Learning is an adventure
30 May 2015Training is on my mind at the moment. I’ve always believed in the importance of helping others learn to do what I do with facilitation, and more, rather than build a dependence. The next couple of weeks are chocker block full of creative facilitation training – one of my favourite things to be doing. So…
Honor Among Thieves: A Review
23 March 2015Edges are interesting places. Unpredictable stuff happens there. Much of what many of us take for granted every day – belonging, security, understanding – can be missing, or at least fleeting. In his latest book, the second in a trilogy, J. explores these themes through the eyes and experiences of humanitarian workers and the people…
Language, please!
4 February 2015It’s not what you’re thinking. I have no problem with bad language, swearing, cussing. Fuck no. My friend Kay Scorah wrote a brilliant piece recently about all those words you probably shouldn’t be using. As they say, be warned, strong language – and now go read it. I’ll wait. Johnnie Moore found this gem too on…
Burlesque, red dust, sexual and mental health, fun, connection – and cocktails!
7 December 2014While I’m on about inspiring, how about this? The Channel Country Ladies Day. Also on ABC’s Landline. You can watch it here. Women who live and work in isolated communities and properties in rural Queensland come together for a girls’ weekend. There’s everything you’d expect from a girls’ weekend: pampering, cocktails, talking, eating, shopping – and…
The power in performance
7 December 2014Josh Arnold is a country music singer, songwriter and seemingly all-round good Aussie bloke. His story was featured on Landline – an ABC program that features stories of Australian agriculture, and rural life. You can watch it here. He brings music into classrooms – at all levels – helping kids connect to music, gain confidence,…
Where ‘YES!’ leads
18 November 2014Early mornings are not my best time. People I used to work with joked that no-one should talk to me before 10 am. Bit rough, I reckon. So you will understand that dragging myself out of bed at 5 am to attend breakfast meetings in Melbourne, was, well, a touch out of character (this included…
Birdwatching from my desk
18 November 2014Glancing just a little to my left of my computer screen, I can see, through my office window, one of the bird baths in our garden. It is an endless source of joy for me. This morning I saw four different species using the bath at the same time: Grey Fantails, Red-browed Finches, Brown Thornbills…
Why I broke up with TED
19 October 2014I’ve broken up with TED. We had a short, but intense relationship. We never met face-to-face. We’d meet on-line. I devoured much of what TED said. I became a TED Associate. I’d receive gifts in the mail – books that I would never have read otherwise, and games. I used to be so delighted when…
The cause, and solution, to all our problems
19 October 2014It’s inevitable. In every movement, organisation, group, and relationship the villain is often communication. And the saviour. “The problem is communication.” “The solution to our problem is better communications.” I hear variations of these all the time. Hell, I’ve even said it myself. It means something different every time. While the situation, the participants, and…
How to do more of what works
15 October 2014Funny how things come together sometimes – an online course about decision-making in complexity and uncertainty, a book about being an astronaut, a workshop on social labs, and an exhibition on making animated movies. I didn’t plan it this way, it just happened, and now I have something to write about. I’m reading Chris Hadfield’s…