Brain Leaders and Learners

10 Questions from Problems to Playful Solutions

eweber — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:56:43 +0000

1. What’s the problem? Mentoring is too one-way, as it currently rolls out. Older mentors dictate flawed practices to upstarts even when upstarts have far more valued skills to teach. Mentoring hurts entire organizations when it keeps poor practices alive, and blocks leadership opportunities for enthusiastic young experts in any field.

2. Who’s disadvantaged? Everybody suffers when mentoring keeps tired traditions alive on one hand, and stifles innovative progress, on the other.

3. What is a top solution? Mindguiding or mutual mentoring is a playful pathway to unique solutions. In this game, people pair off to teach valuable new perspectives to another person in fun ways – on a shared topic. There are 10 topics listed in the game (with fresh ideas on each): 1. Intelligence; 2. Skill; 3. Technology; 4. Innovation; 5. Social Justice; 6. Finances; 7. Trust; 8. Play; 9. Stress; 10. Leadership

4. Why will players care? Participants will see fun in the game because they get to draw from their own interests and develop abilities. They will also gain value for their lives personally and professionally from their own and their opponent’s innovative solutions.

5. What game will address the problems? The game will be titled: Mindguide Your Way Out. It will include players making choices for one agreed upon topic. Each player will respond to 5 key areas faster than their opponents. Each of the 5 questions addressed gets a point value - based on the player’s use of all terms provided and on the value of stated suggestions.

6. Who will play the game? People who like to solve key problems playfully and those who hope to gain innovative solutions in the form of useful tools.

7. Any advantages for winners? Winners will learn from novel ideas that differ, and will use personal talents to lead others in innovative ideas.

8. Any advantages for losers? Losers will see innovative solutions that can be accessed in future, and will gain practice in shaping their own best ideas.

9. Why will players return? The game holds endless winning options that are fun to toss around and use to outfox opponents on ten key topics.

10. How this game work best online? You will need an online guru to help you move the ideas into digital buttons, triggers and bells. Players will each answer the following 5 questions (See a through e below) – using 5 words assigned for each response (or solution) and stated in life-changing sentences.

First choose one topic - together with your opponents – from the following ten: 1. Intelligence; 2. Skill; 3. Technology; 4. Innovation; 5. Social Justice; 6. Finances; 7. Trust; 8. Play; 9. Stress; 10. Leadership

a. What’s your most helpful experience on the chosen topic – in ways that use all five words to describe: inspire, mistake, progress, innovation, improvement.

b. What’s unique about your perspective? Share the best angles using all five words to explain: advantage, benefit, gain, promote, foster.

c. How could your views spark sustainable growth for others? Share distinctives for others using all five words to illustrate: sustainability; growth; encourage; support; reward.

d. What challenge could your insights address positively? Suggest one key your suggestion would resolve using the words: solution; profitable; opportunity; change; wellbeing.

e. What is your best idea forward to sustain ongoing and innovative growth? Share your concluding idea using the words: proven; advance; develop; initiate; ensure.

Question Your Way to Online Renaissance

eweber — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:34:36 +0000

Imagine a life-changing online college class, in the comfort of your home. Upbeat content online can reboot your life and career, replace dull lectures and forge mind-bending alliances. Have you seen it?

Question to Online Renaissance

Can you see yourself completing a revolutionary course from your kitchen table?

Suppose an online venture skyrockets your talents and attracts convivial peers to support mutual strengths beyond any computer screen?

Choose a positive spin on your career by asking what-if kinds of questions, to discover online opportunities that take you places brick-and-mortar-classes rarely tread.

Will top colleges go digital?

A few years ago a colleague predicted that most colleges will migrate to online courses over the next decade. It’s already happening. University of Phoenix launched digital degrees in 1989 and now draw millions into online learning circles. Has the shift to online exchanges helped you?

Online universities where I teach or lead professional development, mimic lively fireside chats in some cases and copy rigid templates for mass production, in others.

What memorable classes have you spotted?

The future is already here, according to bestselling author Grethen Rubin. Past and present realities blend in digital classes, so you’ll want to sort through the bad to uncover the best. Why so?

It’s estimated that 75% increasingly embrace digital desks and keypad notebooks. Will online shifts improve your chances of extending some new part of yourself, though? Will you discover new ways online that pull from mind-affirming themes around you?

