The Break Through
Inspiration for your innovationNow Is [Probably] The Time
There are plenty of platitudes I could reference about this topic. Nike’s most famous of all, “Just Do It,” or maybe Mark Twain’s “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” Or Stephen Covey’s first habit of highly effective people: be proactive. The point in all...
Successful Collaboration: Are the right work styles at the table?
You’ve brought together the right organizations and people at the right time, to talk about critical issues and solve complex challenges, but do you have the necessary work styles to ensure the goals you create get accomplished? During my facilitation and strategic...
Be More Effective With Your Time
Are you mindful of how you spend large chunks of your time? Are you choosing how to spend your free time or is your time victim to routines, habits, or societal norms? Are you aware of habits that might be time sinks throughout your day? Are there things you do,...
Get Past That Challenge
Are you or your team stuck on a problem? Is a project struggling to gain momentum? Is a new initiative stalled? Are your ideas not getting the traction you hoped for from others in the organization? Is your messaging not conveying the energy you hoped it might? The...
Maybe We Should Read Less
“Wow, what a ton of helpful and insightful ideas!” I exclaimed as I closed 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. “Why have I not read this before?” As I read through the book journal I’ve kept over the last decade, I discovered that I had read Stephen Covey’s now...
What do I mean by break through?
I write a thought piece every month to explore and contemplate the ideas, practices, and things that I believe cultivate creativity, innovative design, and impactful solutions. For too long I think we've thought that creativity is one of those traits bestowed on...
The Abundance of Time
How often do you feel like you never have enough time? How often do you exclaim, “I just don’t have time for that”? How often do you spend time reading posts that start like this? Let's be blunt: "I don't have time for that," is a self-defeating mindset and it is a...
Beginner’s Mind
For the last two months I’ve been given the wonderful opportunity to pick my daughter up at school almost everyday at 12:30. At first, the schedule change seemed daunting, “could I get all my work done in a ‘split’ shift?” But working in the early morning hours and...
Awestruck
Against a gray sky at sunrise, a yellow rose blooms. Its pedals mirror the texture of the clouds above: rolling waves like a calm day on the ocean. A slight breeze moves the leaves as a chickadee calls from the pine across the street. The song reminds me of the...
Practice Observation
In last month's post, I offered a case for spending less time looking down at our phones and more time looking up and around at the world. This week, I want to offer some observation techniques or routines to practice looking up. And if you need to set an alert to...
Practice A Lost Art That Will Keep You Thriving
I believe there is a practice we're losing quicker than we realize, and it was a practice that meant our survival in those 'early days.' Today, I think it's a practice that sets leaders, innovators, and even happier people apart from the crowd. And it's not some...
You As Designer
Do you consider yourself a designer? As you begin a new project where do you start? How do you know which team members to bring in and when? What processes do you use to define your goals, set specific guidelines, or clarify what success looks like? Is your model...
Finding Flow
Do you ever sit down to write about something or begin thinking about how you can implement your great idea, to then discover that it's already being done, or that the topic has been extensively considered? It is rare that we are the lucky catalyst to 'invent'...
My Process … What’s Your Strategy?
I am asked often what my process is when helping solve problems for leaders and organizations. I don’t have an immediate answer, as part of my process is organic and determined by the challenge and context at-hand. I believe that fluidity and nimbleness are key to...
Designing Your Every Day: 2 Prompts
You will see concepts from design thinking percolating into my writing and work more and more as this powerful tool becomes so evidently productive. I thought it might be interesting this week to offer a couple of prompts (homework assignments really) to connect you...
Be Kind, Work Hard
The Two Best Things You Can Do For Your Team I have a friend that is a flight-for-life helicopter pilot, a profession that you simply have to admire. When he visited some time ago he was intrigued by my work, both the content of my consulting and the concept of...
Book Suggestions
I don’t read nearly as much as I would like to these days, but I try to choose the books I pick up carefully. This spring I thoroughly enjoyed and was influences by three pretty unique texts. Each overlaps with a different area of my work and I think they might be...
Deep Listening
Last week someone stopped me in the midst of a training and asked me to clarify what I meant by “deep listening.” The question should not have startled me as much as it did, since deep listening is a concept I refer to often. I’m glad that it did startle me, and I’m...
Training the Curious Mind: Lifelong Learning
"Knowledge is not something that is passively received by the learner; it is, quite the contrary--the result of active mental work on the part of the learner ... knowledge is not something that can merely be conveyed from teacher to student, and any pedagogical...
