Nice animation video by Joseph Pelling.

Pick your box. What would it be. And what would you change it into?

What would you choose?

Via @crossthebreeze

Coert Visser is a multi-talented man. Check out his latest post and see if his description of you is accurate. Does it make you nod (yes yes yes!)? Then click the link at the bottom of his post and be amazed :).

The possibility of the impossibility never makes sense. But when it does, you’ve outscored the competition.

Recently it became clear that Herman Van Rompuy, our prime minister, is going to become the first European President. This implies that somebody has to step up to take his place. Now a lot of people expect his fellow party-member and predecessor Yves Leterme to claim the stage. This prospect has sparked fierce debates among politicians, citizens and journalists.

The entrance and exit of Leterme

Leterme, who got 800 000 personal votes in the last national election (a record!), failed to overcome the differences between dutch-speaking and french-speaking parties. Leterme and his government chose confrontation over reconciliation which turned into escallation and mutual distrust. Not really a recipe for success especially when you’re facing a lot of economic and social turmoil.

After a turbulent trial over the sale of Fortis where legal officials suggested that politicians had to influence judges, Leterme had to step down. This must have been a huge blow for his pride and ego which had already taken a severe beating in the preceding months. After his resignation Leterme was resentful and bitter. Not a great way to make friends if you ask me.

Anyway. Herman Van Rompuy took over and managed to create a more constructive climate. But now Van Rompuy is gone and Leterme is ready to step back up.

Why the worst may be the best

I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. What I do know is that Leterme can have a huge advantage in comparison to everyone else. He has been through a terrible experience no one has ever been through before. True, it was humiliating, true, it must have made him bitter, but it has also been a tremendous opportunity to learn. If – and let me stress that again – if he has learned anything, it will give him an advantage which might make him the best prime minister we’ll ever have.

Why? Because he has made these mistakes AND was able to overcome them. Most people will only be able to avoid them, which is of course smart and highly intelligent, but is it always an advantage?

You tell me.

Innovative politics?

Also, offering people a second chance is a great opportunity to make the most of people’s personal experience. If not, how could we ever learn and evolve?

If we’ve ever evolved, it’s by making mistakes and overcoming them, not by just avoiding them. How can you seriously claim that creative and innovative companies have to allow mistakes when in politics mistakes shouldn’t be forgiven? Seriously?

What if Leterme is able to overcome his mistakes? Wouldn’t that make him stronger? Wouldn’t that give him that little extra we might need when things get rough?

It may. It may not. Personally I don’t feel much sympathy for him since resenful politicians are likely to end up in creating conflicts instead of steering away from them or transforming them into something better.

But I’m not willing to share the opinion that just because he messed things up he shouldn’t get a second chance. Even when there’s a lot at stake.

Call me stupid, call me naive. That’s what I think.

And you?

Just a little afterthought: I like to believe that leaders aren’t born as leaders, they become leaders and remain leaders during the act of leading.

A few days ago I’ve signed up for Bob Poole’s Water Cooler Hangout newsletter. Coincidence or not, one of the first posts I received in my inbox was entitled “Exploding Brains and 2012″. It’s a nice little rant about how stressful it can be to be a part of the information age. In short, there’s just too much information to handle. And that +1000 counter on your feedreader lures you into thinking that the Information Age is rather pointing out that you’re still in the Age of Stupid instead of the Age of the well-informed.

“The header on my Google Reader always says 1000+. That means I have over 1,000 items that I subscribe to that I have not read yet. It always says 1000+ even though I read some every day. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never be able to read all the blogs and watch all the videos that I would like.” (Bob Poole)

It kind of struck a nerve when I read this. To be honest, I’m slightly information addicted. Combined with an urge to be on top of things, that’s just a shortcut to misery. I’ve ponderded a lot about bookmarksystems, feedreaders, blogrolls, databases, notebooks, libraries, archives and stuff like that trying to figure out a sensible way to deal with the neverending flood of ‘news’ coming our way. The more I worried, the worse it got. Every system had it’s flaws.

Why? Because of two main reasons:
1. I figured it was all about efficiency&completeness instead of effectiveness
2. I was too much history-oriented instead of present-ingrained

If these are your paradigms to stick around in the information age, good luck. If I would have clung to them, I probably would have been a nervous wreck right now.

