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Book review: Impro for storytellers
Keith Johnstone is the inventor of theatresports and in Impro for Storytellers, he writes about the importance of stories in improvisational theatre. He argues, that without interesting storylines impro simply degenerates into a loose collection of gags and becomes a lot less interesting.
The funny thing is that I bought this book thinking it was about storytelling, when its focus is actually on impro theatre, but I still enjoyed reading it and I learned a lot from it.
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Control
A financial analyst once asked me if I was afraid of losing control of our organization. I told him I’ve never had control and I never wanted it. If you create an environment where the people truly participate, you don’t need control. They know what needs to be done, and they do it. And the more that people will devote themselves to your cause on a voluntary basis, a willing basis, the fewer hierarchs and control mechanisms you need.
– Herb Kelleher, ex-CEO of Southwest AirlinesFrom this article. Read more about Southwests way of doing business in Nuts!.
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Stealth disco
You sneak up behind a co-worker and disco – without getting caught and with another co-worker videotaping it. Looks like fun.
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Death and grief
From an article in Fast Company:
Philosopher and consultant Peter Koestenbaum spends his days exploring truly big questions that have never sounded more relevant. Here, he reflects on what the shock of death teaches us about leadership — and how to move forward without forgetting.For another way to view it, check out Harrison Owen’s concept of griefwork, which is the process that we as humans go through every time we encounter change. There’s a brief description here, and more in his book Expanding our now.
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Robert Levering
Robert Levering is the man behind the “Great place to work” book and concept. Here’s a quote from the introduction to the book
…I am more optimistic than ever about the prospects for the workplace. When Milton and I began researching this area nearly two decades ago, great places to work were clearly exceptions to the rule. They often were the result of the vision of extraordinary business leaders like FedEx’s Fred Smith or HP’s David Packard. Today more and more senior managers have become convinced that fostering a great work environment is a business imperative. But perhaps more important, employees are no longer willing to put up with the kind of insensitive and demeaning management attitudes that have typified most workplaces since the dawn of the industrial age.
Grounds for optimism, I’d say. There’s an excellent interview with Robert Levering here.
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Book review: Bird by bird
I’ve just added Anne Lamott to my “List of People I’d Really Like To Meet”. Having just read her book Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life, I think she’s a nice person, interesting to be around and very wise.
The book contains many, many tips for the aspiring writer. Not on the technical stuff, like how to put the words together or how to sell your finished book to a publisher, but more on how to live as a writer. She makes the excellent point, that a writer’s main ambition should not be to be published but to write, since that is what a writer does most of the time.
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Autumn poem
The other day while I was driving home, I looked into the gutter and saw yellow leaves. Autumn’s here, and here’s a fitting poem which I found in Anne Lamott’s beautiful book “bird by bird”.
Above me, wind does its best
to blow leaves off the Aspen
tree a month too soon. No use,
wind, all you succeed in doing
is making music, the noise
of failure growing beautiful.
– Bill HolmHere’s the author’s own background for the poem.
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Open Space on Open Space
As part of my holidays I spent three days at the OSonOS, which is the annual conference for Open Space practitioners. For those who don’t know Open Space Technology here’s an excellent intro. To me it is quite simply an incredibly efficient meeting form, which treats people as adults capable of making their own choices.
It was an excellent conference. I loved meeting people from all over the world, and I really enjoyed getting deeper into Open Space. And the venue was fantastic. It was held at Bramstrup a little south of Odense in a barn. It may sound weird, but the place was beautiful and worked perfectly for our needs. Meals were taken in the old cow stables and the food was equally excellent. If you’re planning some large meeting in Denmark, consider Bramstrup as your venue.
As always Open Space worked its magic, and the sessions we had were productive, constructive, interesting and lots of fun. You can see the entire report from the conference. I hosted these two sessions: Short OS meetings and Freedom and OS.
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