Community and the LeaderShape Website

Along with a brand new, beautiful website, we have a new area on the LeaderShape website. Its focus is on the LeaderShape community.

If you click on the menu bar to the left of the HOME button, which can be found on the upper left of the main page, you will see that there is now a COMMUNITY area. From here you can subscribe to our Daily Inspiration email as well as to our weekly Live It! e-newsletter. You can also join the Pebble Club, learn about our partnerships, and get latest media and press information.

We are pretty excited to have an area on the website that is dedicated to community. There’s more to see though!

If you go back to the main page and scroll to fourth section down (it’s orange), you’ll find more community-oriented information.

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that there are a lot of numbers there! We see possibility in these numbers. The possibility of each member of the LeaderShape community finding their purpose, their path, their place. The possibility of making the world a more just, caring, and thriving place. We are hopeful (and perhaps even expectant) that as these numbers increase that, as more people become a part of the LeaderShape community, the problems in our world will decrease.

You’ll also find a “Connect With” section among all these awesome numbers. This is where you can interact with and get content from LeaderShape’s Facebook, Twitter feed, and Instagram on a daily basis. A little LeaderShape every day, folks!  In addition to posting articles, videos, and LeaderShape updates, we see social media as yet another way to connect with each other. Consider yourself invited to interact with us on these platforms!

We’re eager for you to check out this section of the new website and let us know what you think. Drop a note in the comments after you check it out.

About LeaderShape

We recently launched our new website. It’s been pretty thought provoking, busy, interesting, busy, and all the other things that a project of this size brings. But mostly it has been exciting.

When you are clicking around on the new site, we hope you’ll take some time to visit the ABOUT page. You can find it by clicking on the menu bar to the left of the HOME button, which can be found on the upper left of the main page.

It on this page that people can connect with the reason behind the organization’s work and programs: our Mission and Vision.

You’ll also be able to learn a little more about Who We Are, our Board of Trustees, and how to contact us.

We’ve included the Donate area in the ABOUT section as well. As we considered how we wanted to demonstrate who we are and what we do online, we were again reminded how significant our donors are to LeaderShape. It is through the gifts from these generous folks (maybe you are one of them!) that participants are able to attend national sessions of the Institute at a discounted cost. Our donors are about LeaderShape. And now people have the opportunity to join this meaningful group through the Donate section of the ABOUT page. As a not-for-profit, it is also something we are about.

Thanks for walking through the ABOUT section of the website with us. Let us know what you think in the comments section. 

The Meaning Behind the Look

As we mentioned in our last post, LeaderShape has a new website and a new look! And we want to tell you more about the meaning behind our organizational and program logos.

The Bolt

The bolt itself is iconic and continues to represent LeaderShape organizationally. The change has come in that the bolt is comprised of many dots. The dots are significant in that they represent each member of the LeaderShape Community coming together to make an impact.

Given that we are now using the bolt specifically for the organization, we needed something to represent each program. We did this to allow for each program to have an identity on its own and also a connection to LeaderShape as an organization.

The Drop of Water
The LeaderShape Institute will now be referred to as the Institute. The logo is a drop of water which represent the ripple effect that participants have in the communities they are a part of.

The Spark

Catalyst will be represented by a spark. This spark represents the creation of change.

The Leaf
Resilience (our newest program) is represented by a leaf. The leaf ties into themes of resilience in its ability to grow and bounce back.







Notice how all of these logos are again comprised of dots. This ties back into the messaging of the LeaderShape bolt…that each dot represents the individuals who have been a part of our programs and who now are a part of the LeaderShaper community.

We are excited about the new look and hope you are, too!

LeaderShape: Our Brand New Look

We are so excited to introduce you to LeaderShape’s new website and new branding, including an updated organizational logo and logos for each of our programs.

Yes – a new brand! As LeaderShape grows as a not-for-profit organization, as our programs reach more and more people, and as we develop additional programs, we have found that this provides an opportunity to enrich our identity.

You see, when people talk about their experience with LeaderShape, we don’t always know what, exactly, they are referring to. Are they talking about the organization? One of our programs? If so, which program?

We welcome everyone who connects with the mission and vision of LeaderShape into our community. And, the reality is, people enter into our community in different ways. For a long, long time the only way one could be a LeaderShaper was through the Institute (LINK), either as a participant or a facilitator. In recent years, many have become a part of the organization, a part of our community, through other experiences, such as participating in the Catalyst (LINK) and Resilience (LINK) programs. People also join our community through partnerships and like-minded work. All of those experiences are LeaderShape. We want to give recognition, identity, and connection to all of it. Branding is part of that. Having designated space on our website to share more about the organization and each program is part of that. 

Over the next couple of weeks we will share more about the meaning behind our logos and we will be highlighting specific areas of the website. Until then, we invite you to visit the site yourself. Click around. Share it with others. Tell us what you think of it.

The Donate Button

Did you know that LeaderShape is a not-for-profit organization? And did you know that we depend on contributions in order to reach more people with our programs?

