Until certain technical changes take effect, www.the-samurai.net is in limbo – and so is .

For the time being, please address your emails to .

Please accept my apologies for this inconvenience.

I have created Reignite specifically for independent consultants who want to rethink and relaunch their consulting practices.

The Regnite programme runs from Thursday 21 October 2010 (or Thursday 28 October 2010) to Thursday 20 October 2011. The location of the five workshops is Bristol, United Kingdom.

Workshop dates

Workshop 1: either Workshop 1A on Thursday 21 October, or Workshop 1B on Thursday 28 October 2010 (please choose your preferred date)

Workshop 2: Thursday 20 January 2011

Workshop 3: Thursday 14 April 2011

Workshop 4: Thursday 21 July 2011

Workshop 5: Thursday 20 October 2011

Each workshop will start at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

You can drop out of the programme at any time, but participation in Workshop 1 is a prerequisite for participation in subsequent workshops.

A workshop can only be skipped by special arrangement.

Venue

Coexist, Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY Google Map

Cost

£100 per workshop, payable in advance of each workshop.

The cost of the complete one-year programme is therefore £500. This will be reduced to £450 if paid in full before Workshop 1.

Programme director

Jack Martin Leith.

Bookings

The online booking facility is under development and will be ready very soon.

In the meantime, please send me an email (), providing full contact details and your preferred date for Workshop 1 – either 21 or 28 October.

If you would like to discuss your possible participation in the Reignite programme, you can send me an email () with your questions, or give me a call on 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541).

Read a more detailed description of the Reignite programme

Read the short version with key information

Independent consultants face an increasingly uncertain future as the landscape changes on a daily basis and budget cuts render consultants’ business models obsolete.

The old demarcation lines that separated one consulting discipline from another have all but disappeared. Digital consultants are helping clients transform their corporate cultures. Technology-centred companies are providing innovation consultancy services. Social media consultants are advising clients on CRM issues. The professional services marketplace has become a free-for-all.

The notion of distinct private, public and third sectors has been rendered meaningless as social entrepreneurs establish community-orientated bars, volunteers step forward to run village shops, and government organisations outsource more and more public services provision to Serco, Capita and the rest.

The forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review is triggering further pessimism and uncertainty in those of us whose livelihoods will be adversely affected by the curbs on the use of consultants that will inevitably be imposed on providers of public services by UK government.

I have created Reignite specifically for independent consultants who want to rethink and relaunch their consulting practices in response to this new reality.

The Reignite programme is intended for all types of consultant, including:

• Organisational change consultants
• Leadership development consultants
• Innovation consultants
• Strategy consultants
• Business development consultants
• Branding consultants
• Executive coaches, and facilitators of workshops and events

What results is the programme designed to deliver?

The Reignite programme, which is suitable for partners in small consultancy firms as well as sole practitioners, is holistic, comprehensive and ambitious.

These are some of the results you can look forward to:

• A revitalised business model, including a compelling value proposition
• A distinctive consultancy brand that stands out from the pack
• A business plan that you can use as a key management tool
• A powerful marketing plan with detailed implementation plans
• A successful relaunch of your consulting practice
• A viable business that can weather all storms
• Renewed passion, confidence and optimism, and a sense of unstoppability

In addition, you will be exposed to the very latest thinking in the field of innovation, change and business development. You will be able to share ideas with those who work in similar consultancy fields, and with those in very different fields. And you will have the opportunity to create new consulting propositions in partnership with other members of the programme.

What does the programme consist of?

Five workshops

The Regnite programme runs from Thursday 21 October 2010 (or Thursday 28 October 2010) to Thursday 20 October 2011.

