Open for Everything and Anything...

This blog will be here for you. We hope you will continue to post ideas and experiences that relate to the work you have done in the course.

If you desire a specific topic "opened" for people to group their comments, please send me an email.

NOTE also: if you wish to join the C&L13 opt-in email list, send me the request and I will add you and provide the addresses of all who have already become members.

Happy Holidays,
Hal

Week #9: Prosperity Challenge & Future of Management

Especially because we were running out of time, it would be great to get your comments and "learnings" from the “Strength I See in You” exercise. We can review these comments at the start of the last class.

Please also post your comments about--
a) experiences with the Be Ordinary Live-With. Some find the word "ordinary" hard to deal with; we know we are all unique, one-of-a-kind and somewhat special... If this is the case, substitute the word "authentic"-- as in being true to yourself and valuing yourself for who you are. Please share.

b) further comments and thoughts about Steve Jobs and his leadership “qualities”. Also what about the future of management? How do you see organizations in general, and yours in particular, evolving given some new requirements and operating environments?

c) reactions to the Mt Everest case, in advance of our conversation. Within our leadership discussions, we have talked about willingness to take risk and make mistakes. This case goes farther into disastrous results... However, we can learn from it and relate some of the "errors" to what we have covered. What do you think?

Have an enjoyable holiday—using the live-with, naturally, to get through any tough situations….

See you on December 2nd

Julie and Hal

Week #8-- Balance & Gender Tendencies in Leadership

We hope you enjoyed the discussions on Monday.

This week, please share your experiences with balance-- what it means to you and how you try to achieve it. "Apply" the Live-With and record your successes as well as what did not help. There may be two different approaches: (1) finding a way to integrate all aspects of your life to create a dynamic balance, or (2) recognizing competing priorities and consciously choosing one over the other for some period (before rebalancing to focus on the other “side”). Your experiences?

We felt that confronting gender differences was important. The key is seeking and bringing out your authentic self. Thoughts?

We will start next class with some comments on Steve Jobs and leading change. The “lessons” from his “style” plus a fuller understanding of the dynamics of change can be an important part of every leader's job. And this can be helpful in managing (or being managed) at all levels in an organization.

What has been your experience with either leading change or "being part" of a major change or turnaround effort. What did you experience? How did you cope to get through it?

Have a great week
Julie & Hal

Week #7: See With Your Heart; Whole Foods and Mackey's Leadership

An interesting quote:
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with
the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible
to the eye." Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What a lovely week this is - a week of seeing with your heart, which allows you to see what is invisible to the eye.

It is only when you move past seeing with just the eyes and mind that you can really see another human being at all, and can begin to be in true relationship, whether it is with another or it is with your Self.

Make sure to practice this live-with both internally and externally. Once you begin to open your heart to yourself, and your Self, you will know your deepest capacity for love and compassion.

On a very practical note, use your precise observation to see what shifts at home and at work when you see with your heart. What changes in the dynamic of your relationships? How is the 'other', whom you are seeing with your heart, changed? How does is your creativity, and the creativity that comes from your relationship, changed? Reciprocity???

We discussed an interesting and successful company built by John Mackey. Do you have any reaction to what he did? How it might what we have covered in both WL Gore and Whole Foods be useful for you in your organization?

See you on the 11th
Keep posting,
Julie & Hal

Week #6-- Just Do It! Facing Fears and WL Gore & Culture

We hope you enjoyed the class and found it useful. Feel free to share your thoughts about the Fear Circle exercise—- we did not have sufficient time to fully “debrief” the experience. Many thanks to Carol, Sandra and Nhu-Y for propelling us so effectively through the Gore case. If you want to press further learning about the company, you might try watching the video of CEO Terri Kelly speaking at MIT:
http://video.mit.edu/watch/nurturing-a-vibrant-culture-to-drive-innovation-9405/

You now have some new “tools” to deal with stress in your life:

1) The Three Stressors: categorize for clarity and forward action.
2) Moving toward your fear: speak it out loud, then re-frame it. What would breakthrough look like? What will it take?

Try using these tools and following your live-with, JUST DO IT!, this week in order to take action on both your course challenge and other points of stress. How can you get enough clarity, so that you can take appropriate actions?

Regarding WL Gore and company culture, please post any ideas that you have.

The Ray chapter introduces the Relationship Challenge. You can comment on this if you wish.

Also, if you are not familiar with Whole Foods, try to visit one... and read the case

Have a great week,
Julie & Hal

Week #5-- Do Only What You Love; Love What You Do and Leading Innovation (IDEO)

We hope you are having fun with this Live-With and will post your experiences below. Please also share your thoughts about matching how you spend your time with your values, goals and what you love to do. Go for progress, not perfection... Remember the “Love-to-Do Commitment” you have made. How is it progressing?

We covered a lot of material about IDEO and we encourage you to share any reactions or questions that were stimulated. Based on the video and the discussion, you can share some ideas and comments about this company? What are some of the concepts that might be useful for YOU in your own organization?

Finally, have you made any progress with seeking (through interviews) insights about, “How might we help people access their creativity?


Have a great week.
Hal and Julie

PS: sorry this post was opened so late...

Personal Journey-- "Progress Sharing"

Group:

Julie suggested we open a place for comments and reflections on your progress with your Personal Challenge.

You have had a couple weeks and quite possibly "see" the challenge in a different light than when you started this process of working on it.

Since there may well be a commonality of experience, please use this heading as a place where you can share your adventures in addressing the challenge.

(As always, if there is something you wish to send directly to Julie or Hal, rather than post, you are encouraged to do so.)

Press on,

Julie & Hal

Week #4-- Ask Dumb Questions & Leadership

Dear Group:
...

