Fray or fringe worldview; you can choose
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict, Creativity
Recently I wrote a post about how to look at the edges of a carpet as a metaphor for life.
You know the bits of a carpet that aren’t neatly sewn up but rather hang there loosely at the edges? Do you see those bits as fray – as messy, a nuisance and unorganized?
Or do you [...]
Tags: Change, change management, Creativity, learning, lee-anne ragan, perspective, rock.paper.scissors, worldview
Fringe or Fray: how you see the edges affects how you see the core
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
I love lists. I love making them and checking them off. I like to think (some might say delude myself) that they help me have a sense of control over my life.
I can get a bit crazy when I feel I don’t have any control, when I’m unorganized, when I’m not sure where things are, [...]
Tags: 4 hour work week, change management, Creativity, four hour work week, learning, lee-anne ragan, mess, organized, perfect mess, perspective, rock.paper.scissors, tim ferris
Cultural intelligence and the UN Rio World Urban Forum
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Conflict, Diversity, Social Responsibility, Travel
What’s your CQ? You may be familiar with IQ, social intelligence and emotional intelligence but the new kid on the block is cultural intelligence.
I’m in Rio de Janiero, Brazil at the United Nations World Urban Forum. I’ve just finished doing a workshop on cultural intelligence, which is a combination of meta-cognition, skills and knowledge, that [...]
Tags: assumptions, brazil, complexity, Conflict, cultural intelligence, culture, heath, intelligence, intercultural, lee-anne ragan, made to stick, rock.paper.scissors, united nations, world urban forum, worldview
Bingo based decision making
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict, Travel
I’m traveling and working in Brazil, for the United Nations, and recently had a curious example of decision making using Bingo.
The tale happens in Rio Quente, a resort anchored around a thermal river. Think every kind of water themed event and you’ll get the picture, including snorkeling with 6 foot long arapaima fish and sliding [...]
Tags: brazil, change management, decision making, decisions, learning, lee-anne ragan, private, public, rio quente, rock.paper.scissors, united nations
180 degrees of first class
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict, Travel, Wellness
I hurt my back. My physio said not to sit. I was about to board a long-haul, international flight to Brazil.
Not a good combo. So, for the first time, I upgraded to first class.
Who are the predominant first class fliers? It feels silly even to ask the question. Business folk of course. And what do [...]
Tags: airplane, back pain, brazil, business class, first class, flight, lee-anne ragan, rock.paper.scissors
Aim for regrets
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
A while back I listened as Arlene Dickinson kept a large audience rapt with her business successes and her trials and tribulations. She’s the only woman on the wildly successful Dragon’s Den, “where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how [...]
Tags: burton, change management, Creativity, learning, lee-anne ragan, regret, rock.paper.scissors, snowboard
Bobsledding – brake or steer? You can’t do both
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
As the sun sets on the biggest celebration Vancouver’s ever seen my thoughts are returning to the Olympic bobsled competition I watched recently in Whistler.
Run like hell for up to 50 meters, hop in, head down and then, if you’re the guy in back, you’re only role is to brake. The person whose back you’re nestled [...]
Tags: 2010, bobsled, bobsleigh, change management, control, learning, lee-anne ragan, olympics, rock.paper.scissors, vancouver, whistler, winter olympics
Beating the dual drums of familiarity & excitement
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
I was reading an article on stewarding online communities the other day and it talked about balancing comfort and familiarity with newness and excitement.
I think we all need comfort and we all need excitement. What varies is our individual ratios of one to the other.
Some of us like to eat the same thing for breakfast, [...]
Tags: adventure, Change, comfort, excitement, familiarity, lee-anne ragan, rock.paper.scissors, routine
Curious definition of stress
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict, Parenting, Wellness
I went to a talk at my kids’ school the other night about drug abuse prevention. Interesting material and great presenter.
One of the things that caught my attention was the presenter’s definition of stress.
Before I tell you what it was, what’s yours? Definition of stress that is.
The dictionary calls it “a state of mental or [...]
Tags: change management, drug abuse, emotion, learning, lee-anne ragan, rock.paper.scissors, strain, stress, tension
Fail forward
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Communication, Conflict
When Albert Einstein was asked what the best source of invention was he replied ‘mistakes’ (as heard on Terry O’Reilly’s Age of Persuasion).
The only time we don’t make mistakes is when we’re sleeping (found on an IKEA postcard).
Why then do we deny mistakes? Cover them up? Hide from them? Are embarrassed by them?
Is it fear [...]
Tags: age of persuasion, albert einstein, cbc, cbc radio, change management, ikea, invention, learning, lee-anne ragan, mess, mistakes, perspective, rock.paper.scissors, terry o'reilly, Training