Learning organizations have predictable problems when it comes to instilling a culture that encourages self-development and lifelong learning in a large community of learners that are continuously changing. The continuous movement of people into and from the organization makes it necessary to provide a method that Instills lifelong and necessary motivation, virtues, values and behavioural […]
Tag: creativity
If you’re a creative, you already know that where you create — both inside and out — deeply affects what you create. The creative space is hard to describe, but those who live there — artists, writers, musicians, scientists — share one thing: they know how to find their way back to it. You’ve been […]
From Idea to Impact So you have an idea for a story. It might be for a simple social media post or an elaborate brand campaign. But before you start writing, pause. A great story isn’t just told; it’s designed. The right questions can transform a good idea into an unforgettable narrative that resonates with […]
“It takes a very long time to become young.” (Pablo Picasso) Did you have difficulty making friends as a child? Experience scholastic boredom and more than the normal helping of social problems? A little unconventional and nonconformist even at primary school? Eccentric parents? A study of gifted creatives by Psychologist Ellen Winner cited these early […]
We can only appreciate story through engaging it wholeheartedly, telling it and then reflecting upon it. Does story describe? Does it possibly create as well? Is story simply the only way we have of organising memory? What is the link between language and time? What is your story? Who are you? To what extent is […]
‘Eunoia’ is the shortest English word that contains all the five vowels. It derives from the Greek word εύνοια which means ‘well mind’ or ‘beautiful thinking’. It is a rarely used medical term referring to a state of “normal mental health”. By contrast, we have a vast vocabulary for states of mental dis-order and dis-ease. So […]
How did humans ever come to agree that one of the primary ways they would represent their experience of the world is through the rectangular shape? The rectangle is rare in the natural world but it is the shape of the canvas almost invariably used by the artist to paint on. Rectangles are about limits […]
In almost every corporate environment in which we work, I often see computerised employee card activated coffee percolators and espresso machines on every floor. I’ve often wondered why caffeine is so much part of corporate culture and how people casually adopt the language of café society into everyday conversation. I often hear ‘Let’s meet over […]
Life is story. What we know of the world and ourselves is made up of countless stories that we hear, tell to ourselves and share with others. But stories don’t just describe, they literally construct who we are, our relationship to the world and the way in which the world relates to us. You can see […]
Ultimately your experience of the world is reflected in the many billions of electro-chemical changes that occur continuously in your endocrine system, your immune system and your nervous system. It is known that the various substances we consume can have a profound impact on the way in which we experience the world. Make it your […]
Stories are not simply reflections of reality, but rather, they are constructs that actively shape our internal experiences and our understanding of the world. This is how individual narratives and cultural contexts interact: In summary, individual narratives and cultural contexts are in a constant state of interaction, with each influencing and shaping the other. Cultural […]
At first the idea may seem a little puzzling – what has storytelling got to do with the world of work? Well, quite a lot it seems. Think of this – whatever we know of the world and of ourselves is grounded in story; either stories that we have been told or stories that we’ve […]
Stories come and go but some hang around, influencing, teaching, inspiring and enlightening. But stories can also even destroy and damage individuals and organisations. A story may be considered powerful if it fulfills the following criteria; the more criteria met, the more powerful the story: People are surrounded by bits of information. All competing for […]
Exactly how to portray the human mind has preoccupied philosophers for centuries and more recently psychologists, educationalists and physiologists have contributed to the debate. [technology creates new metaphors, tools to manipulate our experience that create our stance towards the world]. With the advent of information and communications technology, the brain has been compared to a […]
You might wonder how you can get into the storytelling business but the truth is that you’re already deeply embedded in it. Whatever you do, whoever you are, you tell stories. You tell stories to yourself (some call this thinking) and anyone who’ll listen. These stories not only describe your reality, they do a whole […]