Innovative Concepts

Searchlights and Fireworks

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Anyone can hire a pair of searchlights to illuminate the night sky and draw the curious.  Same with fireworks.   Swirling and screaming beams of light and loud unexpected explosions call attention to your location.  The real questions is what do you have to offer once everyone assembles.  Too often we look for followers without thinking about what we can give.  Be remarkable for your service and the value you add to other people’s journey.  The followers will come if the work you do matters.  Otherwise, make it known that you are in the entertainment business.

Resources for BSU Leadership Class

Problem solving + Problem Finding = Well Designed Life

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Characteristics of Servant Leadership

  1. See the future.
  2. Engage and develop others.
  3. Reinvent continuously.
  4. Value results and relationships.
  5. Embody the values.
  6. Hunger for wisdom.
  7. Expect the best.
  8. Accept responsibility.
  9. Respond with courage.
  10. Think of others first.

Deciding on the work that matters

  1. What do you want to do?
  2. Who do you want to change?
  3. How much risk do you want to take?
  4. How much work is required?
  5. Does the work matter?
  6. Is it even possible?

Goal Setting

  1. Choose a goal that matters, not just an easy win.
  2. Focus on the process, not the outcome.
  3. Frame your goals positively.
  4. Prepare for failure (in a good way).

Resources and visuals for Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle

Thank you for the opportunity to share ideas.  Your questions and stories were tremendous.  Please follow-up with questions.

 

 

Yellowstone Stories

mm-intro_canyonIf you were one of the first through the area now named Yellowstone National Park, it must have been remarkable and fearful.  Unknown geological events and formations appeared.  Geysers spouted hot fluid from the ground.  Hissing, bubbling, screeching sounds erupted from unknown sources.  Water falls bigger than anticipated broke forth from a forest plateau.  The Native Americans and mountain men had to make sense of the region.  The assigned names, made-up stories, and sacrificed their safety interacting with these natural wonders.  We recount their stories today as part of our travels through Yellowstone.

wildlife-brigadeToday, one can travel through the park without getting out of their vehicle and still see amazing sights, no sacrifice required.

Which raises the key question.  Do you believe in the journey you have embarked upon?  If your adventure still has blank spots on the map that you are trying to fill in, then you craft the stories that go along with the exploration. 

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If you are just along for the ride, then sit back and enjoy the tour.  But you trade the right to create stories for privilege of being entertained by those who have gone before.  

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Prototype

usr-2636-img-1468938699-bed34-407x356A collapsable bike helmet constructed from recycled paper and plastic employing a honeycomb design.  Obvious, right?  Now that we mention it, of course it exists.  Except the EcoHelmet didn’t until 2016.  Nothing in the design and materials is a breakthrough of science or technology.  The barrier was our way of thinking.  Our inability to think about the application of these materials in a new way.

Those working in the social sector are addressing problems that are so large and complex that they cannot easily monetize.  Our environment is ripe for prototypes of all kind.  If we fail, it is expected.  If there is an easy solution it would have been employed already.  Each program, hire, budget, donation is a protoype.  It is a micro-effort to do the work that matters.  We need to remind ourselves that we are in the design thinking arena.  We each present a vision to put ourselves out of business because we solved a problem.  Perhaps we should be protoyping everyday, and wary of iteration.