I have been reading this website, www.the99percent.com for the past year or so. Today, I stumbled on this interesting post: the Top 5 Qualities of Productive Creatives:

1.  Communication Skills:

“Whether you’re leading a team, managing clients, or training a new hire, the ability to communicate clearly and concisely is an absolutely essential skill. It’s essential for having people align to your ideas and for working well with others.

2. Pro-activeness:

“Those who take initiative possess tenacity and a healthy degree of impatience with idleness.”

3. Problem-solving:

“Successful creatives don’t see problems as problems at all – they see them as opportunities.”
 
4. Curiosity:

“A high level of curiosity – the hallmark of an inquiring mind – is typically indicative of other good qualities, such as inventiveness, resourcefulness, and fearlessness.”

5. Risk-taking:

“If you only do what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won’t fail. You’ll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that’s failure by erosion.”

Fluent

I would love to live

Like a river flows,

Carried by the surprise

Of its own unfolding

                                   -John O’Donohue

On Thursday, June 10, 2010, David Markwardt  led a group from LD, Development, and Literary Arts through his Poetry Buffet process.

Participants wandered around reading many poems set on tables.  The challenge was to read as many poems as we could in 16 minutes. We then each chose one that spoke to us, and split off  into small groups to read them aloud to each other.

During the small group work, David asked us to address the following questions:

1. What lines, words, images, & metaphors struck you from the poem?

2. What matters to you about the poem?

3.  If you were going to give the poem to someone – who would you give it to and why?

4. How does the poem intersect with your work, life, and being in community?

And finally,

5. What was of value for you from this experience?

Participants shared that the process really helped the small groups (who didn’t know each other very well) go deep quickly, since it allowed each person to speak to their personal vision – why the poem spoke to them in the first place. We discovered that the ambiguity of the meaning of the poems meant it could have different meanings to each person. The conversations really connected people on a unique footing, allowing them to open the door for very candid discussion. At a base level, this process is a great community builder, and the possibility to look at organizational challenges, strategic processes, and aspects of group dynamics specifically was noted by all who took part.

Meg Wheatley, has had the pleasure of participating in one of David’s poetry buffets in the past, and says,

“David’s process is extraordinary–one of the best I’ve been part of to encourage deep reflection, and a wonderful use of poetry to get people into reflection. And he’s really good–a real poet, and a real organizational consultant–a very rare combination of skills.”

David Markwardt, MSOD, MFA is a published poet, consultant, facilitator, and leadership professional who believes that we are born in and for community, that leadership is infinite and universally available, and that those who serve must stay in touch with their heart’s desires to serve best.  He brings these beliefs to all his work, including the three leadership programs he oversees.  He facilitates the Coalition and Community Leadership Institute, supported by the New Mexico Department of Health.  He is the leadership skills trainer for Leadership Santa Fe and for the New Mexico Municipal League’s Governance Program. 

David believes that the arts and, in particular, poetry are essential for building community and creating a new style of leadership that can address the complex challenges of the 21^st century.  Poetry by its nature can shake us up.  It can touch our hearts and help us focus on what we deeply care about.  And it can reconnect us with our values, priniciples and  beliefs, pulling us into an internal dialogue about whether we are living them or not.   Poetry, therefore, is a reminder to live right and a call to act courageously.  David integrates poetry into his work and has created many exercises to give people memorable learning experiences.

David has a strong background in experiential learning.  He built and manages a large challenge course facility.  He worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School from 1990-1994.  Whenever he can, he integrates the outdoors into his work.  He believes that adults learn best by having an experience and then reflecting, and that the outdoors and wilderness are superb venues for learning.

David frequently presents workshops and leadership seminars at conferences.  He presented “Everyone Wants to Be Heard:  The Discipline of Listening” on March 13 to 75 mayors and city councilors at the 2010 Congress of Cities Conference in Washington, D.C.   He presented “Finding Your Voice” at the 2009 Head to Toe Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at Pepperdine University’s 2009 MSOD Alumni Conference in Laguna, California, and at the New Mexico ASTD Conference in October 2009.  He presented “The Power of Poetry to Facilitate Change” at the 2008 National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation’s Conference in Austin, Texas. He will present “Profound Speech:  The Transformative Power of Poetry” on June 19 at Seattle University’s Organization Systems Renewal Conference. 

David received a Master of Science in Organization Development degree from Pepperdine University in 2007 and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry degree from Vermont College in 1998. He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1984. He lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Tracey, and his two sons, August and Elliot.

