How important?

To be doing something you are good at and having fun and involving others in co-creating fun.  That’s participation, collaboration and engagement and playing to one’s strengths!   The New York Times is talking about Matt Harding who seems to have fun doing what he’s really good at.  The article brings attention to a number of the positive attributes that living in 2010 is all about: having the internet to share one’s own creativity; involving our global village life-centric ways that unite us through music, laughter, activity, play.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

“However you interpret it, you can’t watch “Dancing” for very long without feeling a little happier. The music (by Gary Schyman, a friend of Mr. Harding’s, and set to a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, sung in Bengali by Palbasha Siddique, a 17-year-old native of Bangladesh now living in Minneapolis) is both catchy and haunting. The backgrounds are often quite beautiful. And there is something sweetly touching and uplifting about the spectacle of all these different nationalities, people of almost every age and color, dancing along with an uninhibited doofus.

Children, not surprisingly, turn out to be the best at picking up on Mr. Harding’s infectious vibe. There’s frequently a grown-up, on the other hand — especially one in the front row of a crowd — who tends to ham it up and make a fool of himself.

The other remarkable thing about the “Dancing” phenomenon is that it is, to a very considerable extent, a creation of the Internet. It doesn’t just live, so to speak, on the Web; it was the Web that, more or less accidentally, brought it into being.”

All of the AI Principles are evident in her story.  She opens with examples of the Constructionist Principle: how words create worlds and the role we all play in co-creating our realities and defining each other.

She advocates the need to honor the wholeness, possibility and potency of ourselves and each other.  She asks us to open ourselves up to and embrace our adversities, rather than sweep them under the carpet.

She reminds us from her own story that we live up OR down to others’ image of us, and how positive imagery leads to positive outcomes.  She is such an example of nurturing the human spirit, keeping hope, seeing the beauty, valuing curiosity … and so much more.

I highly recommend this video.

Aimee Mullen’s TED Talk on “The Opportunity of Adversity“.

Punters at the racetrack don’t place their hard-earned money on the weakest horse in the race.  They bet on the best and the strongest.  Owners and trainers of racehorses invest in nurturing and developing the strengths of each individual horse.  It’s not to say, they discount or ignore their weak areas.  They work on the principle, that the return on investment will come from developing what is already a natural strength in each horse.

When training for a triathlon, cycling was my strength, running was in the middle and swimming was my weakest stage.  To perform at my best, it was the cycling I needed to excel at.  I could get into the zone when I cycled.  I was at one with the bike, torso parallel to the road, legs dancing on the pedals, feeling the exhilaration of my rhythmic cadence, the wind flowing over me as I challenging myself to go faster and faster.  It was hard work and it was pure joy.  I trained in running, but it took much more effort to feel pleasure above pain.  No matter how much I trained, I would never bring my running up to a standard that would exceed my performance on the bike.  When it came to swimming, I trained just to be able to compete, damage control as it’s known as.   Had I invested all my time in my weakest stage, I would have jeopardized my overall performance and would have certainly dampened the pleasure and reward I got out of participating in a triathlon.

Similarly, if you were the coach of a successful swimming team, you’d know the strengths and weaknesses of all you team members.  In order to get the best out of the team, you’d invest greater effort on developing the strengths of each team member to optimize their performance.  You would also work with them to overcome their weaknesses for necessary damage control.  The biggest investment of your time, effort and money, however, would be in building the strengths of each team member.   You would not do it the other way round – focus on individuals’ weaknesses, at the cost of their natural talents and strengths.

It seems we know this in the sports arena.  Yet, when it comes to organizational contexts, don’t we do it the other way round?  A vast majority of leaders still think we need to eliminate weaknesses in order to get optimal performance.  Peter Drucker, (1919-2005), one of the most influential thinkers on leadership and management, stressed that the role of leadership is to build on organizational strengths so that weaknesses seem irrelevant.  Weaknesses cannot be ignored.  But to develop and improve performance, it is more resourceful to focus on what already works well.  Recently, I was contracted to coach a number of highly talented women in a professional services firm.  All six came to their first coaching session with their 360 performance review reports.  The first gesture of each person was to go the end of the document and point to the feedback of their manager with the comments, “these are my weaknesses.  These are the areas my manager wants me to work on.”

