A project of The Harnisch Family Foundation (501c3) is now open in Beta!

It’s been awhile since I’ve dreamt as big as I have lately. Not because I’m not a dreamer, but because, well, time and money resources can tend to keep a person in ‘what’s realistic’ mode. Can you relate maybe?
But now a switch has been flipped, I’m working with a new team of people, and I’m relishing (reveling!) in some really radical possibilities.

For example, what would you think of:

• a Virtual Museum of Coaching…

(finally a place where we can tell the story of the emergence of coaching and its roots, preserve artefacts, etc.)

• a ‘Wikipedia’ for coaching…

(the sheer comprehensiveness boggles the mind, doesn’t it?)

• a big ‘billions served’ sign signaling billions of people who’ve received the gift of coaching…

(yes, like the McDonald’s signs around the world, only instead of cheeseburgers, our sign would indicate billions of coaching sessions having been donated)

Pretty cool, right?

But more, there’s even more dreaming, like what about:

• - the first Nobel Prize winner from the coaching sphere…
• - the first endowed coaching Chair at a post-secondary institution
• - $100,000 or more in yearly grants towards coaching research projects*…
  (*okay I cheated, the last one is real, via The Foundation of Coaching, not just a possibility to explore!)

So. My dear Coach, as you consider these BIG thoughts, can you start to understand why I’ve been as preoccupied as I’ve been lately?

Because with the beta launch of the new website this week, the conversation to explore the above has officially begun. To be specific they’ve begun at The Coaching commons website, which it’s my privilege to invite you to visit today:

http://www.CoachingCommons.org

The Coaching Commons - where radical ideas are explored and pursued - is a new coaching think-tank funded by The Harnisch Family Foundation.

But it’s more than a think-tank. It’s a think-tank with follow-through capabilities. Project management capacity.

Unlike so many other websites, this is a place where good ideas don’t stay ideas; they become real, deliverable projects that are already proving we can continue to make real change in and through the coaching world.

Did you have any idea all this money, energy and heart was **already being invested* in you? In us? In the greater good of coaching? Doesn’t it feel GREAT to discover it is?

I mean, I’m not normally a rooftop dancer, but this is unprecedented. [I had no idea either until I stepped into the non-profit realm that The Harnisch Family Foundation lives in, last October. So don't feel bad. :-)]

There is no profit motive at The Coaching Commons either. It’s non-profit. It’s not affiliated with a coach training company. It was born, and lives outside of ‘coaching politics’ and thus is for everyone who relates part of their work or identity with coaching, period. Veterans and newer coaches alike.

In other words, a true non-partisan ‘big tent’ and gathering place.

So what do you think? I’d really love to know.

Do check it out, won’t you? Because if the prospect of millions of dollars being invested in OUR future doesn’t get you to sit up - even on a weekend - I don’t know what will. Hmm….

A couple key questions for you as you get ready to dive in:

Since The Harnisch Family Foundation is a non-profit - a philanthropic organization - the money it invests is public record. I’ve learned that in a very real sense, the money is in fact ‘public money’ - at least from the perspective that we get to care, influence, and vote on, as it were, how it’s all spent.

• Is the Coaching Commons a place you think Harnisch Family ‘earmarked for coaching’ funds should be spent? What about the various projects outlined at the site?
• What (else/more) would you like to see invested in? Think of yourself here, sure, but try to think bigger, dream bigger, think of more than yourself. I know that won’t be hard.
• And finally, where will you find some energy, time, or even resources (vision, leadership and heart) to add to the mix? It’ll be miles and miles better if you’ll join us, that I know for sure as well.

Let me put it another way if you don’t mind, then I’ll leave you to go explore. What’s your response to this question:

“Here’s a pot of gold, how would you like it spent?”

Or…

“Here’s a budget with which you’re now empowered to change the world. Where would you like to start?”

[Now you start to really understand what my days are like...;-)]

Click the link below to leave your answers anywhere on The Commons you like. Just find a spot where it says ‘Comments’ or ‘Post your response’.

In my role behind the scenes, I’ll be here watching and noticing, replying and think-tanking along with you - I can’t wait.

http://www.coachingcommons.org/featured/what-is-the-coaching-commons/

Just one last thing.

I promised Ruth Ann Harnisch I’d spread the word about The Commons by sending this special announcement to you. You’re among the very first to learn of the Beta Launch in fact, simply because it’s a project I’m affiliated with. Won’t you send a message of validation, a thunderclap to celebrate her leadership in coaching-based philanthropy?

Do this by getting active about telling your network about The Coaching Commons. Post edgy comments at the site. Register for the Global Virtual Dialog happening next week. Raise your hand with ideas to contribute to the project.

As you do so, feel free - be bold! in your requests of us. I mean this last part the most I think.

Questions? As always, I’m here. Post a comment below or better yet…post at one of the links above.