As I have been trying to develop my learning plan for my performance review, the idea of Mentor – Coach came into mind and I fell upon Jurgen Appelo’ April 22 article on Managing vs Mentoring vs Coaching. (http://www.noop.nl/2010/04/managing-vs-coaching-vs-mentoring.html).

Keeping ‘Organizational Effectiveness’ in mind, shouldn’t everyone have a coach, someone helping on tasks, direction, skill based alignment? Leaving behind the personal aspect to its essence? According to Appelo’s post, coaches and mentors aren’t an obligation relevant from a Manager’s role. A coach is someone appointed for organization skill development and a mentor for personal-career development. Managers cannot hold all hats at all times, but a person is effective or inneffective because of his life experience, not despite and both roles are relevant to a persons Professional Development.

Point being: Mentor is not necessarily a coach, but a coach can serve as mentor and Managers will fulfill both roles at some point.

“Mentors are like lovers and mistresses. Whether someone has one or not is very interesting, but nevertheless none of your business.”by Jurgen Appelo

Twigs of a Nest: A Sacred Place

Co-Created through Michelle L. Buck
February 23, 2010, Banff, Alberta

Do you have a dream coursing through your veins?
Have you listened to the swaying of the trees, and do you see the music in the eyes of the children?
Do you listen to the waves, and do you know when the time is right by the light of the moon, or the change in the wind?

What happens when the ripples in the water stop? Do you hear the stillness?
In the space between the lightning and the thunder, we wait.  For what comes next.
But when the ripples in the water stop, there is no “what comes next.”  There is only the water.

Do you know the place of total emptiness that is full of everything possible?
Do you know that it doesn’t matter what has happened, because it doesn’t stop you from moving forward?
Do you know that it doesn’t matter what you do, because you can do no wrong, and there is no right?
Do you know that it doesn’t matter?

It doesn’t matter that you don’t know.

Do something.
Do something.
Do something.

The action is the answer.
The action is the question.

The echo calls you forward.
The echo calls you back.

Can you hear the sound of the question dissolving?
Can you smell the cracks in the mask?

What did the angel say in the middle of the night?
What does the raven say now?
What did you say tomorrow?

In April of 2007, Yann Martel (recipient of the Man Booker Prize for Life of Pi) began a campaign which had him mailing, every two weeks, a different book to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. With each book, Martel enclosed a letter urging Harper to take a moment to discover how life-shaping literature of all genres can be. This campaign is still active today.

In his 2009 book, What is Stephen Harper Reading? ,  Martel begs the question, “Is it anyone’s business what Stephen Harper is reading, has read, or if he reads at all?

Martel responds as follows:

” Is asking Stephen Harper to account for his reading habits irrelevant? Worse: is it improper and dishonourable, attacking the private man rather than his public policies? The answer is simple. As long as someone has no power over me, I don’t care what they read, or if they read at all. It is not for me to judge how people should live their lives. But once someone has power over me, then, yes, their reading does matter to me, because in what they choose to read will be found what they think and what they do…If Stephen Harper were shaped and informed by literary culture, if he read novels, short stories, plays and poetry, he would love them, he would defend them, he would celebrate them. He would not try to scuttle the public means of sustaining our nations artistic culture, retreating from doing so only when it’s politically expedient. ”

Martel speaks of the stillness of spirit that one can achieve from reading as essential as meditation, and reflective practice. As readers, we are welcomed into worlds far removed, different, and yet similar in other ways, to our own. Through books, we experience other cultures, beliefs, and ways of life, which serve to open our minds. What is Stephen Harper Reading? is a collection of over fifty recommendations of great short books, and it has a powerful message for people who hope be successful as leaders: “if you want to lead, you must read.”

Excerpt from an article from Nick Nissley, Executive Director, Leadership Development at The Banff Centre:

“We can’t always verbalize it, but we find place to be a tremendously powerful force in our life experiences. More specifically, I sense this is also true of our experiences with leadership development. Of course there’s a link between learning and location – it’s why we travel great distances and pay a premium to conduct our executive development programs ocean-side or in a mountain retreat setting; versus in yet, another non-descript chain hotel conference room in a windowless basement in Anywhere-ville. In fact, cultural geographers have a word, topophilia, to describe the attachment we often feel to particular places; or more precisely, the affective bond between people and place or environmental setting (Tuan, 1999). And, environmental psychology (e.g., Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Roszak, Gomes, & Kanner, 1995) is a field that has done much to increase our understanding of how the natural setting shapes our learning experience. Many disciplines have emerged to focus on this question of the power of place, approaching it through different conceptual lenses: cultural geography, environmental psychology, psychogeography and spiritual geography, to name a few. Academic journals such as Environment and Behavior and the new peer-reviewed online journal, Ecopsychology document such inquiries into our interest in place. Even the more journalistic writers (e.g., Gallagher, 1993), as well as the critical theorists (e.g., hooks, 2008), have inquired in to the power of place.”