Please accept any weird comments below because I am opening this next week before we hold the class. (I-- Hal-- am out of town for the rest of the week.)


Please share your experiences as you work with dumb or powerful questions. How did people react to your authentic curiosity and questions? Let us know about your feelings as you frame the questions-- for example, what is the role of the VOJ? How about the reaction? Did you get your answer and maybe more?

You can even try questions with strangers-- so long as you genuinely want to know the answer. Many of us REALLY like to share of knowledge if someone asks and is interested...

What have you found?

LEADERSHIP--
We covered a lot of material about leadership and we encourage you to share any reactions or questions that were stimulated.

Any thoughts and observations about:
++ Management Mindsets
++ Emotional Intelligence
++ Aesthetic Intelligence
++ Integrative Thinking

Which of the ideas seem like they will be useful for you now and in the future?

FINALLY, we went through the d.School innovation process in preparation for your watching the IDEO video. I also suggested that after we have seen and discussed IDEO, we can consider whether there is interest in trying to work through a "design challenge" as part of the secoond half of the course. Any thoughts and ideas can be incorporated into next week's class conversation.

Have a great week,
Hal & Julie

PS: Here is the link to the video (also on the Moodle page if this does not work...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taJOV-YCieI

Week #3 - Precise Observation: Pay Attention! and CoolBurst

Welcome back to our "Creativity Café", a place to chat and share... So, now you are in week three of our class and, we imagine, getting the hang of these live-withs. You've had time to experiment with Have No Expectations and Relax the VOJ. Our new live-with, Pay Attention, builds on these first two. You are becoming familiar with your own creative process and with the influence of your VOJ. When you have a deeper awareness of both, you begin to be more open to the world around you, and the world inside you. This week, we invite you to pay attention to both worlds. Listen, see, taste, touch and smell with precise observation, as a young child filled with wonder, a scientist absorbed in research, or an alien who has just landed on earth and is seeing things for the first time. Shake things up! Travel a different route, eat different foods, talk with strangers - do anything you can to have a “foreign experience”, as if you are a traveler in a new world, because in reality you are. In every moment, life is changing right before your eyes. So, get out there, and in there, and Pay Attention. Julie suggested the Color walk-- where you focus on seeing just one color in the world around you. If you jog a route for exercise, Hal suggests you go in the opposite direction and observe how different it looks/feels. Then come back here to fill us in on all the wonder-filled moments you have experienced. You could share thoughts about the Crossing the Ravine exercise and whether/how it provided personal insight. We discussed the CoolBurst case study in Monday's class, with five excellent presentations that covered the case. If you did not share your views, it is not too late. What do you think Luisa should do? How much must she change HERSELF??? Please share with us here any questions, thoughts, etc. that will help us all to get more out of this interesting case study. Have a great week, Julie and Hal

Week #2 - Tool #2-- Relax the VOJ and Leadership Style

We hope you enjoyed the class. Have fun this week with efforts to control the VOJ... Keeping a journal is especially helpful as you experience and observe judgments of all kinds with a new sense of understanding. Do try to gain experience with the VOJ, rather than intellectualizing about whether "judgment" is good or bad... By our definition, the VOJ is dysfunctional. We promised you would be “changed” by week #2… What do you think? If you truly engage with your efforts in observing and “Relaxing the VOJ” you WILL see the world and your interactions in a new light. Let us know your experiences. We also discussed Leadership Styles and the Manager as Artist. Continue to notice what leadership style your boss/parent uses, its effectiveness, and whether a different combination of styles might work better. As a leader yourself, consider what your natural styles are and how they support your own internal values. Finally, how did you react to the “Manager as Artist”? Does this framework help you see how things operate? Nothing is off-limits. Post any other thoughts that you feel would benefit your class mates. Cheers, Julie & Hal

Week #1- Trust your Creativity and our Conception of Leadership

Off and running. We hope you were stimulated by the first class... and are ready to dig in. At the same time… Have “No” Expectations…

So, please post any comments, ideas or questions that you wish about this class and where we are headed.  Additional thoughts on the “Great Idea” exercise or the name tag brain-storm?

Many thanks to those who posted Self-Introductions under a different heading. Slightly more than half of our group has NOT YET introduced themselves. PLEASE do so.

Between now and the next class on September 30, experiment with your assigned "Live-With": Have No Expectations. Record your experiences-- successful or less so-- with this concept. How did it work in meetings, in dealing with deadlines? What did you try? What did you notice about your own reactions? This is the most difficult tool and "wrestling" with it has a slow but definite payback.

You can also share any comments you have about the readings.
Good luck.
Julie & Hal

Introduce Yourself, Please

Please post some information about yourself that you would like to share with your classmates.  This will hasten our getting to know each other.  And it is fun to see what great diversity and talent will be sharing the classes with you.

 

Unless your email address clearly indicates your name, how about including your name in the text. Thanks. 

Welcome to Bus-17: Creativity & Leadership

Almost everything you will need is on line-- not just this blog but also with the course assignments over on the Continuing Studies Moodle location:
        http://csp-moodle.stanford.edu

You will login with:
       username: bus17
       password: (to be given out by email or at first class)

This is our "Creativity Café", the place to share your experiences and ideas during the course.  We hope you will engage with the posts of others to collaborate in coming up with new insights--  and thereby enhance everybody's learning and fun.  

In fact, if you are interested in earning a letter grade or Credit, you are required to post during the period of the course. 

The one thing we urge you to purchase is the paperback edition of Michael Ray's Creativity in Business. There will be weekly reading assignments from this book.

See you in class on September 23rd.

Julie and Hal