of making a difference for eternity in the lives of hundreds of their peers

We ARE there….

Campus Mission Canada is on dozens of Canadian campuses, led by God to develop Spirit filled communities that challenge both the mind and the spirit.

......Communities that witness to the power of Christ in every corner of our broken world.

.....Ones that see the challenge and the potential of the university and recognize its critical role in shaping our culture.

We WILL BE there…

We are reaching onto new campuses each year. Join us. There is so much yet to be done!

I Apologize...I Mean I'm Sorry...I Mean Our Company Screwed Up

Over the weekend I read through the current issue of Inc. Magazine. Several stories caught my eye, but I wanted to call to your attention the one about how to deal with things when you have a real, honest-to-goodness-company-killing problem. The article in the magazine is titled, How to Ride a Storm, (re-titled on-line How to Turn Disaster into Gold) by Jason Fried and it describes a serious problem that the author’s company, 37signal’s had with a key product, named Campfire. If you have an entrepreneurial company…or if you’re planning to launch…read through the article and see what they did because at some point or another, you’re going to have to say to your customers or stakeholders…that you’ve messed up. And you’ll also have some fun reading through the author’s comments about how some companies go about “apologizing” when they screw up.

Here’s a section from the article:

So here's what we did when Campfire went down. First, we posted regular updates on the status page of our company's website. We let people know we were working on the problem. As we figured things out, we shared the results. And if we still didn't understand something, we admitted as much. That's OK with us. What isn't OK is leaving people in the dark. Everyone's afraid of the dark when their data are involved.

We also took to Twitter. My business partner David Heinemeier Hansson responded to more than 100 tweets from customers. "We're battling demons on all fronts and losing. It's pathetic, I know," David tweeted to one customer. "We're spending the goodwill we've built from years of reliable service like it's going out of style." "So sorry for the disruption," he wrote to another. "You can only say duh! so many times before people just think you're annoying. We're way past that," he wrote.

We responded to every complaint and took the blame every time—even when people went overboard and launched into personal attacks. There was no fighting back, no attempt to save face. We messed up, we knew it, and we let every customer know that we knew it.
And our customers responded with enormous goodwill. "37signals has been giving a free lesson in customer service and honesty the past few weeks," one customer tweeted. "Way to go on being awesome and communicative to your customers," said another. Such expressions of support were really heartwarming—and evidence of how honesty, openness, and personal attention to a difficult situation can turn the darkest moment into one of the brightest.
We decided to give every Campfire customer a free month of service. We were down for only a few hours, total, but the downtime was spread out over multiple days. Besides, we didn't earn our customers' trust in December, so we didn't earn their money, either. We have thousands of paying Campfire customers, so this wasn't a cheap or easy decision. But it was the right thing to do.

Finally, once we figured out what went wrong and took steps to make sure it wouldn't happen again, we wrote a full post on our product blog detailing exactly what had happened. We started with a general overview that could be understood by everyone. Being in the software business doesn't give you license to speak in code. Yes, some of our customers are technically gifted. But most of them aren't, so speaking in tech jargon can cause even more confusion. That said, we also delved into the technical details for those who care about those kinds of things. And we added a link to the announcement inside Campfire, so all our customers would see it. You can read the product blog post at productblog.37signals.com/products/2010/12/campfire-outage-explanation-and-service-credits.html.

Ian Rennie and Jamie Smith : Perspectives on pentecostalism

Back in the day, when I was at Regent College in Vancouver, I was privileged to study "History of Christianity" under Dr. Ian Rennie. Dr. Rennie was a brilliant and personable pastor/scholar with a deep commitment to the entire Church and to his Presbyterian heritage. He left Regent College and had moved to Ontario and had since become Dean of Tyndale Seminary in Toronto.

Dr. Ian Rennie

I say that to say this: He wrote a letter to a friend ,which was later published, that resonated with what I knew of the man. I provide the link below. Speaking as someone who had been birthed into the Kingdom by God's power and who struggled to integrate this with "the academy" I found his words both helpful and challenging.

Specifically, this article is about Pentecostalism...... by a Presbyterian.

Dr. Ian Rennie on Pentecostalism

Further, I would like to commend a book to you by James K.A. Smith ,   Associate Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College and (among his many hats) the executive director of the Society of Christian Philosophers. It is entitled “Thinking In Tongues: Pentecostal Contributions to Christian Philosophy”. There are a variety of reasons I would recommend this to people on the inside and outside of the Pentecostal/charismatic stream of Christianity. For the record, while being a renowned neo-calvinist , Smith also defines himself as a small p “pentecostal” which means that, in light of the breadth of our movement,  he sees himself connected to this stream of spirituality without being having to be defined as such in any denominational manner.

From the introduction onward, I resonated with so many aspects of this book that I don’t know where to begin.  He not only provides a robust apologetic for pentecostal spirituality ( although that is not his goal) but the philosophical implications for working from pentecostal  presuppositions ( which he roundly affirms). In other words, he was determined to break fresh ground into areas where pentecostals have things to say that need to be heard by the broader Christian community. In fact, he makes a powerful case that the broader Christian community is empoverished by not bringing pentecostals to the table.

In doing so, he has described his book as a “Manifesto”. Indeed, this is but one volume of a series of pentecostal manifestos he plays a significant role in editing. It unsettles and clears the ground in order to open up new areas of dialogue. Towards this end, it succeeds admirably.

