Unrolling the Doughnut: Professionals Community

An inspiring group of 40+ leading technology community builders across the globe gathered in this 5-hour informal hands-on multi-sessions event day. Together, we embarked on a journey to create a space that allowed us all to evolve, bringing forth embodied ideas, expanding our views, and ultimately striving for improvement in everything we do, in their specific professional community and beyond!

The theme of reimagining what we do deeply resonated on a profound level.

The Goal

We aimed to shift away from the default approach of divisiveness and degeneration, and instead, embrace a mindset that is more distributive and regenerative by design, enabling us all to thrive. That is People and Planet.

It was an ambitious goal, but one that fills me with hope seeing how the participants approached it with unwavering dedication and enthusiasm. There is a better way.

Tools

Throughout the event, we collectively peeled back each layer of our onion, starting from the core of introspection and self-care. By recognizing the importance of caring for ourselves, we understood how it fuels our ability to care for others, our teams, and ultimately, our biosphere.

The last (onion) layer we worked on the day was 'Our Home'. Focusing on the urgent need to address the environmental and social challenges we face, within our initiatives context. Going beyond traditional community-building approaches and embracing a more natural and sustainable perspective.

Please refer to the full tool entry in DEAL here

The planetary boundaries are described as the ecological ceiling, representing areas where overshooting leads to issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The social foundation is the inside of the doughnut, symbolizing access to essentials like food, water, health, education, and equality. Thriving within the balance of the ecological ceiling and social foundation becomes the objective.

To downscale these global challenges to the local level, as participants we work to think about the spaces, materials, energy, and transport involved in our initiatives. 

Format

We formed sub-groups to work through these challenges, using the doughnut matrix introduced as a tool to guide this downscaled thinking, with a focus on local and global considerations. With the goal to move beyond discussion and take action in all aspects of their work within their varied initiatives and efforts in building community.

As Slava Pautaran, Technical Architect & Practice Lead, puts it: 

"It was truly inspiring and also very different from other community events. During the sessions, we got to know each other and learned from each other how to serve the Salesforce community better, and how to make more conscious decisions on more local and ecological options when organizing community events.
We also focused on such important topics as how to keep yourself in a thriving emotional state, while contributing to many challenging and important areas of life."

The diverse range of individuals who participated, shared their insights, and engaged in thought-provoking discussions played an integral role in making this effort a success. It is through our collective efforts that we can continue to push the boundaries, challenge the status quo, and co-create a better future for all. Cultivating Cooperative Relationships.

In Adam Olshansky's words, Salesforce Technical Architect at Google & Pluralsight Author:

"It was amazing to get perspectives from other leaders on their philosophies for growing their communities. We had so many ideas that we couldn't write them all down fast enough! A lot of common themes that we found we remember to apply locally but can also be applied globally as well."

A day of energy & action

As I reflect on our journey together, I feel a profound sense of pride and accomplishment. With the hope that the impact of the event will continue to reverberate, both within our individual lives and within the larger professional community. The seeds of transformation that we planted during this event will grow and inspire countless others to reimagine what they do and embrace a more distributive and regenerative approach.

Let us continue to build upon the momentum we have created, harnessing the power of collective action to shape a brighter future.

It's up to us.