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Hello social leaders! Welcome to my blog on all things social leadership. I am excited to share tools, resources, how-to’s, perspectives and inspirational stories from the field with all of you.

Let me tell you how this blog was born, since I remember the moment quite clearly and it has a lot to do with this blog’s mission.

The Birth of this Blog

A week after experiencing the bone-rattling wrath of Hurricane María within the confines of my flooded apartment building, I attended a meeting at a local philanthropist’s office to discuss Puerto Rico’s path to recovery. Everyone around the table looked a bit dazed. None of us had electricity and we could see people queuing in the blazing sun outside our window for basic supplies.

As we brainstormed on how to help the island get back on its feet, we all agreed Puerto Rico must change, do things differently. Yet, every idea for recovery seemed to get shot down because of one technicality or another.

“That’s not how we do things”, “that will never get approved”, “that’s not possible”. Finally, I spoke up: “How can we ask millions of people to change, when we won’t change ourselves? If we are not willing to do anything differently, how can we expect others to be?”.

My ‘Aha’ Moment

Talk about an Oprah-esque ‘aha’ moment! I walked out of there committed to changing my own life, my own professional practice, my own way of doing things.

For many years, I have coached entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders who transform communities and lives. My work has been gratifying and meaningful. I have been in the zone…my comfort zone.

Many clients and colleagues have spurred me to share my methodologies and experiences with the world. My answer was always “Yes…later.”. Well, later is finally here!

This blog is my first step outside that comfort zone into a brave new world of sharing to inspire beyond my immediate client base.

What You Can Expect from this Blog

It exemplifies the change I committed to walking out of that post-hurricane meeting. This blog is geared towards anyone working to change the world for the better. That includes organizations, big and small, as well as individuals, young and old.

Topics include:

• • Social leadership
  • Who a social leader needs to be
  • What a social leader needs to know
  • What a social leader needs to do
  • Tools and exercises for social leaders
  • Coaching
  • Nonprofit tools
  • Design thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Organizational culture
  • Trends in social impact
  • Social innovation
  • Social entrepreneurship
  • Courses and fellowship opportunities
  • Applications
  • Inspirational stories
  • Opportunities for under-served youth
  • Latino communities

I plan to post on a monthly basis. Please comment, share links with other social leaders and subscribe here to get updates.

Thank you,

Cristina
The Social Leadership Coach