Workshop 1: either Workshop 1A on Thursday 21 October, or Workshop 1B on Thursday 28 October 2010 (please choose your preferred date)

Focus: Prepare to plan the reinvention of your practice

Workshop 2: Thursday 20 January 2011

Focus: Refine your plan and prepare to reinvent your practice

Workshop 3: Thursday 14 April 2011

Focus: Prepare to pilot your reinvented practice

Workshop 4: Thursday 21 July 2011

Focus: Review your pilot and prepare for the full-scale relaunch

Workshop 5: Thursday 20 October 2011

Focus: Review the relaunch and celebrate your achievements

Each workshop will start at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

You can drop out of the programme at any time, but participation in Workshop 1 is a prerequisite for participation in subsequent workshops.

A workshop can only be skipped by special arrangement.

Some workshops will include presentations from visiting specialists. For example, Nigel Legg, director of Trevanian Legg, a social media and social CRM training and consulting firm, will show you how you can harness the power of social CRM to manage your consultancy brand and grow your business.

Between-workshop assignments

During each of the three-month periods between workshops, you will undertake the work that you planned during the last workshop, and prepare for the next workshop.

For example, you will be asked to create a draft business model using the Osterwalder and Pigneur business model canvas, and get ready to share it with the other members of the Reignite programme.

Business model canvas, created by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur (Learn more)

Co-coaching

Working in pairs or groups of three, participants will provide coaching support to each other between workshops. This is a vital component of the programme.

Community website

The community website – think of it as a sort of private Facebook – will enable participants to monitor each other’s progress, gain access to business development tools and materials, initiate and take part in online discussions, share photos, request and provide specific support, and keep in touch with each other and with me.

Telephone and email support

You will be able to call on my personal support at any time during the year-long programme.

Where will the workshops take place?

The venue will be:

Coexist
Hamilton House
80 Stokes Croft
Bristol BS1 3QY

Google Map

www.coexistuk.com

Coexist, a community interest company, is a hotbed of creative enterprise located very close to Bristol city centre.

How many people are expected to take part in the Reignite programme?

My aim is to enrol 24 participants in the programme – ideally 12 people in Workshop 1A and 12 in Workshop 1B.

How much will all this cost?

I want to make the programme accessible to as many people as possible, so the cost will be just £100 per workshop, payable in advance of each workshop.

The cost of the complete one-year programme is therefore £500. This will be reduced to £450 if paid in full before Workshop 1.

To minimise the cost of the workshops, refreshments and lunch will not be provided. You can bring a packed lunch and a flask of tea or coffee, or you can use the facilities provided by The Canteen, a sister enterprise to Coexist that is located on the ground floor of Hamilton House.

Who is the programme director?

The programme director and workshop facilitator is me, Jack Martin Leith.

“I dislike the term ‘jack-of-all trades’ because it comes with an unspoken ending ‘…and master-of-none’. In your case, I would end with ‘…and master of many’ – such as workshop facilitator, Open Space expert, creative problem solving expert, business transformation expert and so on.”

Tom Bourner
Professor of Personal and Professional Development (retired)
University of Brighton

I have worked either as an independent consultant or the director of a consulting firm since the late 1970s, and have extensive experience in helping other consultants develop their practices.

During the 1980s I was director of innovation and development at Leith & Price, a business development consultancy serving Top 50 advertising agencies and prominent media companies.

You can view my profile here, and my credentials here.

How do I reserve my place?

The online booking facility is under development and will be ready very soon.

In the meantime, please send me an email (), providing full contact details and your preferred date for Workshop 1 – either 21 or 28 October.

If you would like to discuss your possible participation in the Reignite programme, you can send me an email () with your questions, or give me a call on 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541).

These creations include products, services, customer experiences, ventures, institutions, organisational cultures and structures, work practices, buildings, environments, social protocols, and community amenities.

Three points to note

1. What follows is unlikely to be an easy read. I’ve tried to achieve “the simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity”, and have probably failed to do so. But I hope your perseverence will be rewarded.

