process: it's nothing without vision

A Google search returns the following definition for process 'a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular plan' in other words it's a akin to a route on a map. But what's the use of a map when if you don't have a clear destination?  And of course, as you define your destination, the route you take will change.... so why would we apply the same process to every project?

Revisit your process with each new project. If you use the same process habitually, you're abusing it.

micro action.

Years back I started something called THREElittleSTEPS, an initiative built on the idea that some problems are so big and overwhelming they are impossible for us to relate to. The problem, at the time, was global warming and with it all of our over consumption and negative behavior that destroys our planet. The solution at the time, was to encourage people to see waste differently, specifically trash, to see it as a symptom of our larger issue and start to use that as a simple way to take action.

We undervalue the little steps, placing emphasis on the big sweeping changes that we can point to tangibly. But as we get better at tracking and visualizing data, the emphasis will shift. We'll reward the little actions that, together, lead to a big data point. The challenge will be identifying which actions to track and what their exact impact is. But as we work through that, how and where companies spend their money will change dramatically.

we need: eachother

we would be nothing without the people next to us (kinda like that tree falling in the forest). it's self-evident, but i take it for granted. whether it's the colleague in the office, the partner at home, the family... they are critical in shaping, and contributing to, the ever evolving 'me.' i love them for it, even if i'm not being mindful of their contribution.

opinion polls. in the office?

let's track sentiment in the office the same way that we track opinion polls for the president?  imagine a quick poll of three to five questions employees had to answer upon sign in at their computer.

the impact would be tremendous, employees would have an opportunity to give real time feedback and structures would be forced to be more responsive.

making music.

Watching an orchestra is magical. A number of musicians seamlessly working together in harmony. You can't help but draw the metaphor to the creative process or, for that matter, any team effort.

Sometimes we lose sight of the larger piece as we move through our day to day. What if we approached our work not as a daily task but the same way musicians approach a symphony - guided by carefully drafted notes each executed in harmony. How would this change things? Process would take on new importance seen more as unifier, a map, like sheet music. Reviews would be akin to rehearsals. The final product - a symphony of careful practice and perfected execution. What would need to change in our approach to achieve this?

we need help.

Last week I reached out to my first mentor. A step in the journey of more doing. It took a year of thinking that I should, a week of reading how and why and two days of preparation. The conversation took no more than thirty minutes - and the ask alone less than 10 seconds. However, despite the preparation, the reading, the thinking and the honesty, I encountered a something that I hadn't expected and none of the articles mentioned - humility. I hadn't considered that asking for a mentor, was asking for help and asking for help was admitting that I needed help and that I could not grow alone. It seems obvious, no one advances in their career without the support of others, but we rarely (or at least I rarely) acknowledge it consciously. It is a great reminder of the hidden benefit of everyone around us. We're all constantly contributing to one another. And I'm thankful for it.

I Do.

I've been thinking about thinking too much. And, worse yet, thinking about thinking about doing for far longer. I've decided to start to do more. It's not the first time that I've tried this... tried to do more. But I'm sticking my feet to the fire. Trying to shift behavior. And I want to write about it while I do it. I'm starting with a list of ways in. And I'll be using the blog as a space to document the doing. The list:

• Writing more. (1/24)
• Why? I've got a shit memory and I move too fast without thinking. Plus, it's like calisthenics for the brain, and mine is getting flabby; the result of a work email diet. 
• What? Literally write more about something, anything in any form. But, there will be a focus on doing. 
• The Goal. There needs to be one piece of output on this digital thing. That's it. Every day.  
• Mentors. (1/22)
• Why? I read two things the other day - one said something to the effect of 'everyone I know who has been stuck/lost in a career has not had a mentor' the other said that basically you're an asshole if you choose to go this alone. 
• What? Build a network/board of directors. 
• The Goal. Just get some fucking mentors and be diligent about it.

i.like....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU7V4GyEuXA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

nooks and crannies. alleys and avenues.

This morning I watched eighty-some-odd-year-old Bill Cunningham's fashion segment in the NY Times.  I suppose I was in a  sentimental mode, but it was served as an immediate cue to how amazing living in New York is.

There are pros and cons to city living. It's hot as hell here. Exercise happens in cages instead of fields. But the confluence of so many different elements, people, economies, thoughts, inspirations etc. all meeting together at a central location creates something electric. It's akin to the mouth of a river or an estuary in all its beautiful cliche-ness...

 Building on this, shortly after I posted this this morning I came across this in my Facebook feed from Humans of New York:
 

After I'd taken his photograph, his caretaker offered a formal introduction: "This is Banana George," she said, "the world's oldest barefoot waterskier. He's 97 now. When he was 92, he set the world record for the oldest person to waterski barefoot." 

the spirit of the games.

Props to Nike for celebrating the spirit of sport and the power of one all the while taking a jab at the sacred circles of the Olympic committee. We can't forget that it's still commercially motivated, and the more cynical would say it's still exploiting... but it's good work and it's moving.

 All the while we have other rhythms in the culture to tear at the sacred thread of the Olympic fabric.

Today, I Love the Internet Because...

...it conencts us in ways like this: displaced cultures (yea maybe displaced is a strong word, but it's romantic in a fucked up sense), crafting amazing recipes and now folks working to find a way to share that recipe and its ingredients around the world. simply amazing. kick start them.

give me more. slowly.

we move fast. expect concise[ness], clarity, efficiency...all things quickly and to the point, for us to process, quickly, and move to the next. good, at times, in our time strapped business world. but it's an over used maxim and we've fallen victim to the illusion that anything worth knowing comes in easily processed bytes.

we're at risk of losing the beautiful, comple,x metaphor, the well crafted allegory.
i'm reading melville's 'confidence man.' in a sentence that reads more like a paragraph it takes him well over a hundred words to say 'the ferry is crowded and people keep getting on and off.' he dresses the mundane with the extraordinary, concluding with this 'like Rio Janerio fountain, fed from the Corcovado mountains, which is ever overflowing with strange waters, but never with the same strange particles in every part.' it's fucking beautiful, and anything but concise. you'll of course argue that this language and pace has it's place, just not in the business world. i'll say the business world is no different than any other part of your world. evoke the floral. be long winded and inspire.

finds: free knowledge?

i've never really dug too deep into off campus courses, or the multitude of free classes out there...but i came across this list today and i'm pretty psyched to dig in: FREE CLASS via open OPEN CULTURE. go us.

finds: via retronaut "space oddity" for babies

retronaut is quickly becoming one of my most favoritist places in the digital swamp. i can't get enough. and here's proof. david bowie's "space oddity" as a children's book [i know]. get out of here. i'm off to find this. read the whole thing here.

post: did a little more digging on this - it was a pet project of an amazing [and new favorite] illustrator: andrew kolb check out his stuffs. all super. but sad news is that someone from the bowie house came by and made him remove any association to space oddity. zzzzz. go suits.

col*LAB*orate V: yo yo and lil buck

i may be a little behind on this, but in morning readings this beautiful collaboration between cellist yo yo ma and dancer lil buck popped up. dig.

washed over with the spirit.

hot damn. true christmas.
Verve Remixed : Discography : Verve Unmixed Christmas

good golly.

'11 is shaping up to be an odd year.

on experience.

life should be an act of constant curation, building to the penultimate. collect. discard. refine. it makes me think of this. a neat site on making every day a collection i also like this wiki on digital curating.

can't say i.

disagree with the sentiment of this. not that i'd stop eating animal. nor am i about to start eating people. but it evokes nature n' nurture. let's be honest. what we eat is dictated by some odd spectrum of societal influence. cute cows are just as cute as cute dogs.

shit used to be cool.