As a teacher, practitioner, and facilitator of collaboration, I vibrate with excitement while shivering in worry.

We can do this. We are smart when we bother to be. The Cabinet being created and huddling in Chicago, preparing to break into fast action in DC is being compared to Lincoln’s Team of Rivals (a brilliant read by historian Doris Kearns) while hands wring or clap that the team has a ring of retro 90’s Clinton days. That’s not my worry, and here’s why….

First, whether it’s for the US Cabinet or hiring the best branding team, if you want the best and brightest, you find them. If you’re seeking smart experience with aligned commitment to the objective, you find them and hire them. If it provokes the media and pundits, reassure them by reminding them of what you know…. that you are setting not only the agenda, but the tone of the team dynamic. That people can rise above their own agenda for the greater good, and be better people with a wiser agenda in the end as well. In other words, people can collaborate better than they ever have, and for reasons bigger than WIIFM.

So now you have smart, experienced, committed, competent people embarking on a path that has never been travelled. You are forging a path together, smart and, I hope, humble enough to know that there is no time or room for isolationist action, polarizing politics, ego grabs, or stubborn insistence on holding on to one opinion when many are being offered for consideration. This is an invitation for not only critical advisers to the President, but for all of us in our own work and challenges and lives.

We are being invited into a higher order of caring and commitment and responsibility to be part of the solution, not the problem. We are being asked to stop standing by and waiting for someone else to do something for us.

I know – from over a quarter century of professional work facilitating collaboration and from twice that of living my life – that the end result of authentic joining together to think and act is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. I have success story after success story, and a few disappointments and abject failures ready to give testimony to the Power of Collaboration.

We can do this. The Administration can do this. The Nation can do this. Possibly, if we really commit to this, we can beat all forecasts and odds and, even successful examples from history. Miracles happen every day when minds join, wisdom speaks, and hearts align. Actions follow.

Extreme opinions do not need to derail this overriding commitment to building a pathway back to the United States as global leader and prosperous nation. America is burying labels that don’t allow for crossing borders. We must collaborate across the distance of difference, beliefs, habits, perspectives.

So I don’t worry about too many Clinton administrators or the size of the challenge before us. My life exudes the power of collaboration even while I am severely impacted by the current global financial crisis.

Rather, I worry that fear will short circuit patience, and that strong opinion unexamined will hide the best integral solutions. I ask that I, you, and American leaders actively explore together the best routes to build our future together the fastest without disregarding risk, most innovative after reasonable examination, and as fairly as possible.

HIRING: A team of rivals committed to lead with a visionary executive fully committed to the United States being a healthy and contributing global citizen. Lots of room for strength and power and savvy and brilliance and advocacy. Much need for inquiry and What If’s and wisdom unfolding integral and synergistic solutions.

In other words, dialogue and collaboration that is so important it cannot fail.

Are you ready to be a full collaborator – beyond your labor-management views? your socio-economic perspective? Your “job status”? your comfort zone? Your zebras-are-better-than walruses bias?

Am I? Yup!!! I’m all in….

I’m not promoting ax murder, but I do look for the noble and the good as much as I can.

I, like everyone else, am impacted and challenged by the current financial market in my work – Can you say Bye Bye budget?. My home – how bad could my timing be to sell my home for lots of reasons that are not just financially driven? My bank balances. My story isn’t unusal – or even very important.

What matters is how much authenticity, transparency, and honesty I’m experiencing in my conversations with strangers and friends.

A successful entrepreneur, friend, and colleague admitted she would be in trouble in 2009 if things didn’t shift. One of my personal service providers admitted she’s living in a motel because it was cheaper than her rent while waiting for a family member to clear out space for the family to move in. I sold my second car and am reclaiming my ancestry as garage sale queen.

You might ask, Is that a pony? Sure doesn’t sound like it.

And I say, YES! You know why? We’re not complaining. We’re not even mad. Worry is present, but most of the people in my life are focusing on friends, family, and community-building. I’ve advocated collaboration, community, and sharing whenever I can. Nothing like the financial unknown and not knowing if we’re on the edge of an abyss to make more inroads toward working together collaboratively!

If that’s part of what comes out of this mess (and hopefully a return to more balance, less greed, and waking to how much most all of us were unintentionally participating in an unsustainable system), I hope we can come together as a community, a country, a people, and make progress toward becoming better global citizens.

That works for me! Make it a good week, everyone.

Transformational, futuristic, intentional. Cirque de Soliele on a dramatic scale. How did they do it?

Discipline.  Being directed.

Commitment.  Personal sacrifice.

Collaboration. Great honor.

Earlier today I was listening to an old keynote by Angela Davis. She talked about how, in the past,  we as U.S. citizens created change for a different future. Through her stories and historical perspective, she showed us.

Organizing. We learned how to be change agents.

Commitment.  We showed up and did the work.

Community.  It took everyone working together to create the future.

And here i sit in Denver, the DNC nominating Obama with Biden on a ticket of Change. Perhaps one of the most well organized political campaigns in modern history, engaging a whole new generation of committed, politically involved citizens, and launching a global movement of hopeful activism.

The Chinese stunning coming out party. A black man running for president. A new generation of voters.

Things do change. Step up. It takes all of us.