Culture
People Act Based on Story
I heard Brian McLaren talk a few weeks ago when he spoke at Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan. In a word: amazing. Here’s a quote: “People don’t make decisions based on reality. They make decisions based on the stories they believe about reality.” Then he goes through a list of what he calls “framing stories” that frame reality as we know it. Amazing. more »
Generalists and Specialists
Am I a generalist or a specialist? This is a question that seems healthy to consider. I think all of us need to be good at several things to do life well. Dental hygeine, laundry, some form of cooking—these are all pretty necessary for life. In our jobs it’s important for us to be well-rounded and useful in different ways. That’s all good and fine.
But I believe we all have been gifted with special gifts and skills that enable us to be specialists as well. more »
Good works!
Think about it. more »
Triple Word Score and the Three-Strand Process
It’s finally here. The week you’ve been waiting for all year: National Scrabble Week! Did you know that Scrabble was originally called Lexiko? This challenging crossword game was invented by an out-of-work architect in the midst of the great depression. When the manufacturing rights were purchased from the inventor in 1948, the name was changed to “Scrabble,” which literally means, “to scratch frantically.” Now you can amaze your friends with this important trivia at the next party you attend. This historic game requiring proficient strategy and anagramming skills is not unlike the process that happens here at CHANGEffect. more »
It’s a Starfish World
I am currently reading one of those books I think every leader or leader-in-training should read: The Starfish and the Spider, The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom. A truly contrarian approach to the typical centralized top-down organizational approach, this book challenges your thought paradigms using models such as: Alcoholics Anonymous, craiglist.com, Wikipedia, the Apache Indians, Napster and al Qaeda to name a few – each the epitome of “successful and thriving” models of decentralization. Leaders letting leaders lead by inspiring, visioning, motivating, cheering … and then getting out of the way. more »
Disappointed in Branding for Nonprofits
I had a conversation with a potential client recently who referred to a book called Branding for Nonprofits by DK Holland. Because I’m kind of a brandaholic and because there is precious little written about branding in the nonprofit space, I thought I would pick it up hoping for some new fodder. I was disappointed. more »
Inspiring 100,000+ leaders. How do you do that?
How many true leaders do you know? Go ahead, count’em! I’m about to meet hundreds ...
I’m on a plane to Orlando this evening, headed to the National Strategy Event (NSE) for the Leadership Summit. The Summit attracts more than 60,000 leaders each year nationally and thousands more globally. The event is simulcast to more than 100 satellite locations during the month of August each year. The NSE is designed to bring hundreds of key influencers from across the nation to one location where they can be equipped and energized to help as many people experience the Summit as possible. We work with the Summit team to create many of the communication materials for the event. more »
Did we get it right?
Taking yourself on as a client is one of the hardest challenges. Launching this website and our new brand was at times painful requiring a lot of extra time, sweat, frustration and elation by a lot of really good people. Our biggest reason for making the branding change is to let world know we are much more than a design firm. The strategic storytelling and culture consulting work has been a major part of our business for quite awhile now. more »
Good Tension Leads to Good Stuff
A friend of mine (Kenny Haas #25) gave me some advice on fishing once. He told me to think about edges. Cast you line on the edge of the shadow areas, along the edge of the weeds, where the calm water meets the rapid water. Fish on the edge of a storm or weather change. We think this works in business as well. Put a few people in a room, attack the process (not the people), watch ideas fly and creative tension happen ... and then GOOD STUFF HAPPENS. Look at life. Nothing really happens when we’re comfortable. When the right tension stretches us we become better people. more »
The New Rules of “Successful” Engagement
First - The team with the best talent wins. In an economy powered by the energy of the individual, you simply cannot have enough talent on your side. more »
CHANGEffect Story
We talk a lot about crafting stories for organizations. Are you wondering about our story? Would you like to see it? Careful. It’s been known to change the way people think about CHANGEffect. more »
