CHAPTER 12
The Power of the Virtual Gathering Place

We should all be so grateful for the advent of enterprises like MySpace, You-Tube, Skype, SecondLife, and Facebook. They have opened new frontiers for putting our differences to work beyond our wildest imaginations—and at lightning speed, with all the usual fits and starts and controversy that innovations inherently bring. These innovations have democratized communication, breaking down barriers across the world that have made it possible to get to know one another and learn about our differences across generations, cultures, and distance. Even the most Internet-averse have heard and read at least the buzz about these Internet icons, and they have been a catalyst for all kinds of new partnerships and collaborations, as well as an opener of the floodgate to get people engaged in very different ways of communicating with one another.

I remember the first time I held a Skypecast, one of the options on Skype, an innovative software that allows you to make phone calls through your computer to any Skype member worldwide and with many other features and tools (www.skype.com). My Skypecast was a one-hour, self-generated dialogue at a designated time. I posted a brief ad about the event that shows in the Skypecast schedule. I chose the option of it being an open invitation versus a private session. When I logged on, in an instant, nearly fifty people showed up from over ten countries that I could discern, including Greece, China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Romania, India, Canada, South Africa, and the United States. They came to explore ideas about “being good neighbors.” It was primitive and awkward at first, because we were 172all trying something new. The technology was still in beta test, and I would say all of us were, too. Some people talked. Some listened, but you couldn’t help but feel our curiosity about each other and the thrill for many of being heard. There were shy voices, provocative opinions, people wanting to tell you about their culture and view of the world. Together, we got a small glimpse of understanding in the distance that truly was a meeting at the verge of differences.

PIONEERING THE IDEA OF VIRTUAL GATHERINGS

It is hard to believe how fast things have advanced. Long before these recognized Internet icons emerged, I was dreaming of virtual gatherings at the peril of being thought a “crazy woman.” I remember my first peek into the future of such a possibility. It was 1997, when Placeware was launched as a commercial online conferencing product. It was a bit out of my league at the time as a business owner. With only dial-up available in my area, it would be a few years before I actually saw or experienced a virtual classroom. However, not being able to see it did not inhibit me in imagining its possibilities. I even remember Joel Barker and me having some magical explorations of how and what you might do, if given the opportunity sometime in the future.

Bottom line, I was fascinated by the idea of being able to be with people in conversation in this new virtual world. After years of meaningful experiences with group facilitation in physical space, this new innovation caught my pioneering spirit. That same summer, I claimed the dream while on vacation. It was a starry night out in the middle of nowhere on a houseboat. Two friends and I were dreaming big dreams for ourselves as we do regularly. One of mine was to be able to have an online classroom someday, one where I could be with people in dialogue across the world. Interestingly, after that claim was made, in what seemed a flash, myriad opportunities “popped up out of the pavement” to prepare me for what was to come. In Chapter 4, one concrete example was highlighted in the best practice story about the development in 2000 of the cross-cultural dialogue center, HP’s Global eSpace, under the leadership of Dr. Sidalia Reel.

As online forums and live chat started to gain acceptance, adding still other possibilities for putting our differences to work, I decided to independently test the waters. It was January 2003. I had made a New Year’s resolution to take off a few pounds, so I joined Weight Watchers Online. I had read about its message boards, where you could interact with others for support.

At first, I did what I’ve learned a lot of people do: lurk. After signing on, I would just hover over other people’s lively conversations like I was eaves- 173dropping, not really knowing how to begin and feeling surprisingly shy and vulnerable. It was actually a lot like life in physical space, when you show up someplace, don’t know anyone, and no one notices you. I started dabbling, leaving a message here and there. Some were answered; some were ignored. I still felt disconnected, like a real outsider. Just when I was about to give up and join the naysayers of the world, questioning the value of all the fuss over virtual communication, I decided to try one more attempt.

The WB Café

One morning in February 2004, I set up my own message board at Weight Watchers. I posted a welcoming message setting up the idea of looking for “buddies” to share the journey. Within minutes, a spirited, friendly woman named Nia showed up to accept my invitation and shared her story. Soon others also came, and by the end of the day the café was full. The rest is history. The WB Café has been open 365 days a year ever since. The first person to arrive every day opens and posts the first message. The last one “takes the trash and sets for morning.” There are no rules, but we’ve shared the leadership and ownership for this special place to meet, connect, and find support.