I work in an adjunct capacity at Redeemer University College, where there is a strong Reformed foundation and emphasis. I very much appreciate its strength in its broad, all encompassing vision for redemption and education. I see much in their approach to academics to admire and appreciate. Yet, I can see the invaluable ( although often unrecognized ) contribution of pentecostal spirituality to the school. Indeed, the chaplain, Dr. Syd Hielema is very aware that the spiritual leadership provided by pentecostal students is all out of proportion to their numbers. I can see the impact of our movement in everything from the 24/7 prayer vigils to the "Hot Spot" worship events and calls to corporate fasting and respentance.  As the 'pentecostal guy' on staff, it is very apparent to me that everyone is impoverished if we are excluded or if we simply allow others to misunderstand or define us. This is exactly Smith’s point.

James K.A.Smith

While he may lose the reader at certain points ( he has a chapter on “a Pentecostal Contribution to a Philosophy of Language” that I guarantee will be slow reading ), he makes for fascinating reading. Let me just hint at one of his points:. When he describes characteristics of authentic pentecostal spirituality and worldview, he writes “ that is why I think Pentecost is really about radical openness to God – especially an openness to a God who exceeds our horizons of expectation and comes unexpectedly ( p. 34)“ . While he is not unaware of controversy, he is adamant that our thinking be freed up from the implicit Enlightenment naturalism that has rigidly controlled our theological categories, and that we allow for “openness and surprise”. Indeed!

Why do I include this: Well, because I really do believe that there is a Kingdom opportunity,here. There is an opportunity to learn from the broader body of Christ and an opportunity to share that which is valuable in our heritage without feeling we need to be apologetic for doing so. There can be a mutually beneficial "cross-pollination" that will benefit the body of Christ as we engage a culture in the midst of seismic flux. The fact is: it is already happening. However, I believe we need to be more intentional about it. We are of the greatest blessing to the Body of Christ when we are what God has called our movement to be....

As we begin a missional movement on our campuses, we want to draw from the wealth of our own spritual heritage, rather than downplay it for the sake of conformity. We need to be very careful not to throw the proverbial baby out with the proverbial bathwater......

 

New Patent Process

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article that makes you scratch your head. The article, Expediting US Innovation Comes at a Cost by Angus Loten deals with an announcement from the Commerce Department about a new fast track process for patents. According to the article, “Until now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office largely has processed patents on a first-come, first-serve basis for a base fee of $1,090. Last year, the office granted more than 244,358 patents, up 27% from 2009. The process takes an average of 35 months to complete, and often includes costly legal fees—patent lawyers typically charge more than $25,000, depending on the complexity of the application.” The article then goes on to explain that a new process, which is a part of the White House’s Startup America initiative, “would cut the process to just 12 months for $4,000, along with upfront processing and publication fees of $430.”

While for many of the students and entrepreneurs that we talk with, the notion of speed- to-market is more important that the patent, but for those faculty and students that we deal with that do need patents, I think this new process is well worth the extra dollars.

The reason I mention it’s a head-scratcher is that article seems to feel that it will create an unfair playing field for entrepreneurs, giving those with more money quicker access to the patent process. If a professor or student was sitting in front of me today, I would recommend get the extra three grand from family or friends and get the process rolling. Especially since the patent office is going to fast track only 10,000 applications in the first year of this new process, it makes sense to do it.

Thoughts from Chapel Tuesday morning

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana,

I was in chapel this morning at HQ, where James Craig gave us an enlightening overview of a biblical theology of land, and how it applied to the history and legacy of his hometown of  Mississauga ( where our HQ is situated) as well as to the Mississauga Tribe who previously owned this land and had it wrested from by through force and deception.

The Mississaugas were a deeply spiritual people who actually converted en masse ( without exception) in the 1820’s to Christianity under the preaching of Peter Jones, a young convert of an English father and Mississauga mother, who would one day become their chief. The phenomena accompanying his preaching – the manifestations if you will – were remarkably similar to those of another move of the Spirit, in Mississauga, known as The Toronto Blessing ( with its epicentre in the controversial Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship). The incontestable fruit of this move of God in the life of the Mississaugas continues to this day.

Peter Jones  ( 1802 - 1856 )

Anyway, let me digress,  I have long considered myself post-denominational. Educated in interdenominational schools and working on what could be considered as the fringes as a church planter and campus guy, I have appreciated my denom but found my spiritual connections and identity well beyond its borders. However, I have to say that for all of its human and cultural warts, I am growing to appreciate the PAOC now more than ever. I love its diversity and the quality of the people I get to work with. I enjoy watching our leaders like Dave Wells, David Hazzard, Murray Cornelius and George Werner in action. As I tell people, “I work in 'the Vatican', and it is basically Dave, David, Murray and George in the corner offices”. Actually, I could name other names as well. They are good at what they do and leaders for the times.


That brings me to James Craig. I love the fact that he combines rigorous historical analysis, biblical theology and a deep hunger for the moving of the Holy Spirit. I love the fact that we have guys like that. I love the desire to connect the past with the present and the future – as does scripture. Last week, Murray Cornelius, our Overseas Missions Boss ( and fellow Regent College alumnus) challenged us to never lose sight of the Greater Hunger. The emerging generation has a righteous passion for Justice and social action. So it should. We are actively involved in such initiatives all around the world. However, as Murray rightly points out, we will lose our way if we ever replace feeding the “ greater hunger” with feeding the “lesser hunger”. It can never be a case of "either/or". In light of the scriptures and in light of  the history of missions, he was absolutely right.