My Q & A with WebPunch
Oh, okay, it's a little self-promotion, but it was fun to take this interview and think through this topic. I believe coaching is a powerful tool to manage change and achieve goals, while also uncovering what's most essential to us. Have a look at some of my...
Notes from a Facilitator
I am enjoying the process of deepening my facilitation skills as I train others early in 2018. And as we go through several bits of material and experiences, I update my own thinking on key topics. Here are some of my notes that might be useful to your own...
Reframing
What frame of reference are you looking at the challenges you're facing today? What glasses are you seeing your vision and solutions through? Are they rose-colored? Or tinted with a pessimistic brown haze? What has informed your choices and the way you see the world?...
Sequencing Reflection
Though it might seem somewhat in opposition to fluid conversation, structuring facilitated dialogues can be particularly helpful when seeking to scaffold and inspire learning. Based on my post last month around the facilitator's mindset, I wanted to offer another...
Asking Powerful Questions
I heard from a few folks after the post earlier this month in regards to other resources for structuring facilitated dialogues, particularly around asking powerful questions. Here is one of my favorite approaches to explore right now. I'll be back early in 2018 with a...
ACAC – The Facilitator’s Mindset
Whether leading a meeting, training on new skills, running a workshop, or guiding a team, I’ve found this acronym/reminder for facilitation incredibly useful as a base structure for most any curriculum. (Note: I use training, meeting, and teaching somewhat...
Reprise: Thankfulness
I sat down to write my post for this week during our holiday of gratitude, and immediately felt as if the words were incredibly familiar. I looked back and realized that what I wrote last year for thanksgiving remains pertinent to me. So at the risk of sounding...
Parking right next to cars in parking lots when other spaces are open …
Why do we do the things we do? One highlight arose during my daughter's parent teacher conference last week (there were many, I love celebrating her) as we reflected on how she often can’t focus on her own work because she observes and attends to what other kids are...
Considering Incremental Change
As it's just two months before the end of year, and autumn, (a season when everyone seems to write about change), I thought I would join the chorus, and spend a moment thinking about subtle, incremental transformations. I live near a city park with a lake that I walk...
The Back-Up I’ve Needed for Clinging to My Flip Phone
Yep, I still have it ... that sad looking flip phone for almost a decade ago. And I bought a second one for my home office line. And neither of them are going anywhere. I've told stories, made jokes, and used it as a prop during talks and trainings. I think people...
Where Do We Go From Here?
Like many, I struggle today to know how to go about 'business as usual.' How do we address one another via email or over the phone or as we pass-by one another on the street in the wake of these tragedies? Our work carries on, especially as we build and strengthen...
The Seeking Balance Series
The journey towards 'balance' seems to come up often as I work with leaders and young professionals. Early on, I always assumed balance meant that we gave parts of our lives equal attention, especially with the on-going, ambiguous, and somewhat unhelpful "work/life"...
Seeking Balance: Physical Space
At a low volume, Jerry Garcia plays a riff on St. Stephen as his band heads into a five-minute jam session. I look up from my computer for a moment to take in the music and read some quotes posted above my work station: "Resist, insist, persist," "Ubuntu," and "Life...
Seeking Balance: Health
I woke-up early yesterday after a sound night sleep (I managed to get to bed before 10) and hit my running route around the city parks and lakes near our house. The sunrise was at full peak: bright red fire clouds across the sky and that calm glow on the water’s...
Seeking Balance: Career
The journey towards 'balance' seems to come up often as I work with leaders and young professionals. Early on, I always assumed balance meant that we gave parts of our lives equal attention, especially with the on-going, ambiguous, and somewhat unhelpful "work/life"...
Seeking Balance: Fun and Recreation
The journey towards 'balance' seems to come up often as I work with leaders and young professionals. Early on, I always assumed balance meant that we gave parts of our lives equal attention, especially with the on-going, ambiguous, and somewhat unhelpful "work/life"...
Seeking Balance: Relationships
The journey towards 'balance' seems to come up often as I work with leaders and young professionals. Early on, I always assumed balance meant that we gave parts of our lives equal attention, especially with the on-going, ambiguous, and somewhat unhelpful "work/life"...
Essentialism as a Process
Essentialism, a philosophy and way of life conceived by Greg McKeown, has become a seminal approach to my work. I gave it some space during my summer newsletter and it seemed to strike a chord with several people who wrote back to me. So I thought I would spend some...
Newsletters
In an attempt to not clutter your inboxes but to offer meaningful content, I publish a newsletter every season that includes a snippet of a think piece, curates several blog posts, offers an update about our work, provides a book recommendation, highlights some...
