Actions and cycles Chris Corrigan has an interesting take on the old saw of "talk versus action". Here's part of his argument and I recommend the whole thing:People often make the distinction between talk and action, largely in my experience as an objection...

We? I had a great breakfast conversation at the weekend with Chris Corrigan. He recalled a group meeting with a wise elder in Hawaii, where one of the participants asked the wise one (and I'm paraphrasing), "How can we embody more...

Going deeper My mate Paul Jackson challenges the language used in questions like "what really matters?"...in one discussion we were asked,‘Why are you here?’ and later ‘Why are you really here?’. The best answer I was given was that ‘really’ makes it...

Improv and aliveness Michelle Holliday has written a splendid exploration of the deep value of improv...the true promise of improvisation is that it helps us move beyond a mechanistic paradigm to one that honours and embraces life. It literally holds the key to...

Tit for tat Daniel Wolpert's TED talk explores the exponential nature of tit for tat (or eye for an eye). We underestimate the force we generate when striking others. So when we think we retaliate in kind, the other experiences it as...

The Three Tyrannies I just wanted to create a post that pulls together Viv's and my thinking about the Three Tyrannies. These are a sort of shorthand we use to explore what leads meetings towards stuckness and dissatisfaction. The Tyranny of Effort kicks...

Edge territory Harold Jarche reflects on Tom Gram's post Everyday Experience is not Enough. Tom argues:No one in their right mind would argue that experience is not a powerful teacher, or that our most valuable learning occurs while working. But it’s pretty...

The Tyranny of Excellence I liked Tim Kastelle's recent post of the value of gumption in innovation. It's a rich topic but I'd summarise my sense of gumption as the capacity to keep going in the face of adversity, imperfection and setbacks. It's...

Ideas = disruption Tim Kastelle points out that people mostly don't like new ideas. Novelty disturbs and repels – no wonder it’s so hard to get our great new ideas across.Machiavelli was in the same territory:… nothing is more difficult than to introduce...

Art of Hosting Just reminder that Chris Corrigan will be co-leading the Art of Hosting in Ireland (pdf) on 5- 8 January. I'll be showing up, along with at least 25 others and I hear there still a few places left. ...

Serious or just solemn? Over the past few weeks I've done a fascinating course in clowning skills, run by the delightful Carol Thompson of Nose to Nose. I love work that takes me to edge of my comfort zone - I end up exhausted...

Don't let your taste stifle your creativity Tim Kastelle spotted this wisdom from Ira Glass. Makes big sense to me....

Collaboration, the difficult one Dwight Towers spotted this interesting post on barriers to collaboration. I've noticed that collaboration seems a lot easier to talk about than to do and this article looks at some of the issues. I largely agree with his first reason...

Failure of process or good starting point? Viv tweeted this post by Tom Fishburne on Death by Powerpoint. Tom quotes Steve Jobs:I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them to engage, to hash...

Tyranny of the Explicit Following up on yesterday's post, a second of our tyranny coatpegs it the Tyranny of the Explicit. Viv talks about it here and it's something I've referred to a few times before. Bureaucracies tend to be better at adding...