So one day, I decided to change things.

First I wondered what my main drives were to look for information.

There were two:
1. I was afraid to miss out on something.
2. I was curious, I wanted to find out how things work.

Second, I tried to describe what happened right now. The truth was that while being busy trying to devour all this information I learned a lot, but I also missed out on the best of life.

Why? Because I was devouring without tasting or digesting. Because I didn’t value the information I worked with.

It’s like going to an all you can eat restaurant where you fill your plate all over again and at the end of the meal your stomach hurts, and you have absolutely no clue of what you ate. If you try to recall the sensations every separate ingredient or dish gave you, you cant. Your body is supposed to be filled with nutrients but you hardly feel stronger or enriched. It’s rather the opposite.

At one point I decided this couldn’t last forever. I needed a new rule of thumb if I was going to make it through the information age in a sensible way.

So here it goes: whenever I ‘eat’ information, I take the time to choose, taste and to digest.
Does it work? From time to time. I have my relapses. But I’m gradually getting there. I now know I have a different option when dealing with information overconsumption. I know what that other option feels like.

In a sense, it’s a different way of paying attention, of being aware of what you’re doing.
It’s a different way of feeling. Maybe it’s like mindfulness for the information age. Maybe it’s just common sense with respect to all our senses (and not just our information eager brain).

A small anecdote to conclude this rant. Someone once told me that there’s more mystery to common things than to so-called complex constructions. In a sense if you read it well, you can learn a lot from our society from looking e.g. at a chair (shape, materials, history, use, context).

If you develop the proper way of tasting that stuff, it’s not a matter of how much you can eat but how much you do with what you eat.

Bon appetit.

1.

“The really outstanding leaders are people who first listen and get people to tell what they think and what they know. And then to put that all together for a higher order integration. That’s real leadership.” (Daniel Goleman, interview with Harvard Business Review)

Dan Goleman gives a beautiful explanation of what powerful listening can be and how it is, to me, the most effective tool in working towards change in interaction with people. Look through their eyes and see if you can envision the change you have in mind.

Genuine attention is a very intriguing source of energy. While engaging in interaction to change a certain situation I try to start for the assumption that I have no real solution. I may have my ideas, views and opinions, but the real solution for every interaction will be born in that interaction. Think of it as a little seed, planted somewhere in the ground we share beneath our feet. By caring for this ground and that particular seed, by paying attention to it instead of turning it into a battlefield, I may be capable of allowing something beautiful to grow out of our meeting.

Great leaders know how genuine attention can make small ideas grow into big changes. They also know that they can do nothing but enable the change, maybe also encourage it. But the real drive for change comes from within the seed, from within the person you’ll work with, from within everybody you engage with.

2.

“Leading effectively is, in other words, less about mastering situations—or even mastering social skill sets—than about developing a genuine interest in and talent for fostering positive feelings in the people whose cooperation and support you need.” (“Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership”, Daniel Goleman & Richard Boyatzis, Harvard Business Review September 2008)

What if your first assumption about someone you negotiate with is: “you have a talent to help me”? How would that change the way you see that person? How would that alter your conversation, your thoughts?

What if your first assumption about someone you coach/assist is: “you have a talent to help yourself”? How would that change the way you approach your client? How would that alter your questioning?

3.

“A more relationship-based construct for assessing leadership is social intelligence, which we define as a set of interpersonal competencies built on specific neural circuits (and related endocrine systems) that inspire others to be effective.” (Daniel Goleman & Richard Boyatzis)

Notice the word “effective”. Why are they saying effective instead of efficient?

Here’s a small exercise. Take the next thing you’re about to do after finishing reading this post. Try to figure out 7 ways to be effective. Now figure out 7 ways to be efficient. What’s the difference?

4.

“Mirror neurons have particular importance in organizations, because leaders’ emotions and actions prompt followers to mirror those feelings and deeds. The effects of activating neural circuitry in followers’ brains can be very powerful.” (Daniel Goleman & Richard Boyatzis)

In short, could you be the change you want to see in your company? Ok, I sort of borrowed that from Ghandi but can you really be that change? Or can you at least imagine what it’s like to experience that change?