2. Some people who read my posts assume that I’m religious, or that I’m part of the New Age movement.

I’ve lived briefly in two spiritual communities: Findhorn Foundation, where I was consultant-in-residence for three months during the late 1980s, and Gondwana Sanctuary, an Osho community located near Byron Bay, Australia, where my temporary home was a mosquito and cockroach infested caravan.

But I’m not religious. I went to a Church of England primary school where the vicar came in every day. It put me off religion for life. Whenever I’m asked my religion I never know how to answer. My Facebook profile says Toltec. And I’m sceptical about many New Age ideas.

My overriding interest is in human consciousness and how it can be harnessed to bring forth new creations that enrich the world.

3. Several people have remarked that the Seven Creative Powers framework bears a passing resemblance to Otto Scharmer’s Presencing and Theory U. I’m a big fan of Otto Scharmer’s work and am honoured by the comparison, but I didn’t know about Theory U until quite recently and it was not one of my sources.

Theory U. Credit: Otto Scharmer. Image credit: Wikipedia

The Seven Creative Powers is based on the chakra system to a great extent, and I understand that Scharmer’s approach is also based on the chakras, which he would have learnt about while studying under Dr Friedrich (Fritz) Glasl. This almost certainly accounts for the similarity.

If you want to compare Theory U and Presencing with Seven Creative Powers, you will need to turn the Theory U diagram upside down. Otto Scharmer’s approach involves moving in a downward direction from 1 (co-initiating) to 3 (presencing). Mine involves moving in an upward direction from 1 to 7, from the first chakra (coccyx) up to the seventh (crown). Both approaches take you to the same place: an elevated state of consciousness. And with both approaches you return to the start point bearing a gift.

For the record, my main reference sources when developing the Seven Creative Powers were:

• Talking with Angels, transcribed by Gitta Mallasz
• Creative Action, by Edward Matchett
• Creative Victory, by Tomas
• Jan Backelin, a very wise Swedish man

The mind-body-spirit practice outlined towards the end of this article was inspired by a Caroline Myss guided visualisation.

The slideshow

The slideshow provides a brief overview of the conceptual framework, and explains how the powers are activated through a mind-body-spirit practice.

Download The Seven Creative Powers
PowerPoint document / 1,765 KB

The Seven Creative Powers and their physical locations

The seven powers are:

1. The power of Groundedness
2. The power of Service
3. The power of Embodiment
4. The power of Purpose
5. The power of Faith
6. The power of Imagination
7. The power of Openness

This is not an arbitrary list of values. Each power corresponds to one of the body’s seven energy centres, and the name of each power was chosen following much reflection and a lengthy consideration of alternatives.

If you’ve come across the Seven Powers described by Guy Finley or the Seven Powers described by Alex Rovira (Courage, Responsibility, Purpose, Humility, Confidence, Love, Cooperation), there is no correlation between either of these schemes and the Seven Creative Powers.

However, there is a direct correlation between the Seven Creative Powers and the Native American Medicine Wheel, and I will be writing about this in a future article.

These are the physical locations of the seven powers:

Openness: the top of the head
Imagination: the midpoint between the eyebrows
Faith: the throat
Purpose: the midpoint between the nipples
Embodiment: the solar plexus
Service: in the genital area, above the perineum (men – the prostate gland; women – the G-spot)
Groundedness: the coccyx (base of the spine)

As I mentioned earlier, these are the locations of the seven chakras. But some of my interpretations differ from conventional renderings. For example, the second chakra (Service, in my scheme) is commonly associated with sexuality, the third chakra (Embodiment) with the will, and the fifth chakra (Faith) with communication.

It would require another lengthy article to explain how I arrived at my own interpretations, but here is a very brief explanation: The second chakra is about reproduction and parenting – hence Service. The third chakra is connected with the breath of life – hence Embodiment. And the fifth chakra is the place of one’s internal dialogue: asking a question, hearing the answer, giving thanks for the answer, and saying “Yes” to the call to create something new – hence Faith.

The Seven Creative Powers, from top to bottom

Openness

The power of Openness, which is activated through an attitude of surrender, enables us to receive creative intelligence from the non-physical realm, the creating realm.

