Excruciating joy. That’s as close as I can get to articulating the atmosphere at the 2011 Social Change Institute.

Hosted at Hollyhock, June 8 – 12, SCI brought together a group of 55 remarkably diverse individuals, each of whom is working on one or more of the most significant challenges we face: From the need to rethink our organizations and how they’re structured, to unification of distinct generations in service of challenges bigger than each of them, to the recognition that adaptation to climate change will be as challenging as reversing it, the questions posed at SCI required both widely expansive thinking and deep, personal engagement. And it is precisely there that the greatest lessons of SCI 2011 began.

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It was 7am on a dreary September morning, it was teeming with rain, and I’d been up for three hours already. The usual issues had plagued my night: Cash flow. Collaboration. Marketing. Not to mention my daughter kicking me in the head at 4am!

So there I sat, windscreen wipers slapping before my eyes, waiting for two people I’d never met to knock on my car’s window. Naturally, I was wondering what I was doing…. Then Jeremy showed up.

Backpack. Big hair. Firm handshake. Spitting image of my brother-in-law. And, like me, a bit bleary-eyed. Then came Josh: Tall. Easy to smile. Fresh into Canada from Germany. Another firm handshake.

Two strong first impressions. Two sharp minds. Two instant friends.

After picking up the bright and ambitious Annalea, we hit the road on an eight hour trip to Hollyhock, a magical place where hearts settle, souls run free, and minds are loosed to consider the great possibilities of what might be. This was the beginning of Social Venture Institute, a weekend that changed my world.

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