The Mix

07 Jun The Mix

The Mix was about getting leaders to show up, build relationships and take from community what else may be missing in their work.  Each leader was invited to The Mix to connect with others, an important first step in addressing issues, and to dream of an even better tomorrow for their community.  We drew from businesses, non-profits and community organizations.

The event brought together leaders in North Long Beach talking to others, building rapport, listening to music, watching videos and learning from those who are tackling social and economic issues.  The learning stations included healthy eating, engineering, transportation, political and historical components.  The venue, RMD studio, was carefully selected to bring out creativity in the participants.  Insights gleaned from The Mix include:

• Identify Good Leaders:  Identifying and getting leaders together is an important first step in addressing issues.  Though we must not discount the crucial role of the first and second follower in The Mix.
• Power in Numbers:  We are stronger together.  A cliché worth repeating, as leaders tend to work best in isolation and from personal strength, at the expense of a more amplified, broad-based strength when in The Mix.
• The Mix can be Messy:  In sorting out the mess, we came to understand everyone’s self-interest, including what moves and inspires leaders to act.
• Fun, Play and Ease:  All leaders have things to do, places to go and lives to live, and when connecting becomes fun, playful and easy, even mundane tasks can be generative.

As the project increased in intensity, we found ourselves adapting quickly, engaging deeply, learning to be awkward without loss and trusting that the pieces will come together eventually.  We started applying fun, play and ease to our process, meeting at different, fun and accessible locations and before we knew it, we had become a mini version of The Mix.  Next step:  Mutually beneficial partnerships.

Project Team members Adam Anderson, Andrea Cairella, Andrea Sulsona, Debra Fixen, Daniel O’Leary, Megan Traver, Misi Tagaloa and Sarah Soriano.