The creating realm cannot be explained; it can only be experienced. It lies beyond the rational mind, beyond language, beyond concepts, beyond moral judgements, and beyond duality of any kind.

It is the realm of the unknown, the place of infinite possibilities, a realm consisting of energy, a realm in which events can be seen before they come into manifestation.

The creating realm is sometimes referred to as the unconscious, but it can be brought into consciousness through meditation, yoga, drumming, dancing (e.g. 5Rhythms), chanting, ritual, walking in nature, and in various other ways.

The most potent possibilities and ideas emerge from this realm, and they are brought into manifestation by utilising the institutions and manipulating the tools of the created realm.

Effective creators of the new must live with one foot in the creating realm and the other in the created realm. Living in this way is one of the greatest challenges of being human.

Imagination

The power of Imagination enables us to visualise new possibilities that enrich the world, and to conceive truly original ideas without recourse to idea generation techniques.

These visions and concepts may arrive as images, words, or sensations.

Faith

Faith means ‘trusting acceptance’.

Empowered by Faith, we wholeheartedly embrace our life purpose, and willingly accept the call to create whatever we are being called to create.

Faith gives us the unwavering conviction that we have the ability to realise the new creation, no matter what difficulties may arise.

Having faith means saying “Yes” to the call without the need for material proof.

When we are empowered by faith, we are willing to do whatever it takes to bring the new creation into being. “No” is not an option.

Purpose

Our life purpose, the work we are here to do, infuses and activates each of the other six powers.

Purpose resides in the heart. It is our heart’s enduring desire.

Our purpose transcends self interest, and galvanises us to enrich the world.

When we are true to our Purpose, we unite the creating realm and the created realm, and unlock our full potential as human beings.

“Man is the missing link between apes and humans.”
The Transpersonals

Embodiment

The power of Embodiment enables us to be the new we wish to see in the world.

When we embody an idea, we don’t just talk about it – it inhabits us and we perpetually breathe life into it.

The power of Embodiment enables us to give embryonic form to our abstract visions and concepts, by means of sketches, rough and ready 3D models, simulations, storyboards and other types of mock-up, in order to share them with others, get the vital feedback needed to iron out any wrinkles, and inspire others to bring forth their own creations.

Service

Effective creators of the new have a service disposition.

If the new creation is like an unborn baby, the creators are like its parents. Their job is to nurture and protect the fetus, and be its advocate in the world.

The power of Service enables us to take sustained and unselfish action towards the manifestation of the new creation.

Image sourced via Coexist, Bristol

Service-centred action includes the skilful use of the world’s infrastructure and instruments, enabled by the power of Groundedness.

The power of Imagination brings forth the What. The power of Service brings forth the How.

Groundedness

The power of Groundedness enables us to remain firmly rooted in the physical realm, the created realm, throughout the realisation phase.

The created realm is the domain of the known, the world of solid objects, the province of scientific facts, the land of beliefs, language, distinctions and polarities. It gives rise to the infrastructure – the institutions, codes of behaviour, economic systems and so on – that supports our daily life, and it enables us to get things done effectively.

Action takes place in the created realm, so effective action demands mastery of the instruments and institutions that reside in this realm.

The three states of being

Each of the three states of being – Attunement, Alignment and Integrity – arises from a fusion of two of the seven powers, inspired by Purpose.

Attunement

Purpose-inspired Openness and Groundedness

Attunement means being in tune with, and having respect for, the workings of the two realms: the creating realm and the creating realm.

Not just head-in-the-clouds realm.

Not just feet-on-the-ground realm.

Both realms.

At the same time.

Alignment

Purpose-inspired Imagination and Service

Alignment means acting in the moment towards the realisation of the new creation, without yielding to distraction or defeat.

The aligned person does what needs to be done without thought of reward, without the need for approval or recognition, and without fear of annihilation.

