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Story 11: Learning to Lead

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Sidebar: Values We Lived by and that Guided this Project

Written by Mike Spock

Following Boston Stories' first project stakeholder meeting at the St. Botolph Club (March 2005), former staff member Jim Zien came up with a list of values or attributes that he thought accurately described how The Children's Museum conducted business during those "yeasty times." He thought those values were what encouraged us to do so many interesting things without imploding as an organization or losing our sense of direction as a working community.

Jim's list was brilliant. Now identified in our project as a collective or interactive form of leadership, this lens moved our discussions forward by making us realize that it was those values that also gave us a good start at organizing Boston Stories.

  • Community (or Communities)
  • Authenticity
  • Autonomy
  • Collaboration
  • Play (or Playfulness)
  • Discovery
  • Serendipity
  • Experimentation
  • Inclusion
  • Flexibility
  • Continuity
  • [Purposeful] Structure

To which the stakeholders gathered that day added

  • Trust
  • Breadth
  • Respect

Next: Sidebar: Personnel Policy Committee