Let's PLAY!

CREATIVITY
...or at least, the following images are what come up in GoogleImages when you search creative art:

Isn't this true??!

Are you feeling inspired?

...fantastic :)

Now listen to the following  TED Talk  (if you want) and check out the following image:























Is this the state of creativity in our society?

As we learned and experienced on Friday, there's a growing Creativity Crisis (Newsweek) in America. Schools, technology, myths all play a role in this crisis -- and I'm sure there's an ongoing debate as to which is most detrimental to society.

For this blog, however, I'd like to focus on how to inspire creativity in our daily lives. Check out Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk on inspiring creativity on a daily basis for some starters.  For this week, I'd like to you consider and blog about the following (providing a concrete and specific example for each when applicable):

1. First, do you think it's important to be creative? Why or why not?
2. When was the last time you were creative or engaged in play? What were you doing? Were you working with others? (provide an example, and do NOT use Friday's workshop as an example)

Now, drawing on your experiences from Friday's workshop, consider and respond to the following (for those of you absent on Friday, just do your best to answer the questions!):

1. What was your perspective on creativity before and after the workshop? Did it change? If so, how? and if not, why not?
2. Did the workshop's play activity give you any tips and techniques into incorporating creativity into your daily life? If so, please provide some examples.
3. As Creativity/Innovation is a Core Competency of BLF, how are you going to apply what you learned (or perhaps already knew) about creativity and play into this current challenge?
4. Finally, did you have fun? :)

And my last question for you this week is a bit off the wall, but I hope it will inspire creativity in you!  So... You are working on an autobiography; pull one chapter from the book. What does it look like? What is the topic? What are the stories, explanations, or lessons you include in it?

That's all I have for now -- I hope you all have creative responses to this week's prompt!

What's your fit?

Let's be brief this week.

After postponing your proposals for, well, the undetermined "near future" perhaps we can use this time/space for evaluation of the current proposal you all created.

 1. Let's get back to basics. 



Post your Top 5 Strengths from the Strengths Assessment you took last Spring Quarter.

Choose and describe one strength that you used really well last quarter in the challenge.





Then answer the following questions:

a. Why did you choose this strength and not any of your other four?

b. How did you use that strength?

c. What was the environment?

d. How do you know you 'used it well'?

e. How did using it impact your team?

2. Now stop and think:
what skills (not defined by Strengths) do you have which are unique to you?

You're thinking...

...Maybe it would be helpful to make a list.

Done?

Okay.

a. Pick your Top Three (3) skills, and list them out. (If they're ambiguous, please provide some context of situations in which you express them well.)

b. From those three (3), choose at least one (1) which you would like to use in this 'conference' challenge. What can you do, and what can others do to help you exercise this skill? You don't have to have any set idea at this point on specifically how it can be used, but be sure to provide suggestions on what scenarios, environments, etc would allow it to be used. 

3. Feedback. 
Remember the first 1:1 you had with Eddie and me? One of my questions regarded how you prefer to receive feedback.

If you don't remember, it's okay :) Here's how I probably described it:

"Imagine a feedback continuum. On one end, we have individuals who prefer to receive feedback very bluntly and without any feel-good, sugar-coating. On the other end, we have individuals who need some positive reinforcement with constructive feedback and some suggestions for how to improve the behavior in the future."

Remember that?

Where do you fall on that continuum?  Please describe where you fall, and include an illustration of your preference, if you find it beneficial :)

That's all for now.

Until next time:

Blog responsibly, my Fellows.

Buckeye Leadership Challenges: back in action!

Welcome back, BLF :) ...and by back, I mean back into the world of challenges, workshops, meetings, oh my! (okay, that was probably a stretch for that reference - sorry...)

So you're probably all familiar with Oprah Winfrey. If not, please take a minute and update yourself on one of the influential radio/TV personalities, producers, philanthropists, of our time! Admittedly, I've never been a big 'Winfan'. However, she does produce some great quotes every once in a while. Check this one out:

"Do the one thing you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it."

Think about that for a minute. How does that apply to everything you did last quarter: your goals, ideas, brainstorms, lessons learned? What pieces are you going to hold with you as Crucible Moments and lessons for the long term? How are you going to let your failings (however you semantically counted them) impact your future progress?

(pause)

Okay, that's enough thinking. Before you read any further, check out this video.

Are you feeling inspired?

Great.

So now to focus on the prompt of this blog:

You've been through a lot in the past quarter - you've learned lessons, and you've set goals for future progress. And at this point, you know your challenge for this upcoming ... year!? (geez, that's a lot of time). What we're interested in knowing for this week are the following:

1. Initial reactions (to the 'Conference Challenge') - what did you think/feel when you heard the presentation?
2. Biggest fears (for the challenge) - what are they? why?
3. Largest hopes (for this challenge?) - what are they? why?
4. Expectations - what are your expectations of yourself? of the group?
5. Core Competencies - which of our list of 14 (yes, please reference your worksheet), do you think will be most emphasized in this challenge?

Fantastic.

Please remember to answer all of these questions in full and as they apply to your life.

Thanks :) Happy MLK weekend!