Aligned action is like the flight of an arrow.

Integrity

Purpose-inspired Faith and Embodiment

Acting with integrity means not just voicing but embodying what’s true for us and what we stand for.

It means walking our talk and being the new we wish to see in the world.

It means acting with boldness and courage.

It means having the unwavering conviction that we can and must bring the new creation into being.

It means taking a stand.

It means telling the truth – to ourselves and to others – about who we are and what really matters to us.

It means taking responsibility for the consequences of our actions, including any unintended consequences.

The seven creative powers as an in-the-body practice

Here is a brief introduction to the practice:

Part 1 – From the bottom to the top

Working your way up from Groundedness (coccyx) to Service (genitals) to Embodiment (solar plexus): Pay attention to your breath. Focus on the exhale. Let go of practical matters. Set aside any concerns and preoccupations. Suspend rational thought.

Pausing at Purpose (heart): Remember your life purpose.

Moving up to Faith (throat): Be ready and willing to embrace the unknown.

And up to Imagination (brow): Empty your mind.

And up to Openness (crown): Imagine that your skull is a powerful radio telescope pointed at the heavens. Surrender to the unknown and open yourself to the new.

Part 2 – From top to bottom

Openness (crown): Be ready to receive.

Moving down to Faith (throat) while remembering your Purpose (heart): Ask, “What does the world need, that I am being called to create, and that is an expression of my life purpose?”

Move up to Imagination (brow): Allow a vision of a new possibility to enter your mind. Be open to whatever comes. You may also receive words, sounds and sensations.

Moving down to Faith (throat): Consult your inner board of directors. Make sure they are prepared to accept the challenge that lies ahead. When you’re ready, say “Yes” to your creative task.

Moving down to Embodiment (solar plexus): As you inhale, breathe life into the vision or concept. Experience it inhabiting your body.

Moving down to Service (genitals): Prepare yourself to take sustained and unselfish action towards the manifestation of the new creation.

And all the way down to Groundedness (coccyx): Feel the ground beneath your feet. Imagine that your spinal cord is connected to the earth by an invisible and infinitely long root. Get ready to step out into the world and use its infrastructure to transform the concept into reality.

I will be providing a more detailed description of the mind-body-spirit practice during the coming months. In the meantime, please let me have your comments and ideas, which will be gratefully received.

“Business people don’t need to understand designers better. They need to be designers. That makes them better business people.”

Creative Company Conference

Theme: Design thinking, services design, innovation and entrepreneurship in the creative industries.

Location: Haarlem, The Netherlands (a short hop from Schipol Airport)

Date: 14 September 2010

Speakers include: Adrian Hon (Six to Start), Oliver King (Engine), Scott Belsky (Behance.net), Ross Zietz (Threadless), Paul Graham (Anomaly London), and Roland van der Vorst (They).

Learn more: www.creativecompanyconference.com

Bowen Island | Photo credit: Wikipedia

When
3 to 6 October 2010

Where
Bowen Island, Greater Vancouver, Canada | Google Map

Hosting team
Chris Corrigan, Teresa Posakony, Caitlin Frost and Tenneson Woolf. 

The retreat

“As well as working with and learning about participatory process (Open Space, World Café and Circle)  living systems, and chaordic design, in this Art of Hosting retreat we will be working extensively with harvesting, with change models currently being developed by the Berkana Institute, with Byron Katie’s inquiry work focusing on limiting beliefs and with some improv theatre exercises. 

There will also be juggling practice and musical evenings as well as great food and magnificent views from the top of an 800 foot mountain overlooking the Salish Sea. 

Lots of inquiry and embodiment to support the personal practices of hosting, facilitation and leadership held in a retreat centre (pictured above) that emphasizes reflection and contemplation.”

Website
Click here

Enquiries
Chris Corrigan
email:
Tel: +1 604 947 9236

Here’s news of another inspirational event – this one convened by Nic Turner, managing director of Limited Nowhere, and co-author of The Way of Nowhere.

