Just finished a great planning meeting last weekend. About 23 of us spent some hours talking about the next year and setting some goals.
I asked each participant to write on a 3x5 what they felt "glocal" meant. Received 23 different answers.
Obviously it is a hybrid word combining global and local. Although at one seminar overseas one person looked at the title of my book "Going Glocal" and declared "that is so arrogant,"Global and California." That made me laugh.
No question the word is going to be around for a while. The fight is now how we will define it.
Most all agree it should define the shrinking of our world due to technology. Most agree we have a fresh responsibility to the entire world now due to: awareness, access, and ability to meet needs.
The word certainly cries out with the assumption that the difference between what we do at home and what we are doing overseas is more one of perception than reality. The globe IS our home now. We are inter-related in more than theory. Our economy, illnesses, air-quality, educational systems and religious endeavors are all one and the same. If we fail we all fail.
I wish to add a vital component for glocal practitioners. In this tiny world, we must celebrate the ability we have as individuals and local organizations to craft projects and events directly. The technology and accessibility is present so we are able to streamline the mission.
Even smaller organizations/churches/clusters can connect with others of like mind around the world. Communications technology make it possible now to create, strategize, agree, negotiate, evaluate, and recreate visions and achievements, which just a few years ago, was left to the mammoth agencies.
By working through local established churches and organizations already in place in strategic locations, we may accomplish what was unimaginable a short time ago.
Dream it, find someone already in place dreaming the same thing, do it.
How would you define glocal?