Goleman and Boyatzis mention an experiment where one group received negative feedback but in a very positive way (smiles, laughter, …). Another group received positive feedback but the body language of the messenger was negative. Guess which group felt better and which felt worse? Right.

“And everybody knows that when people feel better, they perform better. So, if leaders hope to get the best out of their people, they should continue to be demanding but in ways that foster a positive mood in their teams. The old carrot-and-stick approach alone doesn’t make neural sense; traditional incentive systems are simply not enough to get the best performance from followers.” (Daniel Goleman & Richard Boyatzis)

I’m getting a lot of questions lately about what solution focused coaching is all about. Wikipedia can tell you something about that. And so can Coert Visser, who has – among other blogs – an excellent blog on Solution Focused Change.

A few days ago, Coert posted this interesting video on his website “20 Solution Focused Techniques”. It’s a great toolbox for those of you who favour a DIY-approach to new subjects. Watch the video and have a go at the questions. Feel free to let me know what happened when you used them..

PS: Coert has also written a great book (in Dutch) called “Doen wat werkt” (doing what works). This book offers a hands-on introduction to Solution Focused Coaching.

Thanks to the people from FlandersDC I will be attending the 11th European Conference on Creativity and Innovation. Expecting lots of inspiration and new ideas for this blog.

Follow me live on twitter (hashtag #eccixi)

This year’s edition of ECCI is taking place in Brussels, at the brand new meeting place The Square. Great venue, if you ask me.

Getting ready for creative action
“Enough said about creative theory, it’s time for some creative action.” Talking about creativity is interesting but also frustrating. When attending creativity talks I often went home with lots of great advice, but those were just words. In the end putting these ideas into practice is what counts.

Not in this conference. Apparently, ECCI XI is all about making it happen.

Here great advice and practice should go hand in hand. Apart from the keynotes (more about that further on) there are a bunch of workshops to get us started.

Here’s my pick for the next 3 (!) days.

Day 1:

• 11u00: Virginia Stephen, “When Artist, Executive, Educator and Facilitator Converge: Visual Literacy Becomes a Dynamic Idea Mover” OR Jana Görs, “Five Theseses for Improving the Outcome of the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation – How to Launch a Bird, not an Egg.”
• 14u30: Sandra Minnee, “Creating Acceptance for Change: Mastering Conflicts”
• 16u30: Marc Bogaert – Luc De Schryver, “From Intention to Innovation: How a Company’s Cultural DNA can bridge the Gap between Innovation, Intentions and Results.”

Day 2:

• 11u00: Marcel van der Pol, “The Story of the Hero: Finding Treasures and Making Ideas Work”
• 14u30: Maureen Jenkins, “Regenerating Sources of Creativity – Your Personal Disciplines”
• 16u30: Stavros Michailidis – Donald M. Drost, “Make it Happen with Momentum”

Day 3:

• 11u00: Dorte Blegind, “Coaching as a Tool for Successful Implementation of innovative Projects”

Keynote speakers + Interview with Edward De Bono

Every great conference has interesting keynote speakers. I’m looking forward to the talks of Alberto Alessi, Kobus Neethling and Edward De Bono.

Thanks to Koen Peeters of Flanders DC I get the opportunity to do an interview with The Maltese Guru of Lateral Thinking: Edward De Bono. The interview will be published on this blog, later this week.

Earlier today I asked you to send me your questions for Mr. De Bono.

These are the questions I’ve selected for the interview:

- Is creativity a science or can it be a science? (Batist Vermeulen, Art Director @ Jetstream / Ceci n’est pas de l’art)
- What would you recommend to diplomats of the Copenhagen Summit? (Leen Creve, Journalist @ Knack Weekend)
- For people who feel they have a book or two in them, what would you recommend they do to get it written and out to read? (Bernd Nurnberger, Cocreatr @ Purple Pointr)

Thanks for the great questions tweeps!

Stay tuned.

via @cocreatr

Who would have thought that you could do this with water?

My guess is, it’s the water who told the designer that this was possible. My guess is, the designer had already done/seen/experienced something similar – however small it may have been – which, by paying attention to it, grew into this fantastic idea.