“I would like to warmly invite you to our second Creative Dialogue, being held on 30 September 2010 on the theme of ‘unlocking the creative power of teams’ – THE most potent forum for shaping and innovating our way to the future.

The Creative Dialogue series kicked off in April with the first event exploring what it means to ‘build and lead cultures of innovation’. 55 progressive leaders, change agents and academics gathered and connected across different industries, roles and backgrounds. Their collective energy and contribution generated some wonderful insights, as well as evocative videos, which you can now watch here.

Our second event is an immersion experience into the creative power of teams. The day will be kicked off by two amazing speakers – the Creative Industry leader and inspiring disrupter, Simon Waterfall, and the pioneering leader and former EVP and CEO of Group Activities in Alternative Energy at BP, Vivienne Cox – who will share their powerful insights and experiences, helping us to create the context in which we can then call forth the collective intelligence of the community.

Please find attached a personal invitation. I really hope you can find a way of joining us in September. Please also feel free to share this invitation with colleagues and ‘fellow questers’ from your network, as we are passionate about gathering the most exciting and diverse group of people that we can, for which your help will be much appreciated.”

Delighted to be of service!

Creative Dialogue: Unlocking the Creative Power of Teams

Date: 30 September 2010

Venue: Central London

Speakers: Simon Waterfall and Vivienne Cox (view profiles)

Cost: See invitation

Website: www.now-here.com/academy/dialogues/no2

Download invitation (pdf document: opens in new window)

“Stop benchmarking the competition. The more you benchmark your competitors, the more you tend to look like them.” W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, authors of Blue Ocean Strategy

What is Blue Ocean Strategy?

The authors explain Blue Ocean Strategy by comparing it with traditional strategic thinking, which they call ‘red ocean strategy’:

1. Do not compete in existing market space. Instead, create uncontested market space.
2. Do not seek to beat the competition. Instead, make the competition irrelevant.
3. Do not exploit existing demand. Instead, create and capture new demand.
4. Do not make the value/cost trade-off. Instead, break the value/cost trade-off.
5. Do not align the whole system of a company’s activities with its strategic choice of differentiation or low cost. Instead, align the whole system of a company’s activities in pursuit of both differentiation and low cost.

Source: Blue ocean strategy – official website As you would expect from a conceptual framework developed by two distinguished business school professors, Blue Ocean Strategy is well supported by rigorous academic research.

Did Gary Hamel get there first?

Blue Ocean Strategy has echoes of Gary Hamel’s revolutionary strategy approach, which I first encountered in the late 1990s and early 2000s when working with the Shell GameChanger team.

“Would-be revolutionaries, intent on discovering uncontested competitive space, think about the future very differently from prognosticators and scenario planners. They know you can’t see the future. Their goal is less to understand the future than to understand the revolutionary portent in what is already changing. More specifically, they are looking for things where the rate of change is changing –for inflection points that foreshadow significant discontinuities. Those who fail to notice these nascent discontinuities will be rudely awakened by those who were paying attention.” Gary Hamel, in Business Leadership, edited by James M Kouzes, Jossey-Bass, 2003

So, did Gary Hamel get there first? Perhaps. But W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne did the research, produced a fully fleshed-out concept, articulated it brilliantly, wrote the HBR article and the book, and created the highly informative website.

Blue Ocean vs. Five Forces

“In this Harvard Business Review article [May 2010], Professors Andrew Burk, Andre van Stel and Roy Thurk from Cranfield, EIM and Erasmus University respectively, comment on their recent empirical study comparing the results of blue ocean strategy and Porter’s five forces. Amongst their findings, they found evidence to support that blue ocean strategy is both sustainable and has a positive impact on profitability. In conclusion they note that business may want to consider a blend of both approaches, using effective competitive strategy for existing markets while increasing funds available for blue ocean investments to increase the chances of finding an untapped market.” Source: Harvard Business Review website

What lies beyond the blue ocean?

