How to start a social movement: leadership lessons from dancing guy
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development, Change management & wellness, Creativity & innovation
In my past post I wrote about how dance can be used as metaphor for getting into your work flow, your zone. Dance can be used for other things too. Such as how to start a social movement. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the things that need to happen to ‘tip’ it into mainstream society in […]
Tags: dance, derek sivers, flow, follower, leader, leadership, malcolm gladwell, social movement, tipping point
Fray or fringe worldview; you can choose
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict resolution, Creativity & innovation
Recently I wrote a post about 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 see them as fringe – as balance […]
Tags: change management, change management & wellness, creativity & innovation, learning, perspective, worldview
Teambuilding Brazilian Style
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Creativity & innovation, Travel
Raucous cheering filled the air which competed with the hum and thrum of the rain forest. Wild toucans flew about the forest canopy while 6 foot long arapaima fish swam below the tangle of arms and legs that were trying to coordinate themselves down the river. In Rio Quente, Brazil, a thermal river and water […]
Tags: brazil, collaboration, cooperation, creativity & innovation, learning, rio quente, team, Teambuilding, training & development, united nations, world urban forum
Weight loss and business lessons
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Creativity & innovation
Today I’m celebrating my two year anniversary of having lost 30 pounds. I learned a lot during my weight loss journey. Mostly I learned it’s about common sense prevailing over wishful thinking, reducing the power I have to delude myself and accepting some givens without excuses. I also learned about applying the journey to the […]
Tags: change management, chocolate, forum for women entrepreneurs, four hour work week, law of the farm, leap of faith, learning, russel stover, stephen covey, tim ferris, training & development, weight loss
Best case scenario
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict resolution, Creativity & innovation
“Your mind will automatically go to the worst case scenario. So practice the best case scenario.” Wise words from my massage therapist. I love when my attention is caught and held by something that shakes up my preconceptions. That highlights patterns of thinking that I wasn’t aware of. When my synapses sparkle. With all due […]
Tags: amygdala, awfulizing, best case scenario, change management, creativity & innovation, jill bolte taylor, learning, lizard brain, seth godin, stroke of insight, worst case scenario
Start small & think big; creme brulee over soya sauce
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Creativity & innovation
A taste of two worlds. And a time honoured lesson. I was trying to put soya sauce on my sushi the other day and having a devil of a time. The little package of soya sauce didn’t have a small pre-cut in it designed to make it easy to open. While yesterday my taste buds […]
Tags: 4 hour work week, change management, creativity & innovation, creme brulee, four hour work week, learning, marie morin, perspective, tim ferris
Why do we (need to) travel?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Creativity & innovation, Travel
I love to travel. Really love to travel. And now I know why. Jonah Lehrer in his post called ‘Why we travel’ says travel puts distance between who we are and what we know. When we’re surrounded by the familiar we’re surrounded by associations and assumptions that are as hard to get rid of as […]
Tags: creativity & innovation, indiana university, jonah lehrer, lile jia, psychology, training & development, Travel
Job training, elves & bras
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Creativity & innovation, Humor & comedy
“Hey you! Come here, come here!” Her voice, intense and commanding, sounded like it was being stretched taught across a gravel pit. It was my first day on the job. I was 17 and working in a centre that provided jobs for developmentally delayed adults. When I stopped and looked for the owner of the […]
Tags: creativity & innovation, learning, training & development
Powerful training = powerful learning
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Creativity & innovation
When was the last time you learned something powerful in a group setting? I’ve asked my workshop participants this very question hundreds of times and I can count on one hand the number of times someone relayed an example that took place in a university setting (see my caveat below). Powerful learning is relevant. Powerful […]
Tags: adult education, book learning, brain based learning, education, experiential education, group dynamics, learning, popular education, powerful learning, training & development, university
My Extended, Quirky To Do List
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Creativity & innovation
As a corporate trainer and one who loves seeing the bright sparks of participant’s learning, while expanding their thoughts, and making connections, I believe it’s important in any training to anchor the learning. To facilitate activities that help participants transfer the learning to their workplace. One example of how I do that is my extended […]
Tags: change management, creativity & innovation, learning, questions, training & development