In their book Stories of Transformative Leadership in the Human Services, LTG Partners Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver offer us guidance and tools for taking care of ourselves so that we can reconnect with our highest intentions. Actively committing ourselves to lifelong learning, the authors say, is a key to fostering a culture of inspiration, innovation and openness in our organizations.

That over 35 people showed up that evening while the first hard snowfall fell outside is a testimony to people's yearning for and interest in this kind of conversation. Using a World Cafe format to start, Willie and Steve soon found the room abuzz with expressions of connection and insight as people spoke about why they were there on this windswept night. Seeking connection with others, feeling a need to let go of anger, and a desire to heal by listening and sharing were the kind of themes that folks quickly discussed. People who had never known each other were sharing personal stories of real intimacy that made people laugh sometimes, cry sometimes, and sometimes do both.

The event, held at the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City, was led by Chris Corrigan, a “change practitioner/professor at large”, and First Nation activist engaged in supporting people committed to change in South Africa, North America and other parts of the world.

Wheatley is the author of the classic and widely influential, Leadership and the New Science, Turning to One Another, and Finding Our Way. Meg is President emeritus of the Berkana Institute, a global charitable leadership foundation, dedicated to serving life-affirming leaders and to supporting women's leadership in our inter-generational global community since 1991.

We invite you to participate in a full day of learning and development on March 25th from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm at the Riverside Church in New York City. The Women's Leadership Revival Tour has already been held in Toronto, St. Louis, Vancouver, Louisville, Seattle, Boston and other North American cities. The proceeds of the tour support the work of women who courageously step into leadership in their communities and organizations.

Since 1997, The Leadership Transformation Group has been facilitating supervisor management trainings, workshops, retreats, leadership forums and trainings and continues in its desire to heal the adults who work with children and families in child welfare.

Our facilitators have been trained to think outside of the box when using our curriculum and to use teachable moments whenever an issue arises. Whether it's a complaint about a situation in their unit, the department or they need information on how to handle a complex issue, the LTG facilitators have been there to assist them in any way.

In these trying economic times, I am asking facilitators and training participants – How have we helped you to stay the course and continue to remain positive at work and at home?

From schools to non profits to large public sector agencies, there are leaders throughout the fabric of organizations. Many of these people do not have fancy formal titles or hold high ranking positions. Much of their work may go unnoticed and unrecognized. Many of their voices are rarely heard until we take the time to listen. They are the janitors, the front desk staff, the computer technicians, the cooks, the administrative assistants, the van drivers,... They are people who can create the pulse of an organization and who, through many years of dedicated service, have come to know what an organization is really about and can help shape where it is going.

Using lessons from their recent book, LTG Partners Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver offered tools to do so at a workshop at the Annual Affordable Housing Conference of the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of New York State in Albany. They explored how we all can undo racial tensions on the job, end daily crisis management, and move from competition among team members to genuine partnership.

Working in child welfare agencies, I have seen examples of genuine partnerships and teamwork between managers and front-line staff. I have also seen managers miss critical opportunities to nurture the talents of their front-line staff.

How have you and your colleagues tapped into the talents and leadership potential of all of your staff, especially your front-line workers and support staff?

Now no disrespect to you 40 plus-ers, I stop at the age of 38 only because I've found (have a 40 year old sister who will vouch for me) in the exception of a rare few (men & women alike) beyond that age bracket just can't seem to get the system down. I mean you don't understand the smh's and the ROTFLMAO's and you sometimes even take LOL's out of context. Now please, try not to take what I just said as an insult or like I'm calling you old and out of touch but instead take it how it was intended, as a compliment. I mean really, because you dudes still know how to pick up the phone and speak through them like normal human beings. You know the way God okay maybe not God but at least as Alexander Graham Bell intended.

Ok, back to the point I'm trying to make... Who doesn't love the occasional impromptu, off the cuff & out of the blue, virtually unexpected, "Hey babes how's your day goin?" Or quick reminders like “Our date is still on for tonight @ 8 right?" Or even the totally rare, "Just thinking of you" text, email or IM? But c’mon Fellas don't get too comfortable and start using cyber talk as your main form of communication with your lady or should I rephrase that, your better half. Your lady friend can get a text but your better half, your baby, your boo, your girl, your main squeeze should rate and were not asking for much, at least one 3-5 min phone call a day. At LEAST!

At the start of the morning as the hustle and bustle of a large crowd of about 125 or so filed into the Renaissance Room of the Hilton Hotel for LTG partners Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver's workshop "Transforming Leaders in Times of Uncertainty" there seemed to be a mixed bag of energies. There was the enthusiastic ready-to-go energy of, "Oh my gosh, did it already start? Hope I didn't miss anything" to the indifferent "Yeah I'll take a flyer lady,' while thinking... "I can use it as proof of my attendance." And, of course, there was the ever-unenthusiastic "I hope this will not turn out to be a waste of 1 1/2hrs of my already stretched-thin-never seeming-to-be-my-own time."

As the work shop quickly began to unfold and the LTG partners took their turns speaking, bouncing off of each other, both charismatic and intellectual but totally different styles of speaking, the energies of the audience began to change. A change directly due to the way that the information was being delivered which was most impressive.

It went well; hell, it went really well. We started with 100 people in the room and ended with 125 folks, some of them crammed against the exit door. Nobody left, we got thoughtful questions, lots of folks wanted to buy the book. All good. Emily had ensured a well-organized event, and she came through. We felt honored to have been there; happy to see some former students’ faces, equally pleased that most came for the topic and not because we were known to them at all.

Some argue that very statement or description of this affliction that my generation suffers so badly from as being an addiction at all. Mainly our elders... Most of whom absolutely hate, hate, HATE IT! They feel that my peeps (the I want it NOW-ers) are just being inconsiderate, irresponsible and rude.

Maybe it was getting to re-connect with Gilbert Guzman's widow Donna Galeno and his beaming daughter. Their happiness showed that the quiet guy who gave us the title to our book indeed left a very full glass...

Maybe it was seeing two powerful people, Fire Commissioner Nick Scoppetta and Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, show the quality of their character as they relaxed in quiet away from the spotlight...only to leave a stronger imprint on people that they stayed so long...

Maybe it was the three young men from the Fort Greene projects working as servers for the first time who kept going the extra mile as the evening wore on, stepping up to the challenge Kami and Wanda gave them to serve the room with a touch of class...

When reading Stories of Transformative Leadership in the Human Services: Why the Glass is Always Full, I was reminded of a scene from the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid. " Paul Newman and Robert Redford are being chased after robbing a bank. It was a bank like any other except they were being tracked and the posse was catching up. That was a new experience for them and every few moments Butch would turn around and repeat the same question, "who are those guys?" The same could be said for Steve and Willie.

"Who are these guys" to offer those of us toiling in the human services many hours each week and often under the most difficult conditions a book of such hope?

Who are these guys to reach back to the skin of specific simple truths such as "clean as you go" or the "second golden rule" as the basis for a complex rethinking of how we experience our practice work and reinvent it to meet the increasingly desperate needs of those we serve?

And, finally, who are these guys to have the audacity to offer a new teaching writing form for building new forms of practice thinking. One that seamlessly blends the coherence of fictional narrative the rigor of academic sources, grounded exemplars of transformative leadership with rich exercises to promote dialogue and critical thinking.