12manage.com, the management portal, has published an article that provides a brief introduction to Blue Ocean Strategy (view it here: sign-up required). Chu S Yong, a professor at FGV EAESP business school in São Paulo, Brazil, and the director of AOM Estratégia e Gestão, posted this inspired response to the article:

Strategy is always related with risk, due to market volatility. Also today’s volatility is increasing very fast. So innovate thinking is a must. We should turn our thinking away from singular processes like Blue Ocean strategy formulation (attention to the dialectics between deductive and inductive thinking) towards how to innovate our thinking, how to think much differently than we ever did. Such innovate thinking may require developing transdisciplinary, holistic, non-linear, quantum physics, metaphorical strategic approach. And innovate for a new social structure to our (falling) capitalism model. Forget competition mode as derived and promoted since Adam Smith. Give another meaning to ‘business’ in general. Innovate ‘blue ocean strategy’ according to the best of the human ontological structure and capabilities, and furnishing epistemological (specific sciences) knowledge to all human and social groups, providing the most fecund social life ‘currency’.

Professor Yong has packed so many inspirational and timely ideas into his post that I find it hard to compose a meaningful response, beyond “I agree wholeheartedly”. But here are my first thoughts:

How to innovate our thinking, how to think much differently than we ever did

Can we teach people how to do this? I hope so, otherwise humanity is doomed.

Such innovate thinking may require developing transdisciplinary, holistic, non-linear, quantum physics, metaphorical strategic approach.

Again, I hope we can bring this about before it’s too late.

Innovate for a new social structure to our (falling) capitalism model

I’m wondering if Prof. Yong can provide a glimpse of such a new social structure.

Give another meaning to ‘business’

If I were asked to redefine the purpose of business, my definition would reflect the sentiment expressed in this quote:

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with great vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” Woodrow Wilson

My definition would almost certainly point to the creation and preservation of value – utility, social, emotional and spiritual – for all stakeholders.

“In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” Lou Gerstner

Innovate ‘blue ocean strategy’ according to the best of the human ontological structure and capabilities, and furnishing epistemological (specific sciences) knowledge to all human and social groups, providing the most fecund social life ‘currency’

I am still trying to fully understand this tantalising idea, although I think I may have grasped it intuitively. Can someone help me out please? Grateful thanks to 12manage for bringing Blue Ocean Strategy to my attention, and to Chu S Yong for his breathtaking response. Read more about Blue Ocean Strategy at the offical website Download a presentation containing an overview of the main concepts of Blue Ocean Strategy (pdf document – opens in a new window, or right-click and Save As)

I am summarising them here, as they are highly relevant to those engaged in whole system innovation and change.

1. Change the lens you use for seeing the unknown.
2. Consciously engage uncertainty.
3. Allow the process to be messy.
4. Actively leave the familiar.
5. Use multidimensional creative approaches.
6. Be the beginner.
7. Accept the human paradox: the unknown is both dangerous and exciting.

“While a part of us may love the mystery, we have another part of us, in our reptilian primal brain, that has been hard wired to fear what is around the corner.”

Looking at the title of the second tool, perhaps this should be ‘Consciously engage with uncertainty’. Attempting to engage someone is like trying to dance them. It simply cannot be done. Engaging is a mutual activity, an interaction, and not something that one person does to another.

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/9EstOr

Michelle James’ blog, The Fertile Unknown, is located here: http://creativeemergence.typepad.com. I recommend it.

A ‘visionary leader’

Seth Kahan, Fast Company magazine’s expert blogger, included Michelle in his roll call of visionary leaders, alongside such giants as the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. This is how he honoured her:

Michelle James for her commitment to bring creative expression into the work environment in a very deep and meaningful way.  And her ability to create safe spaces so people can express their own uniqueness without judgment and in collaboration with others.

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/oNtU

I offer Michelle my congratulations.