Renewing Renew

From the acclaimed author of Unfinished Business, a story of crisis and change that can help us find renewed honesty and purpose in our personal and political lives Like much of the world, America is deeply divided over identity, equality, and history. Renewal is Anne-Marie Slaughter’s candid and deeply personal account of how her own odyssey opened the door to an important new understanding of how we as individuals, organizations, and nations can move backward and forward at the same time, facing the past and embracing a new future. Weaving together personal stories and reflections with insights from the latest research in the social sciences, Slaughter recounts a difficult time of self‐examination and growth in the wake of a crisis that changed the way she lives, leads, and learns. She connects her experience to our national crisis of identity and values as the country looks into a four-hundred-year-old mirror and tries to confront and accept its full reflection. The promise of the Declaration of Independence has been hollow for so many for so long. That reckoning is the necessary first step toward renewal. The lessons here are not just for America. Slaughter shows how renewal is possible for anyone who is willing to see themselves with new eyes and embrace radical honesty, risk, resilience, interdependence, grace, and vision. Part personal journey, part manifesto, Renewal offers hope tempered by honesty and is essential reading for citizens, leaders, and the change makers of tomorrow.

Crisis & Renewalpresents a radical view of how all successful organizations evolve and renew themselves and of what managers must do to lead the revival. Contrary to traditional organizational theory, which emphasizes rationality and control in the management of change, this book argues that there are times when managers must deliberately create crises by committing acts of "ethical anarchy" in order to break the constraints of success and renew their organizations.Hurst develops a model of change -- the organizational ecocycle -- to explain how even successful organizations become systematically vulnerable to catastrophe. He brings the model to life with stories of crisis and renewal from both his own management and consulting experiences and a cross-section of enterprises -- from the hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari and the Quakers of the Industrial Revolution to contemporary organizations such as 3M and Nike.Born when people come together to capitalize on an opportunity, young organizations are usually dedicated to innovation and learning. As they grow and age, they become preoccupied with performance. Sooner or later they become constrained by their own success. For, in the pursuit of performance, what were once self-selected roles become designated tasks, flexible teams become rigid structures, open networks give way to closed systems, and control supplants commitment as people change. The risk, says Hurst, is that this single-minded, performance orientation may render organizations dangerously insensitive to subtle changes in the environment, seriously damaging their ability to learn.Renewal-changing a performance organization back into a learning organization-demands the restoration of the excitement, emotional commitment, and values often missing from large enterprises. It involves returning to the founding principles of the firm to reconnect the past with the present. In the aftermath of crisis, only shared values can hold a renewing organization together.Crisis & Renewalgives managers the theoretical grounding and the practical tools for leading their organizations to new life. The Management of Innovation and Change Series.

Every city has an environmental story, perhaps none so dramatic as Pittsburgh's. Founded in a river valley blessed with enormous resources-three strong waterways, abundant forests, rich seams of coal-the city experienced a century of exploitation and industrialization that degraded and obscured the natural environment to a horrific degree. Pittsburgh came to be known as "the Smoky City," or, as James Parton famously declared in 1866, "hell with the lid taken off."Then came the storied Renaissance in the years following World War II, when the city's public and private elites, abetted by technological advances, came together to improve the air and renew the built environment. Equally dramatic was the sweeping deindustrialization of Pittsburgh in the 1980s, when the collapse of the steel industry brought down the smokestacks, leaving vast tracks of brownfields and riverfront. Today Pittsburgh faces unprecedented opportunities to reverse the environmental degradation of its history. In Devastation and Renewal, scholars of the urban environment post questions that both complicate and enrich this story. Working from deep archival research, they ask not only what happened to Pittsburgh's environment, but why. What forces-economic, political, and cultural-were at work? In exploring the disturbing history of pollution in Pittsburgh, they consider not only the sooty skies, but also the poisoned rivers and creeks, the mined hills, and scarred land. Who profited and who paid for such "progress"? How did the environment Pittsburghers live in come to be, and how it can be managed for the future?In a provocative concluding essay, Samuel P. Hays explores Pittsburgh's "environmental culture," the attitudes and institutions that interpret a city's story and work to create change. Comparing Pittsburgh to other cities and regions, he exposes exaggerations of Pittsburgh's environmental achievement and challenges the community to make real progress for the future. A landmark contribution to the emerging field of urban environmental history, Devastation and Renewal will be important to all students of cities, of cultures, and of the natural world.

