Flat-pack development. The tyranny of lists.
Lists are compelling. Especially those associated with our own personal development. ...
Read More
Tag: change
The man who loved dragons. When rhetoric meets reality.
Once upon a time there was a man who loved dragons. He had pictures of dragons on every wall of...
Read More
Org charts and the Underground: The map is not the territory
I’m a fan of London and one of my favourite activities in the city is to walk. I try to walk everywhere if at all possible and it is through many years of doing this that I’ve got to know how the different parts of the city join up.
Read More
From the Subs Bench to the Olympic Ice – How the present moment changes everything
I admit to not knowing very much at all about Turkish football. However, I recently heard a story...
Read MoreOrganisations = social improvisations. A lesson from Spongebob Squarepants
I’m a big advocate of the value that the skills of performance improvisation can bring to the corporate world and know many others that share this view. However, I find that many talented improvisers struggle to find the...
Read MoreBoiling Cabbage – the pitfalls of being overly reductionist
Imagine you go to a party. You spend the evening chatting with old friends and meeting new friends. You eat, drink and dance. You exchange stories about work, family, holidays, hopes, dreams, dramas and gossip. You get to...
Read MoreCorporate gossip vs human interaction
I’ve written a couple of times before about Keith Johnstone, the theatre director who felt that the talented actors he worked with at the Royal Court didn’t look ‘real’ enough to believe. Through his creative experiments Keith...
Read MoreBehind the mask – a short story about identity, status and dressing up as a 6′ 5″ lion
Around 2 years ago I decided to say “Yes” more to ensure that I regularly step out of my comfort zone and into my experimental learning zone. One thing I said “yes” to recently was an invitation to dress up as the mascot of a...
Read MoreBe Obvious! Be Altered!
Be obvious – be altered! Since my two worlds of organisation consulting and improvisation started to overlap around 3 years ago I’ve drawn many lessons from the latter that have truly helped me in the former. At the core of...
Read MoreStrictly come shuffling – Bringing more improv into conference design
A new blog on designing conferences with more space for spontaneous conversation that I wrote for my lovely friends at Relume can be found here: http://challengerspirit.relume.co.uk/profiles/blogs/strictly-come-shuffling Do...
Read MoreObsessing about furniture!
I seem to spend a lot of my time, whilst designing workshops or group sessions, thinking about furniture. In fact, the room, the environment, the chairs and the windows are the only things I really overly-worry about. As long as...
Read MoreLong-form Organisation Development
A slightly longer blog this week to explore some slightly longer ideas! A couple of weeks back I had the privilege of spending the weekend training with Jason Chin, the legendary long-form* impro maestro from iO in Chigago and...
Read More