Like any café in your neighborhood, our virtual café has its regulars, including a retired nurse, stay-at-home moms with overwhelming schedules, a professor, hardworking professionals, a college student soon to finish graduate school, and a high school senior now soon to graduate from Columbia University. We are a cast of unique characters from all around the United States, as well as Puerto Rico, plus visitors from Canada and South Africa. Together we are about as different as you can imagine. We’ve found common ground around being healthy, but most of all we made friends sight unseen, voice unheard.

As I was developing the Five Distinctive Qualities of Leadership for this book, I realized that the WB Café has lived up to every one. We thrive on the diversity of our group. If you stick around, you can be sure there is a chair waiting for you with your name carved in it. If you are new, you find the warmest welcome. Our diversity makes it interesting, and we’ve learned together that we are a creative force. We work to get to know one another. From our unique differences come the sharing of stories, victories, heartbreaks, and the personalities that resonate through each person’s writing. Personal responsibility is what has kept the café an evolving place. New ideas have refreshed its name, its welcome, and brought about positive changes we needed to bring out the best in all of us, as well as keep the benefits flowing to everyone. 174It’s hard not to imagine the good that would come if organizations, businesses, and all parts of society could someday enjoy the experience of a culture of inclusion like this seemingly small example suggests. I asked a few of the longtime WB Café regulars to share why they come and what the experience has meant to them:

• Nia: Like ducks flying in formation, we all take our turn leading. When one of us falls behind, another takes the lead. Who would have thought that such a close-knit group would have evolved from that very first thread started years ago
• Alice Ann: We’ve never met face to face, but we feel a connection from inside. We supported one another through weight loss, celebrations of many kinds, and personal losses as well. We’re all so different but so alike in our own special ways.
• Marylynn: I’ve gotten more support here from this little group than any meeting. Overtime, I feel a sense of responsibility to everyone; it’s part of who I am as a person. I come here because it feels like home.
• Wanda: I love coming here to chat and just to be cheered up and spurred on to reach my goals. You can ‘“fess up” with never a fear of condemnation; we’ve all been in the same place. We care for one another.
• Beth: I come here because I feel loved and accepted. I am always, always welcomed back. I feel a closeness to everyone; I don’t need to see them or talk to them with my voice. In my mind, I visualize what everyone looks like.
• Lorilynn: Some women have breezed through our lives at the café. We miss them all and “call out their names” frequently and fondly because of the ways they have all touched each and every one of our lives and made a difference to us all.

As we’ve learned through the many stories in this book, the WB Café is still another example that demonstrates the power of putting our differences to work. It was this early positive experience that gave me the courage to take a bold step in the virtual world.

Global Dialogue Center

In November 2004, my company launched the Global Dialogue Center (see the illustration), a virtual gathering place for people throughout the world with a focus on leadership, professional, and personal development. It is open to the public and fueled by the belief that if all of us can think, question, and explore new ideas together, we can become more effective leaders in our organizations, marketplaces, workplaces, communities, and with our families. In turn, this maximizes the opportunities for us to meet on common ground to put our differences to work to create a world better than we know today.

We’ve worked to listen to our visitors and learn with them, continuing to redefine what “virtual event” means to them. We have been blessed with 176the finest of thought leaders, who have contributed their best work. We seemed to attract those with a pioneering spirit for the new and different. This is also reflected in a global ever-changing community of people who join us to receive their wisdom and to share themselves across the distance representing over 125 countries. Most of our contributors and members of our community have never met—physically, that is. We know their presence well, and we’ve witnessed their growth. It is definitely a win-win-win for everyone! Our operating model has been intentionally designed as a practice of the five distinctive qualities for putting our differences to work. The whole place is brimming with mutualism.

Global Dialogue Center Site Map

“Working in a virtual gathering place is now my practice, including operating from my virtual office with customers in our mainstream business. It is a world that is changing rapidly with advances continuing to open up new ways for us to be in a community. By the way of noting the power of vision, our bank of conference rooms at Global Dialogue Center Conference Center is today powered by Microsoft Office Live Meeting®, which acquired Placeware in 2003, as I mentioned previously—the very organization that sparked my early dream. What are those chances?

In their beautiful, groundbreaking book A Simpler Way, Margaret “Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers describe clearly the experience of putting our differences to work for the first time with a new team, breaking new ground in some innovative never-done-before direction:

HP Common Thread 2.0

The following story shows how organizing was an act of faith for a small team of people-focused innovators at HP. It was the ultimate putting our differences to work project. The initial aim was to forge a new virtual path across the company, in record time, with big ambitions of creating an influential Web-subscriber-based vehicle to connect employees at all levels in a personal way to HP’s leadership team, their culture of innovation worldwide, and their commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout the world.

