Office After

After

Office Before

Before

Sunrise from slow train

Cynicism or Realism?

"Anyone who planned to enjoy the world
is now faced
with a hopeless task."

- Wislawa Szymborska

Poetical Thoughts

"Despair is turning away from human commerce, it is silence." Edward Hirsch from "How To Read a Poem."

Superman

Complete with cowlick (sp?) and stern countenance. No Kryptonite in
sight. Disregard the belt askew, Superman just came from a battle with Lex Luthor.

Poetry in my daily life - through 12/19

12/16 - "in America, you must say it twice, and then once again..."

12/18 - "We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the
quarrel with ourselves, poetry." W. B. Yeats

12/19 - Keats untitled poem "This living hand, now warm and capable Of
earnest grasping, would, if it were cold And in the icy silence of the
tomb, So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights That thou would
wish thine own heart dry of blood So in my veins red life might stream
again, And thou be conscience-calmed--see here it is--I hold it
towards you."

Training to Boston

I'm heading to Boston for meetings with folks at MIT and Harvard to discuss financial aid systems. I have an Amtrak train out of NYC at 6:20 and so am to taking the 4:38 out of Hamilton to get there.

The train was a little late and came in on the wrong track so the lemming herd had to rush to the grade level platform at the far end of the normal platform. Same situation for Princeton Junction where we are as I write this.

It will be a short trip coming back tomorrow but I will describe if anything noteworthy happens. So long for now.

Seven Survival Skills

I read a blog article recently on LeadingBlog that described seven survival skills for the new age. The material is from the book "The Global Achievement Gap" by Tony Wagner.

The article is located here:
http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2008/11/hiring_the_right_skill_set_and.html

The seven survival skills listed by the author are:
1.) critical thinking and problem solving
2.) collaboration across networks and leading by influence
3.) agility and adaptability
4.) initiative and entrepreneurship
5.) effective oral and written communication
6,) accessing and analyzing information
7.) curiosity and imagination

By my count that is 14 but I suspect that "good at math," is not among the seven survival skills. The MBA's who led our economy into the crapper seem certainly to be lacking in that 8th skill. Well, maybe lacking in other important skills like ethics, responsibility, and accountability.

To this set, whether 7 or 14 I would immediately add the following:

8.) Zeal for learning and embracing new methods (mindmapping, managing strengths, leading by clarity) and new technology tools (MindManager, Basecamp, Collaboration Technologies). Maybe that is included in curiosity and imagination or facilitates the rest but it is important.

Please respond with your own ideas. A priority ranking perhaps? Other missing skills?

I tested this set out with my AST team and many people seemed to be in agreement so I think this is a good set to start with.

Now, the difficult part, what is ACTIONABLE? And How? This is especially tricky with training and professional development budgets being slashed during these turbulent times.

Lights on College Walk Entering Campus from Broadway & 116th

Columbia lights

Train layout, scene 3

Train layout, scene 2

Train Layout, scene 1

Wiki Workshop

I led a Wiki Workshop yesterday to prepare for movement forward into the social technology arena for a significant unit at CU. I followed the POST method described in the book "Groundswell, Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" and the method seemed to be well received.

The POST method has you focus on People, Objectives, Strategy, and then Technology rather than leading with Texhnplogy aspects. There was still a tendency to want to focus on the technology but I led the group with determination to stay pure to the process.

I also used my favorite group facilitization tool, MindManager, but this time used MindManager version 8 and also used Connect for ease in access. These are great tools and are overtaking other personal productivity tools in the toolkit.

This workshop was the first session but I think we got off to a good start using the new methods and tools. I will chronicle more as this moves forward.

Early Mormong Train

It is Friday once again and I am catching the 6:06 train for the third day in a row. The truth is if I could manage getting up I would take an even earlier train even though I get wiped out pretty early in the evening. I have always liked seeing the sun rise.

Well, train rolling in so will close for now. Have a great Friday wherever you are.