Which Path Will You Choose?

As we observe and are impacted by the present economic and political confusion we could find ourselves consciously or subconsciously predicting our future based on the myriad of potentials that are resonating from Wall Street and Washington.   We have commented previously that America is in the midst of a greater change; a shift in mindsets from individual stakeholder to community shareholder.   I believe this will not be initiated nor greatly facilitated by either Wall Street or Washington and instead is already happening in the business community.

The economic upheaval is revealing the struggle between existing and emerging mindsets in many ways; the most obvious are perspectives of “How can I get more out of this?” and “How can we work together and share value?”.  It is not easy to break out of old mindsets and there are good reasons to guard proprietary advantage so sadly many well intentioned collaborative spaces fall into group think at best and spam branding at worst. 

One functional tool that is most helpful is a Creativty Incubator.   With it’s focus on creating viable solutions and opening people to an opportuntiy to give of themselves not just a specific skill, it is equally enriching to both it’s sponsors and participants. 

I hope this wets your appetite a bit and you will join us over the next few weeks and months as we share some of our perspectives as we explore this n greater depth.

Janet Echelman: Taking imagination seriously

Lens

 Indifference is defined as a lack of interest, concern, or sympathy.  In its most subtle form it is “unbiased” or having no opinion and at its most direct it is a conscious turning away of the eyes of our heart.    In examining this in my own life I came across a speech delivered at the White house in 1999 by Elie Wiesel on “The Perils of Indifference”.     http://bit.ly/12h2ZU

I can look back and see that not only did I choose a lens of indifference to suffering but once on; that lens was non selective.   I was equally indifferent to the splendor and majesty all around me and more sadly the beauty of diversity found in each person I encountered.   The good news is that as a lens I can choose to take off.

  
I don’t know whether to ask for your thoughts or your forgiveness.  Both are appropriate.

Join us this month as we explore the connections between passion and desire.  Sound like a romance novel?  Well, hopefully it is.  It is your story of who you are, you calling, your passion and the many ways you express this through your skills and desires.  

At it’s core, creativity places passion and desire in correct alignment; in it’s most complete form it is the ability to give shape and form to what you see with the eyes of your heart. 

Join us as we explore the alignment of passion and desire, comment on the difference between seeing and looking, and share your journey of seeing from your heart.

Throughout the months of November and December I will begin to define and examine “Mind Sets”; that combination of how we connect perception and understanding and understanding and feelings effect our lives and those around us.

I look forward to sharing more of our work and experiences.

transform, metamorphose, transmute, convert, transmogrify, Transfigure mean to change a thing into a different thing. Transform implies a major change in form, nature, or function (transformed a small company into a corporate giant). Metamorphose suggests an abrupt or startling change induced by or as if by magic or a supernatural power (awkward girls metamorphosed into graceful ballerinas). Transmute implies transforming into a higher element or thing (attempted to transmute lead into gold). Convert implies a change fitting something for a new or different use or function  (converted the study into a nursery). Transmogrify suggests a strange or preposterous metamorphosis (a story in which a frog is transmogrified into a prince). Transfigure implies a change that exalts or glorifies (joy transfigured her face).

As Precious as gold..so to is transformation

Transformation: A life-skill or a management process?

Transformation; we become aware of a greater world and we desire to become a part of it.  It is a connection with the expansion of our capabilities combined with the expansion of our relationships.  Our world becomes different and we have an opportunity to pour ourselves into a new mold.   The transformation is the driving force and is greater than the melting necessary to be poured into the new mold for we are on an adventure pursued with passion. 

When and why did we stop this?  When did transformation become a process instead of a lifestyle and life skill?  Why are we so often caught in the misadventures using the fires of adversity instead of adventures and the fires of passion?  At what point where we aware of the greater relationships around us and choose to ignore them for any of a host of reasons?

Remember as a child when we first learned to walk, to talk,  overcoming the first few days of school, young adults off to college, marriage, etc.   My own testimony is; not all of these were transformational events.  I did not become a part of the new community or life around me.   I was stuck in a transitional mindset while others around me where easily, even subconsciously transforming. 

Many have examined this in very specific terms and sets seeking a simple solution; Is the problem rooted in family; in child development, in education; teaching employable skills vs. life skills, is it in government; selfishness of political process?  We could go on and I am sure there are both root and relational issues in all segments of culture. 

Instead of approaching this as a problem and hence as problem solvers I would like to approach this as life-long learners and learn together?

What do you think of transformation?  How do you define it?

I am happy to colate and summarize our collective perspectives on Creative Economies home page.

 All of us have and are experiencing the effects of this.   Our web search is no longer informational only as we are now filtering information from many sources.   We have the opportunity to move beyond information and tap into truth or information that has been tested and found true.   We are able to tap into other’s experiences and hence the bar has been raised from information to truth.   The availability of information is being eclipsed by the trustworthiness of its source.  In the process of connecting with peoples experience we discover pockets of wisdom, of shared interests, shared challenges and are now able to establish permission based relationships. 

