Resources
We are advisors to superheroes.
Learn more about our clients, projects, and insights. Discover tools, case studies, news, and information.
Dracula’s Greatest Fear
What is Dracula's Greatest Fear?... A Community of Stakeholders - Happy Halloween from Creation In Common
A-MUSE Bouche – How do we ask a community what it needs?
How do we ask a community what it needs? By recognizing our individual assumptions and biases as well as letting go of what we think are the answers. We need to bring ourselves and our... Respect for each individual’s experience Recognition of strengths and assets...
A-MUSE Bouche – What Makes a Great Board Member?
What Makes a Great Board Member? One who sees the life of the organization within the life of the community. Great board members seek to answer these questions... What are the needs of the community? Which of these needs is our mission best positioned to address? What...
A-MUSE Bouche – Passion
Can one individual’s passion change the world? Only if you invite others to engage, harmonizing multiple passions into a way forward. Here’s our recipe: Understand your own passion Seek out different insights Forge connections Invite co-ownership Create and lead...
Reflections from #DisruptMN – “Difficult” versus “Complex Problems”
By Carlo Cuesta Before the panel discussion began at the Charities Review Council’s 2015 Philanthropy 2.0: Radical Collaboration event, Judy Alnes, executive director of MAP for Nonprofits, turned to me and said that in 2013 they worked with Daniel Wordsworth...
The Fundraising Nightmare
The fundraising nightmare goes something like this: I pick up my phone and call a friend to ask her if she would like to meet with me. When she asks... "what do you want to meet about?" I get nervous and don't know what to say... I stall trying to come up with the...
How to Succeed When Collaborating
By Carlo M. Cuesta At Creation In Common, we spend much of our time facilitating collaborations with organizational leaders and have learned a great deal from individuals who have mastered the art of teaming with other creative people. Here are a few major take aways:...
Creating Stone Soup
By Anne Jin Soo Preston As Carlo and I have been exploring what makes a successful collaboration, I was reminded of the story of stone soup. I decided to look up the story to refresh my memory and never realized there were so many versions that spanned from not...
It Takes a Village to Make a Great Bloody Mary
By Carlo M. Cuesta The first trip I ever made to Minnesota was in 1980 just before the Winter Olympic Games. My dad was directing a television commercial for Kirin Beer (the official beer of the US Olympic Team... go figure) and they needed a snowy lake to film a...
Attack of the Living Dead Board Member Zombies
By Carlo Cuesta Dear Fellow Undead Board Member: A flesh-eating zombie doesn’t know any better, its does what other zombies do—it eats people. As an undead board member, I don’t know any better either. I listen and react, I approve budgets I know very little...
Dynamic Duos
By Anne Jin Soo Preston Earlier this summer I was listening to a radio segment featuring the accomplishments of famous leaders. The host of the segment specifically noted that even though we knew all about what these famous leaders contributed, often what we didn’t...
What the “Best Kept Secret in Our Community” Really Means
By Carlo Cuesta Recently, I broke a shoelace. I pulled the unbroken lace out of my other shoe and took a quick look at it to estimate its length. The lace looked like it was 16 to 18-inches long. That’s when I stopped myself. I knew my mind had played a trick on me....