Monday, September 9, 2013
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
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Welcome, everyone! I look forward to meeting you on our first evening of class. Until then!
ReplyDeleteJulie
My name is Aude Henno-Blance and I moved from France 18 months ago with my family. I spent most of my career working for large industries (microelectronics, aeronautics, food industry) in the supply chain management and production control. I have reached a satisfying level in terms of skills and in term of business recognition but I sometimes feel like I have hit a glass ceiling. I want to be able to surpass it and take the lead on a project, a team...
ReplyDeleteAnother part of my life is dedicated to artists. In France, I was volunteering for a group of artists, helping them to manage the business side of their acivity (cash flow management, advance planning, communication, event organization, contract). I realized how much they needed a partner for the practical aspects of their profession so I started a business to provide those services and it worked pretty well.
I had to interrupt my activities when I moved to California, and currently can not work because of the visa situation. Since last October I have volunteered for the Stanford's Museum.
The official right to work will be given to me within a year, I want to use this time to optimize my knowledge and push myself a little bit further.
Leadership and creativity immediately sounded interesting, and I am sure that the diversity of the students attending will be a great value to the experience.
Looking forward to meeting you all!
Aude
Hi Aude!
DeleteThanks Julie. See you on Monday
ReplyDeleteJust posted my presentation again, at the right place ;o)
ReplyDeleteSee you later.
I have been practicing the first “live with” tool this week (“have no expectations”). By consciously removing expectations, the discussions yielded various new and unexpected possibilities. One example involved the discussion of a process enhancement with several cross functional teams. These discussions can be challenging, especially since the participants bring with them different perspectives and expectations (what works, how it is today, how it should be in the future, etc). After communicating the “have no expectations” concept, the teams were able to communicate new innovative possibilities that I do not think would have surfaced otherwise. This exercise has yielded the best ideas to date, and the team is energized and focused on the end goal.
ReplyDeleteThe article “ What Leaders Really Do” by John P. Kotter really made sense to me. The article states that the concepts regarding “leaders” and “managers” were initially controversial, but they have since been validated over time. I would theorize that the rise of inexpensive technology, global communications and social media have expedited the need for change in business direction, which in turn helped to highlight the difference in roles. This created an awareness for the value of strong leaders who could set clear direction and motivate people towards the necessary and frequent changes - while also demonstrating the value of management who would organize the complex people and systems toward that direction efficiently. I would imagine most of us have examples of organizations that have demonstrated strong leadership and/or management behaviors.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the “Not Business as Usual” article by Michael Ray, it reinforced the importance of the “great idea” exercise to help identify the conditions and experiences under which we each are able to access our inherent creativity. During the 9/23 class “great idea” exercise I noticed a pattern that some of my most creative moments happened while I was performing some kind of physical exercise such as working out at the gym, hitting golf balls on the driving range, or even just walking for the sake of exercise. For some reason, the “mindless” aspect of physical exercise helps me become open to new possibilities. Thanks to this new self-awareness I will continue to test the theory ;)
ReplyDeleteI was already familiar with Daniel Goleman’s “Leadership That Gets Results” article. I find it curious how the researchers were able to assign numerical values to each of the leadership styles, but overall it made sense why the Authoritative style was most strongly positive. If we think of examples of organizations’ “greatest moments” I would expect most of them had leaders that motivated people toward a common vision (“come with me”). It was also enlightening to learn that certain leadership styles (Coercive, Pacesetting) may be needed to address specific situations, but overall will have a negative impact on the team.
ReplyDelete