Three Critical Roles to Play When Leading Nonprofits
Over the last twelve years I’ve had the honor of holding executive leadership roles in several nonprofits. Sometimes these opportunities have arisen because my skillset has met the demands of the tasks at hand, other times I just happened to not be in the room when...
The Most Essential Street Corner
“Can I talk to you about the rainforest today” a young man clad in plaid, sporting a beard and wearing what I think are the pair of Chocos I left in my college dorm room (more than a decade ago), asks me as I walk into my favorite Denver coffee shop. “Usually,” I...
Seeking Balance: Family
For this week, I invited my coaching colleague and classmate, Rachelle Rude to explore how her role within her family and with her parents has evolved, changed, and maybe even stayed partly the same. Her approach to contemplating this evolution is a great example of...
What Makes an Effective Team?
by Matt Gray, Sophia Gedion, and Jessica Previch, with insights from Trevon and Jessica Brandhorst Every team is unique as it’s made up of different individuals and has a distinct set of goals, visions, and scopes of work. While likely similar, even within the same...
Seeking Balance: Personal Growth
About This Series The journey towards 'balance' seems to come up often as I work with leaders and young professionals. Early on, I always assumed balance meant that we gave parts of our lives equal attention, especially with the on-going, ambiguous, and somewhat...
Seeking Balance: Money
The journey towards 'balance' seems to come up often as I work with leaders and young professionals. Early on, I always assumed balance meant that we gave parts of our lives equal attention, especially with the on-going, ambiguous, and somewhat unhelpful "work/life"...
Cognitive Surplus
I came across Clay Shirky's "Cognitive Surplus" some time ago, thanks to my always beloved TED Radio Hour addiction. The basic premise is that in modern society we actually find ourselves with both free time and the desire to take collective action. There are also...
Community?
Community matters because it is the foundation from which inspirational acts, great works of art, language and communication, compassion, innovation, leadership, and deep thinking stems. Our communities inform and empower us, holding us up when things get tough, and...
Newsletter Launched
Now more than ever, I believe in the incredible strength of people and communities to realize the innovative strategies that will bring about a better world.
Why Is Leadership Coaching So Dang Exciting?
Because it's as varied as our human genome, abounding with seemingly endless possibility. How so? In just a two-day period last week I worked with more than a half dozen leaders during some 1:1 coaching sessions. When I finished up, I looked over all of the meeting...
Cultivating Motivation
As I sat down to think through the importance of inspiration and motivation, I was immediately reminded of the backpack my Dad and I took on the John Muir Trail from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney. While we were inspired by both the trail's namesake, and that distant...
Discovering Inspiration
An Inspiration: "Over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity. -- John Muir Inspiration forms the beginning of any great endeavor, leadership moment, or strategic plan. The creative...
Slowing Down
As we take some time this weekend to contemplate and assess the new world that suddenly seems to be before us, I began to think about the importance of slowing down. Maybe it was my brush with death when a woman making a left-hand turn through the pedestrian walk as I...
What Is Design Thinking?
Your Break Through Post # 48 {Vol. 2, Ed. 2} At the beginning of 2016 I posted a series under the title, Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask^, which are what I believe to be the foundation of Creative Leadership and Design Thinking, and thus the foundation for how...
Wellness
Your Break Through Post # 47 {Vol. 2, Ed. 1} New in 2017, we're launching an innovative transformation for the stressed out, no-time-for-anything, out-of-balance you. Since I'm really excited about this program and eager to share it with you, I wanted to take a moment...
Clearing Out the Muck
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 46 Driving surface streets in Denver after a big snow is a notoriously frustrating and dangerous endeavor. While many people think we have 'harsh' winters here, what's really tough is that we have multiple winters and multiple...
Why Facilitation Matters
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 45 A Case for Facilitation as Critical Professional Development Facilitation is an exercise in constant adaptability, encouraging a practicing facilitator to respond and adapt to what their participants are thinking, doing, and...
Network Building vs. Networking
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 44 It's time we stop trying to redefine networking, and give what we're really after a new name. Networking has scared, dismayed and sent far too many of us running for the hills for far too long. We fear the glad-handing, business...
Thankfulness
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 43 This holiday has a lot to teach us. While it might be built on a controversial historical celebration, the contemporary notion of gathering with friends and family for a day to be thankful for all that we have, is apropos to our...
What Else Is Working?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 41 So, I'm still teasing out this idea of regularly asking the question "what else might work?" If you are out there reading along, pondering this question, and innovating, please email me (mgray.innovation@gmail.com) some examples of...