No question – learners grow disillusioned when online colleges simply export atrophied practices into newly minted digital scripts. Why trade dull lectures for duller asynchronous doldrums? Both boring options and bar you from encountering any new storylines.

Could online content change your fate?

How can you benefit from a college committed to fostering the best by what it does for you? Simply stated, what would it take to make college at home more interesting, meaningful and fun?

Ask how fast moving online content cobbles together your future career ambitions. How will online experiences seed and grow your unique intelligences in ways that unstick your vision?

Optimum digital exchanges will help you redeem merit from even less than ideal curveballs life tosses your way, for instance.

How did emotion take center stage?

Emotion, separated from learning in halls of academe, serves online as handmaiden of personal transformation from meaningful content. That’s why Daniel Siegel appeals to emotional inclusion at college. I agree. Has it happened for you?

Can online methods engage you meaningfully in emotional themes and rational content – that matter within your current climate? It happens only in whole brain circles. How so?

An English or art class may learn lessons of debt through The Hunger Games, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s classic work, The Handmaid’s Tale, rather than history texts on corrupted social issues. Along with unfair conditions of migrant workers and lucrative trades for the rich that soak poor folks to death, you’d learn the power of reliance where you work, for instance.

Can online classes replace broken learning?

Let’s talk outmoded texts, bored students, or unbending faculty with the face of a dinner roll?

Short of taking physics classes from Walter Lewin at M.I.T, go for whole brain online tools useful for a modern era. Typical online delivery, for instance, pales beside classes that light candles and spark innovation, rather than merely fill pails with the same old stuff.

Run from settings that seek to prosper by planting American universities globally and look instead for approaches that relate more to how you plan to reseed your future.

Why not tailor your learning experience to your own pace and preferences, through online learning that fits your future expectations.

Can online classes capitalize on your strengths?

Think back to those times you learned most and forgot less. Unlike any digital device, or hard drives that store facts, you likely learned more as I did, with a grandmother who loved you. You probably remembered more when what you learned hooked onto what interested or intrigued you.

If you think about your best learning experiences, you’ll likely see novelty and curiosity building at the center. No accident. The human brain literally leaps to novelty and builds neuron pathways to new ideas through curiosity building.

Look for online classes that allow you to select from many different processes, and you can depend on absorbing more information through your multiple intelligences. You might toss around new ideas through designing a digital video, connect to the world of arts and science by creating whole brain solutions to social injustices. Or you could craft a narrative to alter your future as Donald Millar did in his book A million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I learned While Editing My Life. The key is to connect online materials to visibly improve scenes from your life.

Learning gurus know where online value lies – do you?

Unearth an online world that turns new learning into the mental and emotional tools and you’ll explore new storylines for you’re your life. How so? Simply tag the word “online” onto Helen Keller’s words, Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.

Online learning will only push you up the value chain if you run from mere delivery of facts, to doing innovative things that Brain Picking suggest reshape your lived experience.

Or consider how Clayton Christensen at Harvard extends tired academic silos into brilliantly orchestrated innovations. All through what he engages online as Disruptive Innovation.

Maybe online classes initially democratized culture, but recently you’ll see more conflicting agendas disguised in online robes. My guess is it that you will continue to find rigid classes that transport broken delivery systems into digital formats, unless you ask the kind of what-if questions that could change your life forever in ground-breaking online settings.

What will you ask first to ensure you attain online learning that you desire most?

Why Ask? Who Cares?

eweber — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:33:03 +0000

Why ask? Who cares?

Have you ever heard a well-placed question light up a table? Or have you seen young people beam from questions that invite their talents to sparkle in ways that benefit all?

While just about anybody can learn to ask questions, it takes practice to wield them well. In other words, not all questions are equal.

Great questions tend to have two feet – one foot steps up ideas and one foot steps up people’s capabilities. Two-footed questions engage both sides of the brain.

Questions are often more talked about than engaged well, as stated at John Hopkins University.

Why ask?

Gary Cohen interviewed 100 leaders to harness new power from questions in his book, Just Ask Leadership. He concluded that when you question rather than merely tell, you extend people’s options and enhance their initiatives.

The opposite is also true. Question less and you arrive at dead-end streets paved with water-tight facts, and delivered to bored passers-by.

Who cares?

If questions then, drive beliefs into operations, what would inspire you to support a new cause where you work? What question would beam you up from water cooler resister into inspired rejuvenator?

