Category Archive

Oh! I do like this expression. How do we solve large problems or answer large questions? Break the question into as many small questions as we can.

And if we are group or a family, do the same thing. Brainstorm the question and ask everyone to contribute, “two or three (neither more or less) specific things” about how they will be affected by the big question.

Bang on time - this will be useful this weekend!

I discovered Paulo Coelho this year. I am amazed I spent this long on this earth without finding his books.

His stories have mystical settings. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept is about a woman and her childhood sweetheart who meet up again in their twenties to make a hard decision: should they get together or should he follow his vocation into a Catholic seminary and a life as charismatic and healer.

All Coelho’s books (I think) have a happy ending, but not a silly ending. After many trials, the protagonists resolve to take the high road: living in solidarity with this world. These may be mystical stories, but they are neither fantasies nor escapist.

And the trials faced by the characters are never gratuitous. Each in itself offers a perspective on relating to the world and, I think, the tension between commitment and uncertainty.

They are a remarkably “open” read too. He has a light style that draws you into the story. And then releases you from time to time to ponder what he or one of his characters has just said.

Wikipedia describes the book as “a week in the life of someone ordinary to whom something extraordinary happens”. Read it at the end of a long week to ponder extraordinary people who live ordinary lives.

Thanks to Jodee Bock for flagging this video of Billy Joel’s song: We didn’t start the fire! from Jasonrb07.

Indeed, the challenge is not who started the fire.  When we are in blaming or one-up-man-ship mode, we are narrowing our lives horribly.

It would be an excellent exercise in so many contexts to put together a video of everything that has happened in our lives, whether we were directly involved or not, what is magnificent and what is not,  and to include the negative with the positive, without acrimony and without hubris.  Hard to do.  A good challenge for 2008!

Thanks Jasonrb07 for the wonderful visuals and the opportunity to view the ups-and-downs and the remarkable vigor, optimism and engagement of the 20th century with appreciation.

Thanks to Jon Ingham, I had a look at a Melcrum report on employee engagement. 29% of employers who use a formal scheme to engage employees use appreciative inquiry. Will 29% of 25% is 8% - that is a lot of employers. That is the most welcome news of 2008.

Anyone else interested in this, particularly if you are in the UK, please do contact me.