What Else Might Work?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 40 I'm sitting in a coffee shop waiting, waiting, waiting. Our meeting started 20 minutes ago, but still no one walks through the door. How did I get here? And why am I here, waiting, yet again? Last month I posted a photo of my flip...
Big Isn’t Better: Scale Your Vision
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 39 I think sometimes our culture idealizes big: a big reach as a nonprofit, big buildings, big salaries, big stardom. But often times, this obsession with size and growth displaces the value we might place instead on scaling our...
Don’t Pitch, Relate
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 38 (reprise, originally written in Fall 2014) (This was in response to LinkedIn's "What makes a pitch unforgettable?" prompt): There is most definitely an art to pitching a new idea. And investors, collaborators, and the movers in your...
Yes, I Still Use a Flip Phone
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 37 There are very few people I meet who are not befuddled by the fact that the picture right up there is in fact my phone, and the only phone, that I use (I actually have two of the same version for life and business). How, as someone...
Can I Hack My Day?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 36 While Hacking first makes us think of massive computer viruses and technological take-downs, lots of think pieces recently encouraged us to re-purpose the concept of hacking as a useful method to question paradigms, innovate...
Where’s Your Energy Come From?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 35 (reprise, originally written in Summer 2014) Last spring, as part of the mini-series on the Artist's Wheel, I posed questions about how our energy increases our effectiveness. This idea is fresh on my mind after seeing the exuberant...
What Can We Learn From Those Trends?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 34 (reprise, originally written in Summer 2014) I posed several questions last week that we might ask about industries, sub-cultures, and trends that interest us. Feeding our curiosity and creating a habit of inquiry remain key...
What’s Trending?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 33 (reprise, originally written in Summer 2014) One look at my wardrobe and you'll recognize that I'm not a trend setter, nor do I seem all that aware of current fashion. And while I might not dazzle you with my new kicks or the...
Innovation Is Thus Also About Reusing
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 32 I remember reading this article about reusing shipping containers for architecture several years ago. The life cycle of a container intrigued me immensely, especially as you hear about more and more people from various fields and...
Innovation Is Often About Remembering
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 31 Denver is an incredible city ... developing, on the move, transitioning, transforming ... the change adjectives and verbs abound. In these great urban revolutions though, it seems that we sometimes abandon our past: painting over...
Ingredients for Collaborative Creative Thinking
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 42 (reprise, originally written in Fall 2014) On Saturday, I spent a really cool morning with local high school students and their teachers at the ArtHaus (an awesome space in the RiNo which opened their doors to these student...
Insight from a Change Maker
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 30 People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others. -- Saul Alinsky I question how often the wisdoms of great thinkers fade away, their time having come and gone....
Spirit – Forming the Artist’s Wheel – Aspect 6
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 29 At first glance, people often dismiss this aspect as being about religion and they shut down ... that's too contentious of a discussion. Or others shy away from the conversation quickly, anticipating a talk on New Age,...
Crazy Ball
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 28 Imagine a typical ball game ... goals of some sort, two teams, a ball, relatively clear rules ... all the players are generally competent in the game's usual strategy ... the whistle blows and the sporting event unfolds over time in...
Approaches for New Professionals: Intelligence, Emotionally?
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 27 There are moments when we realize information we came across years ago resonated with us so strongly that it has become a part of who we are and how we approach the world. I'm not stating that I'm a master of Emotional Intelligence...
The Creative Class
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 26 Last week, I featured a discussion on Colorado Public Radio about the threat that core standards might have on students' creativity, and how the lack of creative opportunities within schools can lead us to a dangerous place where we...
The Dangers of Standardization
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 25 I always encourage my students to seek out new perspectives about things they're interested in, to find new things to be interested in, and to read and/or listen to reliable news stories, thinkers, and speakers. One of my first...
Approaches for New Professionals: Building Connection
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 24 For the longest time, I misunderstood networking. The thought of going to a young professionals mix and mingle happy hour, working the room, handing out business cards, making small talk, and stumbling around like the awkward...
Energy – Forming the Artist’s Wheel – Aspect 5
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 23 When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It's very simple. Paulo Coelho Coming from the gentleman and scholar who brought us The Alchemist, more to-the-point words could not be spoken about what...
The Heart – Forming the Artist’s Wheel – Aspect 4
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 22 All we need is love. -- John Lennon It's really not necessary to expand too much further on Lennon's lyrical wisdoms. He pretty much got It. But do we? I'm not entirely sure that we do . . . not as consistently as maybe we would...
Approaches for New Professionals: 11 Tips for the Hiring Process
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 21 I'd like to continue the discussion I began in February about what it means to enter into your career as a new professional. The more time I spend mentoring new professionals, and the more often I research best practices or...
