Convos (Blog)
Applied creativity and inventive thinking for regular people in everyday life.
Invent The Backstory
Sometimes we run through life on auto-pilot – too focused on surface assumptions. Next time you notice something unusual in your environment, or just need a light-hearted moment, try creating the backstory.
Things That Ding
“What are you putting aside to be present this morning?” the facilitator asked. One of the participants said she was silencing the “things that ding” – and that phrase stuck with me through the morning.
Hey, I Like You
We need to build our professional networks more like school kids expand their friendship circles. As grown-ups, we overcomplicate the whole networking experience.
Convos and Crumbs
After 20 years, I left my secure tenured job in academia to go all-in on my passion: helping individuals and teams grow their creative confidence and inventive thinking. In case you are wondering, this is not a normal career path.
Notebooks On Notebooks
I have notebooks on notebooks of thoughts and ideas. Usually, I’m inspired by something I’m reading so I write my thoughts down to get them out of my head. Many of those ideas find their way into blog posts. Occasionally, those thoughts turn into a course idea or an experimental learning experience.
Stretch for Novelty
If you were to measure your team’s Bonding & Bridging Quotient (not a thing, I just made it up), where would you score? High on bonding? Low on bridging? Go ahead, take a minute and check in with yourself.
Bridge to Different
Ok, so we’ve been discussing how creative teams need two conditions work well collaboratively: bonding and bridging. On paper, bonding seems simple enough: get the team on the same page. But things are never as simple as they sound. Yesterday we tackled bonding. Today, we jump to bridging (no, wait… don’t jump).
Group Work? Yay!
I love working in groups and with groups. Seriously. I find people fascinating. I love how each member brings a different perspective to the work or problem at hand. When I work with teams as a facilitator, one thing I look for is their capacity for bonding and bridging. Huh? Let me explain.
Too Many Balls
When you run your own business everyone has advice for you. I hear things like: You need to focus. Find your lane and stay in it. You can’t make money pursuing all these projects. Ok, that last one was my own voice.