| Incubator of compassionate action.
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| One year ago, we piloted a "pod," with the intention of cultivating deeper, contextual relationships within the virtual constraints of the pandemic. It was a total experiment. We didn’t have the technology or curriculum; just a few dozen change-makers looking to lead with love amid a ranging pandemic pivoting all aspects of work and life. We called it "Laddership Pod" — and 4 weeks later, we were stunned at the emergence. That built on itself, and many dozens of pods later, with thousands of alumni and tens of thousands of volunteer hours, a very unique platform and field of innovation has manifested. |
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 Next week, we are hosting a Laddership Pod again. It’s a 4-week immersion into ServiceSpace values, particularly for change-makers. How does our inner transformation affect our external impact, and how do we design for discerning the dynamic "middle way" between emergence and planning, grit and surrender, self-care and self-sacrifice, money and wealth, humility and conviction, transaction and trust? All in a peer-learning context of global community, held skillfully by alumni. |
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| As part of the journey, we’re thrilled to be joined by five inspired leaders as weekly guest speakers for this Laddership Pod. Consider their non-traditional journeys … |
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 Evan Sharp is the co-founder of Pinterest, and a designer that Jony Ive called “technologist who will change the future.” When he joined our Gandhi 3.0 retreat, we asked him to share on a topic of his choice. Instead of technology, he shared how he found the ending of an original poem in our circle, for his 2-year-old: Gardener and Carpenter. It opened the question: how can technology be kinder, how can it help build bridges? |
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 Shay Beider has spent decades with terminally ill kids, pioneering the use of "integrative touch". Once, while in the ocean, a group of whales surrounded her boat as one looked squarely in her eyes. It felt like a ceremony. She wept. As did everyone else around her. And it left an indelible mark, and the inquiry: what can non-human forms of life teach us about teamwork, at the intersection of spirit and matter? |
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 Coleman Fung is a serial entrepreneur. Growing up under extreme duress, his silver lining was his schooling. After years of paying-it-forward, today, 400+ UC Berkeley engineers graduate from his Fung Institute at UC Berkeley every year, and he’s on a mission to make education multi-dimensional. As a Taoist, he finds controlling life to be a losing battle; instead he wonders how we might invest in "serendipity capital". He is asking: how do we educate the heart? |
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 Sister Lucy is a world renowned … mother. "When God shows me a need, I serve." Quite literally, if she encounters an abandoned child or elder on the streets, she’ll bring them home (as she has countless times). She runs a massive organization, while stating: "I don’t have a plan. That’s not my job. Our motto is: Always Room for One More." Few years ago, when she was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of meeting the Pope, she asked for his blessings. Much to her astonishment, the Pope tells her, "No Sister, I seek your blessings." How do blessings intersect with a hands-on operation? |
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 Stephanie Nash is a Hollywood actress by trade, but such a cultivated meditator that Harvard asked to study her brain! Since first grade, she’s had constant ringing in her ears; "But that doesn’t bother me. In fact, it’s become a lullaby that puts me to sleep." An untiring advocate for meditation as a drug-free solution for physical pain, she invites us to ponder: beyond pain and pleasure, what conditions awaken a compassionate mind? |
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| WITH A BOW OF GRATITUDE … |
| Having just completed multiple pods in the last couple weeks, we’ve seen a flurry of activity. Below is a fresh quote from Steve in our Business Pod:
 At my car repair shop, we don’t work on cars – we work for people who happen to own cars. This motto was the result of 6 months, quietly thinking about why I fix cars; and I discovered it was not because I like fixing cars but because I liked serving people that needed their cars fixed. A person with a broken car can be like a person with a broken heart. Our Business Pod has helped me see that a person in crisis is a person ready to grow; a person primed to be surprised. And there’s a deep satisfaction to be found in being of service to the needs of the other person, being the giver, even when customers are difficult. As an entrepreneur with employees, I am now asking, how can I turn car repair into meeting human needs where our hearts meet? |
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| Thank you, all, for connecting hearts. |
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| ServiceSpace is a unique incubator of volunteer-run projects that nurture a culture of generosity. We believe that small acts of service can nurture a profound inner transformation that sustains external impact. To get involved, you can subscribe to our newsletters or create an account and complete our 3-step process to volunteer. |
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Sangha of Auspicious Companions 