Your questions build trust at work when they reach across differences and build goodwill – even among those who disagree. Ask your next diverse gathering for instance:

What next step would you add to this process and what can we expect as a result?

Offerings will suddenly soar much like interesting icons fly onto PowerPoint screens. Why so? People speak and feel heard in response to great questions.

Fly out of gates to win

To learn how to ask so people care, you just have to look at how you navigated your last difficult situation. Did you pose queries other people want to build on?

In innovative ventures questions become an incentive to whisk curiosity out of the gates at the start. They drive productive outcomes and land you in a winners’ circle at the other end.

But what about those choice questions that sustain ongoing wonder here? We’ve all seen those sprints that start with promise but then fizzle out like a campfire on a rainy night.

What question prevents mental stagnation and what questions add steel?

The brain on questions

Imagine starting your day tomorrow by looking at the first part of the day with a what-if kind of questions.

Then see your day end with a where-to-from-here question.

If you agree that enthusiasm will likely follow, you’ll also see how serotonin adds wellbeing to brains that question.

Now consider how your brain shuts down with cortisol – that dangerous chemical that rushes in from gotcha questions.

No wonder new opportunities open to you with 2-footed questions – and shut you out when you exclude right or left brain. No wonder all questions are not equal.

What question could launch your day into a winner’s circle?

Further Question Links:

Two footed Questions Fuse Arts and Science

Question into Right and Left Brainpower

Four Questions for a Kinder, Gentler Leadership

Questions Stir up or Step on Brainpower

Do Your Questions Compel Others to Answer

Lead Questions for Innovative Brainpower

Question your Meetings for Brainpower

2 Footed Questions Lead Change

IT Brain on Design

Question to Raise Curiosity

Question to Know how you are Smart

Question with Two Feet to Spark Curiosity

How will Today make you Smarter?

Advance with a New Mantra

eweber — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:18:24 +0000

Step up your IQ to win? Lead smarter in spite of setbacks? Have you considered lately how a new approach to a challenge you face, could land you in life-changing opportunities?

One young Russian law student Marat Dupri, shifted from a sickly childhood to become a highly skilled “skywalker.” You too can reach new heights with a simple shift of focus. How so?

Advance with a New Mantra

Dupri learned to step past incredible challenges without hesitation.

He moved up higher than most people climb, because he refused doubt. You?

How could a shift of focus escalate your talents?

Breathtaking views – visible only from top vantage points – inspired this Russian climber to reach past his own health problem, and his country’s economic setbacks.

Dupri speaks of the sheer bliss in reaching new peaks:

I recently climbed to the top of the statue of Peter the Great in the center of the city one night — 100 meters (330 feet) up and onto his head. We climbed up while the guards were sleeping. A weather vane was spinning in the wind on the very top. Below, the sun was slowly rising over Moscow. The city was asleep, and it was like life was frozen. I was the happiest person on Earth. I only need to look down to forget all my problems.

You too could tower over an unforgettable adventure – taking inspiration from its magnificent panoramic view of the next incredible leg of your journey.

The choice you make may seem as simple as daily options go. Or you could choose to capitalize on teachable moments as Rodney King did in LA riots back in 1992.

Encouraged by a pack of lawyers to call for revenge, King used his platform instead to promote peaceful race relations. Preferred options spotted in the distance trumped any instant settling of scores.

His chosen mantra became one he heard repeated by his mother,

Can’t we all just get along.

King’s unexpected melody likely advanced directions for all of LA that day! Perhaps his rhythm continues to improve race relation for us even today.

What’s your mantra for the coming week?

Mine is:

Hit a new height with gusto!

Will your choices reflect life’s inevitable setbacks?

Or will choices show you using top-range-abilities to ratchet up your IQ along the way?

Making Change Easy

eweber — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:35:26 +0000

Change often feels anything but easy …

Ever ask with that popular poster, How can you fly with eagles when you work with a bunch of turkeys?

Making Change Easy

It feels as if your brain is hard-wired more for chipping away at endless daily routines that tank your talents. You suit up to lead lofty adventures, yet too often ruts keep you pecking away like turkeys, day after day. Do you ever wonder why you slide back so easily into doing the same boring things that spin your wheels but go nowhere? It may seem reasonable once or twice. But over and over again?

Some people blame their supervisors, others say lack of funds keeps them down in the dust.

