Oct 30, 2008

Oct 30, 2008h in Collaboration Strategies, Global Learning, Graphic Facilitation by

Graphics in Denmark — A Universal LanguageI was in Copenhagen last week after VizThink, training our partner Strandgaard & Co in graphic facilitation. I was struck by how universal a language graphics has become. The fact that I don’t speak Danish meant that I was thrown back on these visual cues to make sense of what I was experiencing.

My sense of this began as we flew in over Copenhagen and I saw the long line of wind machines in the harbor. How quickly these have become icons of change!

I was able to spend a weekend exploring the old city. Here again, the ubiquitous bicycles spoke of a different culture in relation to energy. “Do people ride these in the winter?” I asked Vagn Strandgaard. “All year,” he said.

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Sep 25, 2008

Sep 25, 2008h in Online Tools, Visualizing by

I finally had time to look at the comic book Scott McCloud created to explain Google Chrome. It’s a tour-de-force well worth the read, regardless of your interest in browsers, Google, or the Internet. It is a terrific example of how powerful the partnering of words and graphics are in what Bob Horn calls the “tightly integrated visual language” of the 21st century.

Click here to see for yourself:  Google Chrome Comic.

Googlechrome2

 

Jul 18, 2008

Jul 18, 2008h in Graphic Facilitation, Leadership, Leading Change, Organization Development, Personal Development, Process Theory, Visualizing by

Davidlaurie - Facilitation Mastery: Experiencing the Four Flows“I didn’t realize that we would be doing so much personal development,” one participant said in our closing circle at the Facilitation Mastery Workshop, held recently at Islandwood Conference Center on Bainbridge Island in Washington. “The way you and Laurie showed up made it possible,” someone said. “This was transformational for me,” another said.

I’m still deeply moved by the experience, and so is the group. We are all communicating still through a Base Camp website that Grove Senior Associate Tom Benthin (who attended the workshop) set up for everyone. Poems and reflections are flying!

This was the sixth time that I’ve opened to spending a week with a group of people who have attended other Grove workshops but want to work more deeply. It’s come to be a benchmark for me and my own development. In fact, that is a good part of why we conduct the workshop. I do it with Laurie Durnell, the head of The Grove’s consulting group, and our own dance of preparation, delivery, and learning afterward is part of our development.

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Jun 13, 2008

Jun 13, 2008h in Collaboration Strategies, Graphic Facilitation, Leadership, Leading Change, Organization Development, Sustainability by

Inventing the Future of Management: Initial InsightsI have a little distance on the amazing gathering that I facilitated recently with Gary Hamel and his MLab team called “Invent the Future of Management.” McKinsey, the strategy consulting firm, co-sponsored the event along with the London Business School, and MLab, Gary’s new non-profit venture focused on catalyzing collaboration and contribution to the field which has been his life— leadership and management of organizations, businesses in particular.

He gathered 30 leaders in management development, education, consulting, and the CEOs of Whole Foods, Gore, Ideo, Google, and HCL (one of the fastest growing IT companies in India.) His gathering question was, “Why can’t we bring as much innovation, adaptation, and engagement to our organizations as we do to our development of products and technologies?”

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