Bios are weird. If you’ve ever needed one, for a talk, webpage, or the program for a community theatre group, you know the truth; we all write them about ourselves, pretending we're someone else bragging about all the cool things we’ve done. Even if it’s “how it's done,” it's still weird. So I’m bucking business-as-usual and going first-person-rogue.

I'm B.J. Rogers. I'm a learner, facilitator, and, if you’ll have me, your partner in managing change, living into leadership, and deepening impact. I've spent over 25 years in the mission-based and social innovation sectors, in pursuit of meaningful change and a pledge that my work will matter and will make a difference. 

My most formative experiences include three years as executive director of a small Vermont-based queer youth advocacy and support org, a stint as a press secretary/comms director for a candidate for governor, several years in various roles at a national animal welfare organization, and every last minute working for Emancipet – my “soul” organization. Working for a better, more equitable, world has been at the heart of my whole career.

I champion hope because I believe it's an unmatchable strategy and a changemaker's most powerful tool. I subscribe to Arthur Brook’s definition, that hope is the conviction there's always something we can do to make things better. When we frame hope as being about what we can do, it turns what can seem like wishful thinking into something more like wishful action. Best I can tell, hope is at the heart of every movement ever - especially those focused on service, equity and social justice.

I also believe people are the solution more often than the problem. I’m a disciple of leadership guru Ron Heifetz (even if he’d hate both the suggestion he has disciples and that he's a guru). His Adaptive Leadership framework, including the understanding that leadership isn't something some are "born to" while others aren't, had a transformative impact on my learning. As a result I understand leadership as a practice, a verb - not a role or a title or the exercise of authority. Adaptive Leadership is a framework that considers how change and risk and loss and identity show up in the pursuit of progress. It's the most human-focused and system-focused framework I've encountered. It really truly changed my life, and it's central to pretty much all the work I do.

 

Likewise I'm trained in and dedicated to applying the adult-learning principles of Dialogue Education, a learning-centered approach to design, training, facilitation, and work, that puts intention - and attention - at the center of each of those practices.

I believe that when we start with clarity about what we and our organization's believe, and with actions that align with our beliefs, integrity and impact - in work and in life - are well within our reach.

I believe meaningful work requires caring about what we do and about the people we do it with.

 

Also, I reserve the right to change my mind about each and every thing I believe. I consider myself a learner first and an expert in nothing. 

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Oh - and Henry (Henry James, actually) is a strong-willed, people-crazy, food-obsessed, make-any-room-into-a-dog-hair-snowglobe, Pembroke Welsh Corgi (of the "fluffy" variety). If you asked him his name, he'd tell you it's Corgi - because that's what those giant ears hear all the time (à la - "Aww. . .look at that Corgi!", "It's a Corgi!", and "Corgiiiiiiiiii!")