Lessons from Naomi in the Book of Ruth. Few things make us feel as helpless as living with a story we don’t like. Maybe one that involves the loss of a loved one, an unwanted transition, a difficult diagnosis, or a dream that fell through. At one time or another, we all deal with disappointments and feelings that life is unfair or that we are being punished. In Renewed, a four-week study of the Book of Ruth, women glean wisdom from Naomi’s perspective, a woman who lived a story she didn’t choose or like. Forced to chart a new path as she mourned the loss of her husband and two sons, Naomi learned that the journey from bitterness to renewed hope and joy was rooted in God’s promise of redemption. With insight from her own journey of living with a story that is not easy, Heather teaches women to flourish even as they live hard stories through a willingness to trust that God can transform them and trade their heartache for hope. They will learn to rely on God’s movement in the details of their story, even when it can’t be seen, gain confidence to act in the part of their stories that they can change, and watch expectantly for God to redeem the parts they can’t. Components for this four-week Bible study, available separately, include a Participant Workbook with Leader Helps and a DVD with four 20 to 25-minute segments (with closed captioning).

Explore our emotional bond with nature to heal ourselves and the natural world Why spend countless hours indoors in front of screens when being in nature feels so good? In learning why and how to nurture our emotional connection with nature, we can also regenerate the ecosystems on which we depend for our survival. Renewal explores the science behind why being in nature makes us feel alive and helps us thrive. Using personal experiences and cutting-edge research in cognitive science, this book weaves delightful stories that: Reveal nature's genius and impacts on our lives from physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual perspectives Explore how emulating nature is yielding design breakthroughs with biomimicry and biophilic design Highlight the importance of compassion and coexisting with wildlife in designing our conservation strategies Describe the significance of nurturing an ecological ethic that supports a reciprocal relationship with nature. Whether you are drawn to conservation or are interested in the science behind human behavior, Renewal will help create a blueprint for integrating nature with a life of creativity, compassion, and joy. AWARD GOLD | 2019 Nautilus Book Awards: Green Living & Sustainability SILVER | 2020 Living Now Awards: Green Living

“The only stability possible is stability in motion.”—John William Gardner In his classic treatise Self-Renewal, John W. Gardner examines why great societies thrive and die. He argues that it is dynamism, not decay, that is dramatically altering the landscape of American society. The twentieth century has brought about change more rapidly than any previous era, and with that came advancements, challenges, and often destruction. Gardner cautions that “a society must court the kinds of change that will enrich and strengthen it, rather than the kind of change that will fragment and destroy it.” A society’s ability to renew itself hinges upon its individuals. Gardner reasons that it is the waning of the heart and spirit—not a lack of material might—that threatens American society. Young countries, businesses, and humans have several key commonalities: they are flexible, eager, open, curious, unafraid, and willing to take risks. These conditions lead to success. However, as time passes, so too comes complacency, apathy, and rigidity, causing motivation to plummet. It is at this junction that great civilizations fall, businesses go bankrupt, and life stagnates. Gardner asserts that the individual’s role in social renewal requires each person to face and look beyond imminent threats. Ultimately, we need a vision that there is something worth saving. Through this vision, Gardner argues, society will begin to renew itself, not permanently, but past its average lifespan, and it will at once become enriched and rejuvenated.

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit? By sheer willpower you set your mind to overcome it...but suddenly, there it is again! Do you ever have thoughts rise up in your mind that would make you blush if they were suddenly broadcast over a loudspeaker?

Having worked for three decades to develop urban ministries, Campolo suggests ways that churches can help resurrect beleaguered inner cities, illustrating proven methods used in Camden, New Jersey.