Stay tuned for more or check this out:

http://www.banffcentre.ca/departments/leadership/thought_forums/

In an organization where ideas are formed and morphed into action every day, followers are more important than your simplistic idea of leader. The first person to rally behind a leader is the instrumental piece to making a lasting legacy. The leader may get all the credit – but the follower was the most important piece. Without a follower, a leader is a lone nut!

Kathleen Foreman is a performing artist and teacher specializing in actor training, improvisation, performance creation, mask creation and performance, Forum theatre, theatre for young audiences, eco-theatre, creative pedagogy and educational drama. As a founding member of the Loose Moose Theatre Company, she engaged in intensive improvisation and performance training that offered opportunities to create, perform, teach and direct in local, national, and international theatre venues and Arts festivals.  Kathleen is co-author, with playwright Clem Martini, of the book, Something like a Drug: the unauthorized oral history of theatresports.

 Pursuing a passion for mask performance, Kathleen, along with six other artists, founded masQuirx: a company of masks and mask performance.  As a collective of interdisciplinary artists, masQuirx members engage in a broad range of ideas, approaches and artistic forms of expression as a means to explore the potential of mask making and performance as contemporary and universal art forms.  masQuirx produces original performance works and interactive exhibition experiences which strive to extend traditional performance and visual art expectations.

Kathleen is a Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of Calgary. Current research interests include intercultural artistic exchange and environmental theatre creation.

Karen Dawson ‘s Exploratorium looked at Emotional Intelligence (EQ) from both the inside – outward, and from the outside – inward.

EQ from the Inside – Out:

Karen asked for five volunteers to embody the human brain. Three people stood shoulder to shoulder (representing the right-brain, the corpus callosum, and the left-brain, respectively), one person knelt in front of the corpus callosum (the amygdala), and one person lay down ont he floor in front of the amygdala – this person was the reptilian brain. She explained that when stimulated, the amygdala “encourages” the reptillian brain to react – when this happens – the brain “explodes” and we tend to flip our lid and we either fight, take flight, or freeze (are paralyzed by emotion).

The practice of noticing what we notice inside the body is at the heart of EQ work – if we can notice the feelings right before the reptilian brain “kicks in” we  have more choices that can help keep our whole brain integrated longer.

To further the inquiry from the inside – out, Karen collaborated with a friend of the Leadership Learning Lab, Ian Prinsloo. Ian had us mingle around the room and silently stop in front of someone. Next, we engaged in a silent conversation (about a story that emotionally resonates with us)  with that person, by looking at each other in the eyes and by noticing what we notice. Paying attention to

• our breathing – what is happening to our breath?
• how does the cognitive awareness of looking at someone in the eye without speaking sit in our bodies? What does that FEEL like?

 Following this exercise, pairs reported mirroring each other – that is, what they picked up in each other’s breathing, expressions, and body language. People reacted very differently depending on what the  situation was and what emotions were being conveyed.

EQ from the Outside – In:

Another friend of the Lab’s, Kathleen Foreman, brought her big-head masks in to help us explore how people read emotion. Looking at her masks, groups of participants attempted to name the emotions they saw in each face, and then talked about what happens in the body when we feel the emotion conveyed in the mask, and what the particular emotion may sound like. From this exercise, we noticed that:

• Emotion is physical – it creates a physical response in the body
• Individuals all read emotion differently – and that culturally people read emotion differently as well
• Our interpretation of emotion is based on our own experiences

Finally, Karen touched on the work of Dr. Reuven Bar-On, and his Emotional Intelligence indicator, the BarOn EQ-i®. Dr. Bar-On explains EQ as, “Emotional Intelligence is an array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.”

• A set of dynamic and learn-able skills that enable us to get along in this complex world
• It’s not about IQ – in many ways it is a more reliable predictor of “success” than IQ
• Emotional intelligence is when your feelings are working for you, not against you
• We are at our best when our intellect and our emotions work together