 Our collective raised expectations are adding to this shift; 

-  the development of web enabled collaboration tools (web 2.0) are experiencing wide spread acceptance and growth and with that web dynamics and social dynamics are merging; fueling acceleration and multiplication of tools, technologies, platforms, services, etc.(web 3.0 – 4.0)  

- these tools and services are changing the landscape of interactions and relationships in such a way as to change culture and not just business culture but have a rippling effect into all areas of culture

Nearly all the companies I have worked with started from the perspective of transition.   That is, evaluating effectiveness and practicality within their current operating systems.  This bolt on approach left many to face the struggles and conflicts of the experimentation with various forms, platforms and tools.    Those who have moved beyond experimentation have recognized the transformative aspects of this and addressed this at a strategic level not just an operational level.   The benefits of; unveiling knowledge and wisdom, encouraging participation, creating opportunities to demonstrate creative expression and to allow “my voice” to be heard have rippling effects.   One of the greatest is a shift from individual accomplishment to fulfillment.

The question we started with: Is this real?  Is not the question we have our eyes on.    The questions we are forming are strategic leadership questions which have the potential to drive our organizations into transformation and culture change.    In next week’s commentary we can examine more of the social trends and implications that will help us form the guiding questions that will move us forward.   In this context, the leadership challenges are brought into a light that brings further clarity to the points above.   I will also revisit Learning; “Did we learn to stop learning?” in light of transition vs. transformation.    Think of your childhood, every key event was a transformation so why at some point did we choose to focus on transition? 

Until then; thank you.

Stephen Cummings

At a core level there is an inter-relationship with knowledge, truth and joy.    This simple life learning model offers this inter-relationship;

I would offer that this is a never ending process, lifelong learning.   But what happens when one of the components is missing or misaligned? 

It was a privilege to be part of a round table discussion on trends and future trends effecting organizational development and learning.   This in no way is an all inclusive listing yet strikes to the very heart of learning.    Three disconnecting factors were identified; learning is becoming disconnected from knowing, myths are replacing truths and the joy of life and the living of life are increasingly on separate paths.   Some of the comments;

Understanding is the new knowing

• There is a romance with learning
• Happy just to know about it..
• Content to know where to find it..
• Low expectation of immediate application of learning
• Increasing time disconnect between learning – applying – knowing
• Knowing is diluted and disconnected from the truth

Myths are replacing truths

• People like to believe in myths
• Stories and accounts are acceptable
• There are social, cultural and economic myths
•             Ex. Water is free, energy is cheap, food is cheap…
•             Ex.  Leave it to beaver, MTV, Reality TV pick your generation
•  Myths are often defended, even fiercely defended
•  Knowing about someone is increasingly more prevalent than knowing someone
•    Personifications are increasingly the norm

The simplest graphical representation of this I can offer is;

Instead of living completely (or even entirely) from our core we can become partitioned living from our periphery.   How did we get here and how will we move forward?   Compared  with the fruits of creativity  and the  joy of transfomations  that expand our relationships; this appears dull at best and draining at worst.    Join us as we continue to examine root causes and collectively return to the joy of living and lifelong learning.

Creative-economies.com is a web portal to support the expansion of the creative economy.  It is being designed with the intent to serve varied communities including; professional groups and associations, industry segments, and geographies, to facilitate connections that foster collaboration.  At the core, we believe in what we say; honoring direct purposeful and meaningful relationships is a natural and fluid architecture that creates opportunities to share in the fruits of these relationships.  Field work and personal testimony testify to the truths that transformations are the process in which we choose the mold we pour ourselves into.  What has been lost is the fact that we also get to choose which fire melts us for that pouring.   Both the fires of adversity and the fires of creativity can melt us. 

We recognize that in many ways we are pioneers, pilgrims and sojourners, in that we are not alone and there is an awakening to something greater than we can comprehend.

Did we learn to stop learning?    If you take away the large gear of change you can have an organization that is happily churning out results and it can simply bring the large gear in when it is necessary; right? 

 The sad reality is that the celebration and joy of transformation has become a funeral dirge and change is seen as an imposition rather than a valued life skill. 

Why is this?   Why did we stop reaching out or into relationships, when did what we know become more important than who we know, when did our individual intelligence become greater than the collective of the relationships we hold dear? 

At a deeper level when did the joy of life and the living of life get separated?    Anyone else feel like it’s time we got off the education train and move into the relational / transformation train?

These are just a few of the thoughts we wold like to explore in  a series of posts on transformation, learning, and how Marketing 2.0, Sales 2.0, and a host of Web 2.0 applications are poised to turn the tide.