Fellow: (In academia) a member of a group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of mutual knowledge or practice (per Wikipedia).
For nearly a year, our Creating the Future community of immersion graduates have been referring to ourselves as fellows. As a community, we played with words like graduate, practitioner, player and alum. Consistently, we came back to the word “fellow” as the term that represented our shared use of a common framework and philosophy as a foundation for our work.
What we call ourselves reflects how we see ourselves. Who are we in relation to Creating the Future, and how do we want to share our knowledge and experience with the world? Once we began using the term, we never really continued the discussion about what BEing a fellow means in our lives and work, and how that will evolve.
When I finished the first immersion class, it was with the passionate belief that I was now part of something bigger. Together, we would begin changing the world, by bringing this new way of thinking and being to everyone our lives touched.
Over time I realized that not everyone in our community shared that view. Some people take immersion for continuing education, to learn new skills or because they are looking for a new approach. Others jump in with both feet and want to live this philosophy and process, or even learn how to teach it All those perspectives, approaches, and levels of involvement make us the diverse and rich community we are.
Last December, Justin Pollock posed a question to the Creating the Future community regarding how we acknowledge our Creating the Future training to others. He raised some interesting points about how that attribution reflects on Creating the Future and on us as individuals. His questions have led to questions of my own:
- If we present ourselves as fellows of Creating the Future, what does that say to the world about who we are and what our relationship is to the organization?
- When we think of being part of a community of fellows, what do we picture? How will we embody our fellowship individually and as a community? What do we imagine we would be experiencing on a regular basis?
- Given the definition of fellows as a member of a group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of mutual knowledge or practice , if you picture yourself as a Creating the Future fellow, what do you aspire to be for other fellows?
It was always critical for me that we think of each other as peers, with so much to share and so much to learn from each other.
Because we share a philosophy, but bring different experiences, I can count on discussions that match my core beliefs but give me new perspectives on how to live them. And on discussions in which differences of opinion are never expressed in a judgmental way. I think most academic circles would envy us for that!
I love that Nancy started with a picture I’m in but not visible – it and the ending picture bring back so many lovely memories that I have tears in my eyes reading this blog.
Very thoughtful post. Thank you Nancy. Very thoughtful questions too. Makes me feel like somebody special to be a “fellow”!! For a person to be part of a group of fellows, it’s important to share some body of knowledge and discussion. There’s something special about being a fellow in a wide geographic group that has a wider reach than our day-to-day experiences.
In my world, I feel like I am a fellow in more than one group and that adds great perspective to everything I do.
I laughed out loud when I saw the photo of our 2012 immersion group on the blog!
Nancy, Thank you for sharing this at the perfect moment in my head space! (That happens so often at Creating the Future.) I became part of Creating the Future almost one year ago, where “Fellow” was shared as what I now was, and what I will always be. With that, came the connection to Fellows who came before me – their knowledge, wisdom, experiences, and passions. That is the power and beauty of Creating the Future. For me, it is home. For me, I am continuously learning, questioning, and fueling my individual efforts with our collective energy and strength. For me, it wasn’t that I went to a class, or training or a certification. For me, I stepped into the most incredible space with other Fellows, a space where we continuously aim for what is possible, and naturally bring out the best in each other.
Over the past year I’ve taken Creating the Future graduate and flash classes, I serve as the Board Documentarian, I wrote my first article for Creating the Future’s journal, and I am heading to Nevada next week for the Thrive Conference, which was co-created by Creating the Future Fellows, and their community members. I do all of this with such gratitude and joy, as this is who I am and how I BE in the universe. These are opportunities to stay connected to the most amazing individuals who nourish my heart and soul.
LOVE all this good stuff!
I am curious how folks feel about Nancy’s first question – it relates, in part, to Judy’s comment, “Makes me feel like somebody special to be a “fellow”!!”
Per Nancy above:
If we present ourselves as fellows of Creating the Future, what does that say to the world about who we are and what our relationship is to the organization?
What can people expect of us as fellows? What might we expect from each other?
Loving the post, loving the conversation.
What does that say to the world about who we are and what our relationship is to the organization?
— Every day, every day, I talk about myself as a fellow, as a person who had an epiphany through the immersion program. As a fellow, I feel I am a shareholder, a co-owner, and a co-creator of Creating the Future. I am Hildy and Dimitri’s true friend and counsel, and they are true friend and counsel to me. When they die, I will be at their funerals, and when they die, I would like them to be at mine. But before that, I would like to share in the journey of everything we are discovering in our worlds many thousands of miles away. I am a practitioner — working in the trenches carrying a full load consulting projects day in day out, year after year. In contrast, I feel that Creating the Future is a sort of Real World Academy that is posing big questions that I don’t always have time to stop and think about. Because of Creating the Future, I DO stop and think about these questions. Because of me and others who are out pondering these questions in the contexts of our work, the work is getting field tested. This synergy between the “laboratory” of Creating the Future and the “trenches” of implementing the ideas and models with Boards and Executive Directors and seeing that play out in transforming communities — it’s about as rich as it gets.
When we think of being part of a community of fellows, what do we picture? How will we embody our fellowship individually and as a community? What do we imagine we would be experiencing on a regular basis?
— My community of fellows call me forth to be and think bigger. If I were left to my own devices, I would play small, I would think small. Because of all of you I feel I can be brave, be true to my values. The blog, the list serve, and especially being with you in person are like food for me. So, my vision of how our fellowship would manifest is that we continue to show up as facilitators and keepers of the values of this community, and contributors to the body of thinking that is going on in this hive — not just on line but in person. The latest iteration of the newsletter is an example of the powerful way in which I have been asked to step up and be of service. I look forward to more face to face forums.
Given the definition of fellows as a member of a group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of mutual knowledge or practice , if you picture yourself as a Creating the Future fellow, what do you aspire to be for other fellows?
— I aspire to be more than a partner in the pursuit of mutual knowledge and practice. I aspire to have opportunities to develop friendships with people through the years that lead to collaborations and mind blowing cross fertilization that flow back and forth from the professional to the personal and back again.