The contributions we receive go directly to providing scholarships for participants to attend programs. If you have attended The LeaderShape Institute, you may be someone who has benefited from a donation to our organization. If you have already participated in one of our programs, your contribution could help to provide someone else with the experience, too. Think about it like this…

If every graduate and facilitator contributed $20, we would be able to add $800,000.00 to our endowment.

Wow. That’s a lot of scholarship money! Imagine the impact that would have. Seriously, imagine it. Imagine the number of people out in the world furthering our vision of a just, caring, thriving world where all lead with integrity and a healthy disregard for the impossible. If you ask me, that’s pretty powerful.

Because the act of giving is so important to LeaderShape and the ability to further our cause, we’ve made it easy to contribute through our website by including a “Donate” button right on the main page. We hope you check it out. We hope you decide that you’d like to make a contribution. No amount is too small.

Of course, no amount is too big either. J

Profile PIcture

Sometimes it’s helpful to be able to put a face with a name, don’t you think? We do!

In order to make it easier for you to have your mug shot, er photo, connected to your LeaderShape profile, we’ve added a new feature to the “My Profile” that allows you to sync your Twitter status and your Facebook photo to your LeaderShape profile.

To do this, go to “My Profile” and scroll down to the “Social Networking Settings” section. Click “Edit” and follow complete the information. Click “Save” and you are all set! Now people can see that good-looking face of yours and you can see theirs.

Videos Help Tell a Story

Have you seen the new videos we have on the LeaderShape website? If not, we hope you take a moment to check them out. They were created as a resource to help folks understand the programs that we offer, The LeaderShape Institute and Catalyst. We hope that you find them helpful.

To view the video on The LeaderShape Institute, click “Institute” at the top of the page then scroll down and click play in the video box.

For the Catalyst video, click “Additional Programs” at the top of the page. Scroll down and click “Catalyst.” Click play in the video box below.

Would you like to share or view the opening video again? Scroll to the very bottom of our homepage and click the “View Intro” link located in the left hand corner.

New Website: Login and Contest

We hope you’ve been enjoying the new LeaderShape website so far. We are excited to share it with you. The feature we’d like to share with you today is the “My Profile” area. (Be sure to read to the end because there is a contest involved! With a prize, of course.)

For folks who have created a profile on our website (if you have ever participated in a session of The LeaderShape Institute, you probably have a profile here), the following information will get you familiar with logging in and navigating your profile.

New “Login” location: To login, you’ll now go to the upper right hand corner of the home page. Enter in your login and your password in the pop-up box that appears when you click “login” and you now have access to your profile. Forgot your password? No worries. Click “Forgotten Password?” and follow the instructions.

My Profile: This is where you will be directed to once you login. You’ll notice that there is a place to update your picture as well as review your contact, work, and education information. We like to stay in touch with our community members so please take a few minutes to make sure that your profile is up-to-date.

My Session Information: If you attended The LeaderShape Institute, you can find contact information for all of the folks who participated in the session with you by clicking the “My Session Info” tab. By staying in touch, the community you created together can continue on after the program has ended. How great is that?

Vision Updates: Often our visions are fluid, growing, and evolving over time. You can update, refine, and even change your vision right in your profile by clicking on the “My Vision” tab. Additionally, you can search for and connect with other participants of The LeaderShape Institute who care about the same issues that you do by clicking on “Vision Search” and following the instructions.

So let’s have some fun with this! Update your picture on your LeaderShape profile and let us know that you have by emailing lead@leadershape.org. If you do so wearing a LeaderShape t-shirt, hat, fleece etc., we’ll enter you into a drawing for one of the LeaderShape shirts we have here in the office. Deadline to enter is Friday, October 8, 2010.

Website Redesign!

The next time you visit www.leadershape.org, you may be surprised with a new look and layout. That’s right! We’ve redesigned our website.

We feel confident that the new design will make it easier for you to do all of the things you’ve been doing on the website. Just like in the previous design, you still have the ability to learn about our organization, gather information on programs we offer, access resources, and donate to our cause.

Plus…there’s more!

More opportunities to connect with the LeaderShape community. We’d like to share two community-focused features with you today.

Share Your Story – We love to hear what the members of the LeaderShape community are up to. The “Share Your Story” tab on the lower left hand side of our main page is a great place to share YOUR story with us. And by story, we mean a moment, a discovery, a breakthrough…anything that you connect with the LeaderShape experience.

@LeaderShape – We want to stay connected to and interact with our community as much as possible. With graduates and facilitators located all over the world, it can be challenging to do so face-to-face. LeaderShape has accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and YouTube. Scroll down to the center light grey box and connect with us! You can also subscribe to the “I am LeaderShape” blog by clicking on the RSS feed button.

Again, we hope that the new design, crisp look, and updated information allows you to navigate the site more easily and provide you with the particulars you are looking for. So take a look. Click away. Let us know what you think.