How does this resonate with you?  What do you and your organizations invest in?  It would be terrific to have your comments.

I declare my biases up front:   I’m one of those who look for meaning in everything.  I’m curious and I will look for the best in a situation.

How is Twitter making our world better?  Well, it is not only Twitter – it is the entire social media phenomenon.   And it’s not the tools that are making our world beter – they are tools, enablers.  It’s humankind’s choices about how these tools are used is what makes the world better.

Somewhere else, I described Twitter as an emergent self-organizing system.  In the Twitterverse, it seems very quickly and without much effort we self-select into interest groups, drop into others for a visit, contribute, stay or move on.  It is the true Open Space Technology.  We begin to chose our networks and have our voice.  If we are neither contributing nor learning in one relationship, we use the law of the delete key.  What’s the point hanging out where there isn’t a mutuality of purpose or reciprocity?

Twitter has awakened me to knowing there is no void between us – the morphic energy fields – our collective consciousness is palpable.  I feel extraordinarily connected with so many more people through social media in an important way.  I honor their ideas and knowledge and experiences.  I feel a sense of responsbility of supporting them in their endeavors.  I am filled with hope and possibility.  How we can use these tools wisely to improve the conditions of  the sick, the hungry and those in despair in countries without such access is one big thinking exercise right now.

What’s your highest vision for social media tools?

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The National Insitute for Play defines play “as a state of being that is intensely pleasurable. It energizes and enlivens us. It eases our burdens, renews a natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities. These wonderful, valuable qualities are just the beginning of what play is.

Scientists -- neuroscientists, developmental biologists, psychologists, scientists from every point on the scientific compass -- have recently begun viewing play as a profound biological process.

They are learning that play sculpts our brain; it makes us smarter and more adaptable.  For many animal species it has evolved over eons with result that the most advanced animals play the most i.e., play is more central to their development. Humans are the biggest players of all, specially designed by nature to play throughout our long lives.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwXlcHcTHc

Take a look at Dr Stuart Brown from the National Institute for Play talking about “Play” on Ted.

Go and find that old frisbee, the hoola hoop or the roller blades.

Play and enjoy!

Highlight #1 is the creativity that flowed from play, a joyful, fun state.

After a series of playful warm-ups, including introducing the word
EUNOIA, the shortest word in the English language containing all five
vowels and which means BEAUTIFUL THINKING, we asked each table group to:

Describe the ocean without using the letter “e”.

It is a cool body of liquid that flows and is soothing, and has a fabulous sound. Many humans want to play in this amazing big bath. Surf and sun, rolling foam and coastal swimming and sailing, kids laughing and running across sands, sunburnt arms and happy dogs barking. I swam through a vista of warm, wavy liquid and it was salty without stinging. I was happy to swim fast and playfully again and again amongst fish plants and rocks. I saw sand and coral with tiny barbs. I saw swimming schools of fish and dolphins and octopus and a squid jump in, and join us now. I can float on H2O, got sand on my body, wind in my hair, salt on my lips, gulls calling, soars my soul. I can swim on constant highs and lows all day if I wish. Foamy swim in foamy light cozy bouncing liquid. Dolphins jump high towards sky. Whales roll and sing. Shrimp slink across a murky bottom. Today I saw a big soft salty fluid opportunity for joy with sand, sun and fun, and fish, wind, surf and play turns into a good day for all, Too much sun, not much fun though! Bill was surfing on a balmy day, slipping through glassy liquid, sun on his back, wind driving him on. Shark says ‘tasty!”