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leadership myth

Mountain Symbolism in African Leadership

“NOTE: This story comes from a Zulu elder who said, ‘These ideas about the mountain are from more than 100 years ago. African leadership today—with some shining examples—has a different approach. There’s no more climbing up mountains anymore. Now it’s about ego and the accumulation of money, cars, and property to hoard. The community is […]

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facilitation technique publications training workshop

Isivivane for change and Co-operation

Isivivane is a Zulu word that refers to a concept found in a number of other African cultures. In Zulu, Isivivane literally means ‘throw your stone upon the pile…’ and refers to rocks arranged as piles and / or hub and spoke patterns. Once upon a time, stones were used in the ancient world to […]

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african dilemma tale facilitation technique metaphor story circle storytelling for children teaching story workshop

Using African Dilemma Tales for Children

An African Dilemma tale is a unique style of participative storytelling. It is a story that has no end other than that provided by the participants. And even then, the story continues…… Why are dilemma tales important for children in the digital age? Children are bombarded with conflicting stories every day. They ingest cartoons, news, […]

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myth

The story of Vishnu and Naruda – It’s all about time

Vishnu and Naruda were sitting in deep conversation and Naruda asked “What is time Lord Vishnu?” Vishnu replied “Why don’t you cross the river and find out?” So Naruda went down to the river and swam to the other side, climbed up the bank and proceeded to the village where he stopped at the first […]

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metaphor narrative storytelling

Of streams and oceans; metaphors for the internet

I’m lucky enough to live on a river in northern Johannesburg and have done so for 25 years now. The river has her moods – mainly she burbles along most of the year at knee depth, continuously exposing the granite and tangled roots underneath, but sometimes in summer rainfall season she roars close to the boundaries of […]

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change management conflict management story circle storytelling health thinking skills

Language use and change management

An often overlooked but fundamental aspect of change management is how we use words and metaphors and how slippery meaning really is. Think of how differently you relate to these terms when they are reframed: The ‘block of flats’ is now called a much more interesting sounding ‘vertical village’ The resale value of a  ‘used […]

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metaphor thinking skills

Using Metaphor Map charts for thinking

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/30/metaphor-map-charts-the-images-that-structure-our-thinking Metaphor is not the sole preserve of Shakespearean scholarship or high literary endeavour but has governed how we think about and describe our daily lives for centuries, according to researchers at Glasgow University. Experts have now created the world’s first online Metaphor Map, which contains more than 14,000 metaphorical connections sourced from 4m pieces of […]