The Body: Forming the Artist’s Wheel – Aspect 3
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 20 This third aspect of the Artist's Wheel often throws students off. What on earth does our body have to do with leadership? Or the act of creating? The Answer? Everything. And we're not just talking about body language: how we...
The Mind: Forming the Artist’s Wheel – Aspect 2
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 19 The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. -- Albert Einstein As demonstrated by one of my earliest posts, "When Did We Stop Practicing Creativity," which cited a Sir Ken Robinson TED Talk, I believe that the...
Identity: Forming the Artist’s Wheel – Aspect 1
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 18 The purpose of the Artist's Wheel is not to reinvent commonly and extensively researched subject matters. Instead, the focus is to remind us of the six elements that make up our daily existence, and continually check ourselves to...
Balance: The Artist’s Wheel
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 17 Creative inspiration is all too often depicted as that light-bulb idea, striking us without warning or preparation, limiting the spark to the "chosen" artist. Instead of waiting for this divine moment though, I believe we can...
Approaches for New Professionals: Realizing the Fish Bowl
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 16 One of our coaching areas focuses on "New Professionals," exploring the struggles and leadership divides of new professionals. Why? For the last decade, I've been working with and mentoring college seniors, recent graduates,...
Leadership Disrupted
Your BREAK THROUGH, Vol. 1, Post 15Leadership takes on many forms. While there are only a few widely accepted, researched, and officially 'academized' leadership theories, and somewhere between only 12 - 20 traits or skills that a lot of people will agree on as...
7. How Might You Implement Your Vision?
Question 7 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask, the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 14 The likelihood is that as soon as your idea struck you, you jumped to answering this question. I know this has happened to me dozens of times. Though hopefully you've now...
6. How Might These Solutions Work In Context?
Question 6 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask from the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 13 Here we are at the moment of the Break Through! We've looked out at the landscape, refined our vision, foreseen challenges, brainstormed a LOT of ideas, and then chosen...
5. Which Ideas Might Work Best?
Question 5 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask from the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 12 Often times, after brainstorming 753 ideas for new uses of a red party cup, folks ask, "okay, what's the point? What do we do now?" Indeed, you just generated a lot of...
4. What Might Help You Overcome These Challenges?
Question 4 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask from the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 11 The answer to this question is all about brainstorming ... ideas, ideas, ideas. And remember here, ideas are just that: ideas. You are not committing to these ideas yet,...
3. What Might Stand In Your Way?
Question 3 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask from the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 10 If our second question is about your dream as a leader for a brighter and better future with optimism and hope for what could be, then question three is all about the...
2. What Do You Want To Happen?
Question 2 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask from the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 9 Google the terms "Visionary Leadership" or "Building a Vision" and you will be astounded at what you find. It becomes readily clear that vision has a great deal to do with...
1. What’s Happening?
Question 1 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask from the Break Through, V. 1, P.8 By the time we arrive at these seven questions, we already have our idea or concept in hand. Whether it's a program change at a school, a new approach to management at a...
Why Creativity Matters
from the Break Through, V. 1, P.6 While I'm actively blogging in five very different venues now, I remain anxious about the content mills that blogs easily become ... creating posts just to generate material to forward onto Social Media, to increase likes, to gain...
When Did We Stop Practicing Creativity?
from the Break Through, V. 1, P.5 Last week, we unpacked the skill of Divergent Thinking. While our brain is wired to do this type of thinking, we've untrained our minds to engage our inherent creativity. This TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson offers one reason, well,...
Why Divergent Thinking Is A Must
from the Break Through, V. 1, P.4 Last week, we mentioned Divergent Thinking as a technique to fire-up our imagination. Divergent Thinking is the most powerful way to discover the break through idea you need instead of waiting around for that lightning bolt...
What Do You See?
from the Break Through, V. 1, P.3 This is a Droodle, or our version of one anyway. Droodles were originally drawn by Roger Price in 1953 and have served as napkin decor, rock album covers, newspaper cartoons, and most importantly, brain teasers. Why are they...
The Art of Combination
from the Break Through, V. 1, P.2 Take something like the common billboard ... it's been around since the 19th century. Mostly it's a large, in-your-face way to advertise. And while the billboard has evolved with other marketing styles, it remains a pretty...
It’s All About TED
from the Break Through, V. 1, P.1 TED absolutely dominates when it comes to learning about incredible ideas and cutting edge innovators. While it stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, TED and TEDx conferences now cover a wide array of subjects to share all...