The HP Common Thread core team for the mission was tiny—three, to be exact. It was headed by Barbara Hopland, then Director, Diversity Awareness Solutions, joined by Debby Mclsaac, Director, Culture and Engagement, and Dee Blackwell, Diversity Project Manager. I had the privilege of being invited to team up as a creative partner, bringing my outside perspective from building the Global Dialogue Center community. Together there was an intentional blend of inside and outside differences with unique knowledge, know-how, and strengths that everyone brought to the table.

HP Common Thread 2.0

Employees around the world proved that Common Thread was much more than its original idea. Through their willingness to participate and share their ideas and stories, it became a:

1. virtual peer-to-peer global development experience;
2. professional and leadership development resource;
3. place for ongoing dialogue with senior leaders and HP innovators;
4. “town hall” for sharing best practices, insight, and opinion;
5. resource for outside perspectives and innovative new thinking;
6. vehicle tapping into creative ideas for responding to a dynamic marketplace;
7. virtual stage with an open mike;
8. giant blog with many contributing authors;
9. virtual gathering place.

“We were able to bring an idea to life, because we ultimately respected the different set of talents that each brought,” reflected Barbara Hopland. “We learned differences can cause initial conflict and sometimes misunderstanding in the midst of a lot of creative drive, especially when the pressure is on. What made it work well was that we all had the courage and conviction to mission to keep our focus on achieving results, for and through the people of HP. This brought out the best in all of us.”

It was true that none of us knew exactly how the work would unfold or even how to classify what it was at first so that sponsors, leaders, and employees would grasp its value and find it personally meaningful. So for lack of a different term, we initially called it a “news digest,” but as we worked in partnership with HP employees around the world, they helped everyone see it was much more. In March 2006, HP’s Common Thread was launched in partnership with HP’s employees across the world, joining together to tell their stories and transfer knowledge business to business in ways never imagined. There was meaning behind the name Common Thread that resonated across the world: “The name symbolizes our undeniable link across businesses, cultures, differences, and 178distance. Together, we make up HP’s global team. Each one of us plays an important role in our success.”

In its first year, over seventy senior leaders and members of the executive team contributed personal features and offered their sponsorship and encouragement. Scores of HP employee contributors showed up, excited to share their best practices, success stories, as well as editorials on key topics, like the need to “think globally.” They also coached, mentored, and worked together in virtual town halls, offering their expertise and global perspectives on a wide range of business issues. In the spirit of mutualism, the Global Dialogue Center’s thought leaders brought in outside perspectives via mini podcasts, self-learning exhibits, and tips for “learning on the go” to complement Common Thread’s business-focused themes, such as the power of collaboration, discovering meaning in your work, and the culture of innovation.

Common Thread today, like all of us, is continuing to adapt, change, and become more. New ideas and Web 2.0 features are opening up opportunities to again take it to a new level. The goal is for it to morph itself with the changing needs of HP and employees across the world. After the initial experience, we know the possibilities are truly limitless. At HP, Common Thread’s one-year anniversary was celebrated with more than 160,000 subscribers.

Barbara Hopland, Dee Blackwell, and Debby Mclsaac shared their reflections on the experiences of learning firsthand that diversity is the fastest way to innovation, leadership, and high performance:

THE FUTURE OF VIRTUAL GATHERING

There is great promise out there for connecting in virtual space with new expanding tools to productively solve our most pressing problems, learn from one another, and bring innovations needed to create a better world for everyone. Certainly, the pioneering efforts showcased in this book— including the HP Common Thread, the Habitat JAM, the Global Innovation Outlook, the Greater IBM Connection, the WB Café, and Global Dialogue Center, and many other stories we’ve mentioned—prove that good things can be done through technology and that people across the world resoundingly agree that they want to know more about each other. When given the opportunity, we prove every time that it is our differences working together that create the fastest way to innovation, leadership, and high performance.

When we focus on investing our energies into influencing a positive outcome, we also work to curb limiting beliefs. The future of the Internet is largely up to us, collectively. As with any tool or other gift, we can make a conscious choice about how we use it for right or wrong. As idealistic as it may sound, if enough of us were living by the Five Distinctive Qualities of Leadership, holding personal responsibility as a core belief and mutualism as the final arbiter, we just might create the tipping point that will ensure the Internet will be good for all. Hold that thought!