That’s what I believe about people as well. The great stuff, it’s already there. You’ve already shown some of it along the way but chances are you haven’t noticed yet. Pay attention to them and something beautiful is about to happen.

If you’d ask me what solution focused coaching is about, then I might say it’s about paying attention. It’s about discovering your own greatness and ability to deal with life’s challenges. It’s about caring for your own success.

It’s about planting the seeds and allowing them to turn into trees. It’s about water. And allowing it to become a creative waterfall.

“Can you allow things to happen the right way?”

This question crossed my mind while listening to a session about mindfulness by John Kabat-Zinn at Google.

I got a picture in my mind of a friend of mine who’s constantly worrying at work. It’s like she never has enough time to set things straight and to make things right. Often she takes her work home. And still things aren’t the way she wants them to be. And when they do there’s almost no time to enjoy them because another task is waiting, accompanied by another impossible deadline.

I wondered if she would be willing to sit back and be aware, just to allow things to happen the right way.

I wondered if I would be willing to do so. Maybe you wonder as well whether you’d be willing to do so.

Hold that thought for a while.

It seems absurd to say that ‘allowing to happen’ may be the best way to get things under control.

But there are many kinds of control. When you’re in resonance, when you – as a surfer – are one with your wave, then you’re in control. You are because your body is reading the wave in a way your rational mind can’t begin to understand. You read in dolby surround, in every kind of direction at the same time, with every sense possible.

Some people call this harmony.
Some mindfulness.
Some awareness, or flow.

I’m curious if I could become aware of moments when trying to control things keeps me from resonating, keep me from ‘allowing things to happen the right way’?

There’s a sentence popping up in my mind right now which may help me to open up.

“In you I trust.”

Let’s try that for a second. See what it does to us.

Seeing is believing. That’s what we’re supposed to believe right?

Look again. Or should I say think again?

Dan Ariely – one of my favourite behavioral scientists – shows that our belief in “seeing is believing” is fundamentally flawed. It is so flawed that it raises questions about that inner eye of ours which oversees our decisions. How much of what we think we judge as our own decision is actually a decision of our own?

If you’re interested in more stories like these: check Dan Ariely’s blog: Predictably Irrational or read his book Predictably Irrational.

Now what does this tell us about being superbly human?

“The map is not the territory”. This is a quote by A. Korzybski (wikipedia). What you believe you see is never what you get. It is however how you work with what you think you have. And that’s great as long as you believe that the real destination of your journey is the journey itself.

So how about your map? Whose map is it anyway?

In other words do you do what you do because you want it or do you do it because somebody else has drawn a map (and path) for you?

Quick example: as a kid, your mother has bought you three pairs of trousers: blue, black and red. Every morning before you get dressed, you open your closet and you can choose between blue, black and red. On the Trousers-Crossroad there are only 4 options: no trousers, blue, black and red. That’s the map. Is it the territory? Not likely.

Now look at your life. You get up in the morning, what do you do?

Do you still feel like the world is limited to the three pairs of trousers your mother has bought you?

This limited set of options can however be easy and helpful sometimes (we do need these patterns because we would die if we would have to weigh every possible option), but does it still work for you? If it doesn’t then stop staring at your map. Now.

Start exploring, start drawing.

What would happen if you ‘invented’ an option, add an extra pair to the set? Chances are you can do that. Chances are it will make you more satisfied than you are now.

The map you use to make your way in your life wasn’t drawn by fate. It is drawn by lots of people, also by you. And sometimes it’s helpful, but when you get stuck, it means you’ve discovered something new. It means you’ve presented yourself with an exquisite opportunity to redraw your map and discover a new area of the underlying territory.

Make no mistake. Drawing a whole new map out of nothing is not what I’m aiming at. What I’m talking about are small changes. Take one step at the time. Explore boundaries, learn how to deal with setbacks, grow confidence.

Are you willing to change your map and explore? Are you willing to decide for yourself, one step at the time?

If it helps, I’m redrawing my map as I’m writing right now. I just lost my job and I’m going to explore where starting my own business is going to take me.

Take care,

Hannes