If I have had successes in life, it is because I employed these simple yet revolutionary tools at some point along the way. And these tools and mental models, as a result, opened my mind rather than closed it around a particular challenge or opportunity.

I stay involved with Coro to remain connected with a community – and a way of approaching the world – that has been so valuable to me over the years. But perhaps there is also something nostalgic about my strong connection to Coro. I completed Coro at a time in my life when it seemed anything was possible. I was just starting out in my professional career, and I was living and working in Silicon Valley at the height of the dot.com boom. The world feels somewhat different now – perhaps it is or maybe I have changed – so I stay connected to sustain optimism about the future.    Coro is arguably more needed now than it ever was. As financial pressures force public leaders and individual citizens to make tough decisions, it will become too easy for communities to default to defensive or small-minded solutions. We need the kind of leaders that Coro grows to engage and empower communities to solve the sticky problems we face.

Beth Flores (bflores@aya.yale.edu) entered the federal civil service through the Presidential Management Fellows program in 2004. She currently serves in the Pentagon as Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.   She hasn’t stopped biking and recently completed a two-wheeled journey across Italy. Beth is looking for new opportunities at the intersection of international affairs, public service, and innovation and would love to connect with fellow innovation insurgents in the Coro community.