Are you a sieve or a sponge?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Travel
We see what we expect to see. The Heath Brothers, in their fantastic book Made to Stick, talk about our minds being like a sieve as opposed to a sponge – that to remember something it has to be big enough, memorable enough, sticky enough to get caught in the sieve. My sieve got stuck […]
Tags: brazil, development, heath brothers, learning, made to stick, memory, normal, powerful learning, toucan, Travel
Finding the ‘e’ in parking
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Humor & comedy, Travel
Travel both stretches the mind and the patience. Travel suffuses the spirit with all sorts of possibilities, possibilities that seem effortless and reachable. Creativity catches a ride in your suitcase to your far flung destination and ideas float as freely there as the lizard that my son mistakenly dropped in the pousada pool the other […]
Tags: brazil, change management, creativity & innovation, french, parking, portuguese, spanish, translation
Fail forward
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Conflict resolution
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? […]
Tags: age of persuasion, albert einstein, cbc, cbc radio, change management, ikea, invention, learning, mess, mistakes, perspective, terry o'reilly, training & development
Head down – it’s in the details
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
This is the view from the Athlete’s village in the Welcoming Ceremony area …. when you look down. As a 2010 Vancouver Olympic volunteer I’ve learned a lot about details, alot about looking down. I thought I was a detail person to start with. I had nothing on the Olympics. Names on athlete’s participation certificates […]
Tags: 2010 olympics, details, olympics, routine, vancouver, winter olympics
A sneak peak of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Social Responsibility
I was lucky enough to take part in the dress rehearsal of the 21st Vancouver Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies. The same ceremonies that will be viewed by some 3 billion (with a b) eyeballs later today. I spent most of the time with tears coursing down my face. If you were there and if you […]
Tags: olympic games, opening ceremony, preview, vancouver
Operation secret (Vancouver) Valentine
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Travel
In response to Kelly Diel’s Operation Secret Valentine, here’s my not so secret Valentine. As the world turns its gaze upon Vancouver to feast on the 21st Winter Olympics, and as the season for pink cupcakes draws near, I thought I’d share my love affair with my home town Vancouver. From the mountains encased by […]
Tags: chinese new year, cupcakes, diwali, downtown eastside, first nations, kelly diel, valentines, vancouver, Vancouver folk music festival, winter olympics
Myles Horton & the Olympic Flame
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication
Myles Horton was a famous adult educator in the Appalachian mountains. He rode the rails with the hobos and learned valuable lessons from them, lessons that I’m applying during my volunteer work at the 2010 Olympics. Fire was valuable to the vulnerable men who hitched a ride by train. Fire kept you warm. It protected […]
Tags: 2010, change management, creativity & innovation, hobos, learning, long haul, myles horton, olympic flame, olympics, training & development, vancouver
Are you using all your strength?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Social Responsibility, Travel
You can be sure the people in Haiti are. Using all their strengths that is. Sometimes we are oblivious to our most obvious strengths. A little girl was having difficulty lifting a heavy stone. Her mother came along just then. Noting the girl’s failure, she asked, “Are you using all your strength?” “Yes, I am,” […]
Tags: disaster, haiti, paradise built in hell, possibilities, rebecca solnit, strength
Cookie dough & the delicate balance of today & tomorrow
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Conflict resolution, Humor & comedy
Before I can blink, with a shake of his shaggy head, my teen inhales food. All the food. All the time. Hence I hoard. (Much to his shock, horror and dismay.) “Moooooooooooooooom!” (drawing out the vowel as only a kid can do) “Where is the cookie dough?” (Confession time; I love to make cookies however […]
Tags: cookie, cookie dough, future, present, teenage, teens
Stress relief a la country music & dill pickles
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Humor & comedy
In my last post I talked about my first day on the job, doing job training for developmentally delayed adults when I was 17 years old. I learned a lot about expecting the unexpected there. From helping an elfin older lady named Cookie do up her bra to customizing stress relief. Stress. It’s a killer, […]
Tags: change management, country music, creativity & innovation, developmental delay, pickles, stress, stress management, Wellness