Are you aware though, that blame robs creative oomph, drowns change and leaves you stuck in ruts? Fault finding blocks focus from seeing those game-changing horizons that complainers only crave.

It doesn’t have to be that way, and your success often depends on how you handle detractors. When Gordon, a British Columbia School Superintendent, tried to involve parents in the daily interactions of his large district, several secondary school faculty threatened to quit.

Cynicism trumped his changes at every step …

Protesters insisted that when outsiders (namely parents) try to control their classrooms, they can no longer teach effectively and test scores suffer. Critics countered even small suggestions to include parents, with anxious retorts that parents know nothing about secondary school content, yet act as if they’re in charge.

For months Gordon tried to win over detractors, while a vocal few spread cynicism across schools averting any progress toward collaboration. Nothing worked and gloom spread across change suggestions like the aftermath of nuclear fallout spreads across a once-vibrant village.

Allies opened spigots of hope …

Then Gordon called a meeting with four highly-respected teachers. After a few hours of brainstorming they’d integrated four disciplines under one umbrella topic – LIGHT. Each of the four classes met learning standards and yet lessons also included student-led topics that teens enjoy.

Enthusiasm carried that first meeting into shared pizza and late night noodling ….

To spark students and parents’ talents for their high school classes, faculty sketched out and illustrated active learning tasks from multiple intelligences. During this lively session several parents admitted they often felt unwelcomed in secondary schools, which is why they stayed away for the most part.

With a welcoming invitation to advance their teens’ school experience, no wonder parents and guardians showed up in droves to offer their ideas for a more interactive approach. A facilitator drew people and ideas together as the group shared and sketched novel learning opportunities.

Math had bored many students earlier, but …

When the math teacher asked how parents would show rays, angles, lines, and magnification, an engineer jumped in to show the math laws that gave a cutting edge to his firm. When the science teacher asked how the human eye, solar power, and mirrors relate to light, an optometrist led the discussion.

English and social studies classes had detractors, until …

The English teacher followed with his plan for reading the novel, Light a Single Candle, and several writers tossed in cool ideas about atmosphere and mood and metaphors to consider. Finally the social studies teacher added his intention to highlight the Renaissance, which erupted the whole gymnasium with Enlightenment insights. Shared excitement sparked wonder into individual revelations for how to ensure mutual benefit. It’s easy — just like you led us tonight, a former principal shouted out, and the group cheered.

That simple new direction spun into a menagerie of ideas across the entire community – all from one meeting with a few high-performing-minds. Have you seen it happen where you work?

You can become a game-changer …

Ten basic change approaches in this new ebook - Making Change Easy – equip your team with mental capabilities for winning changes made easy. Yes – in spite of change-resisters who try to trip you up along the way.

Luckily, your brain holds tools that enable you to embrace change, in spite of detractors. You too can fuel curiosity and pound new pathways into new horizons you deserve.

Why then do so many people resist change?

If the human brain offers tools to lead innovation, why do resisters outnumber change agents like warriors outnumber peace-keepers? This ebook not only illustrates what goes down for change- resisters, it explains how the human brain easily defaults to ruts under certain conditions.

Effective game changers facilitate from unique areas of the brain …

Gordon and his team navigated problems to sustain healthy change, through modeling attitudes and actions that literally reshape a brain’s formation. Daily choice played a larger role in missed or gained opportunities than most team members realized when the project launched.

No wonder losses emerge for resisters while wins graced rejuvenators …

How many times have you passed over a winning game-changing opportunity? Perhaps you dreaded the consequences. Or you slipped into fear that others wouldn’t follow you. Whatever the reason, you simply lacked confidence to lead a renewal venture, that may have failed in past attempts.

In contrast, let’s assume you embrace change – and select easy-to-follow suggestions from this ebook Making Change Easy. Expect visible differences and yet highly successful ventures to follow. Just as Gordon did, you’ll also roll out similar new capabilities in several key areas. If you have further questions, or if this ebook failed to address your change issues in this area, do let us know at the Mita International Brain Center.

Change comes from doing rather than merely learning …

This book is designed to help you take risks in ways that add dopamine chemicals to build tenacity for further possibilities. How so?

Run with one good idea, and your brain will leap to the challenge and tangibly support your new nerve. Simply stated, you build new neural connections that help you to lead further winning risks. Sound worth a try? Expect personal and organizational rewards along with a sense of satisfaction to boot.

Together, we’ll celebrate new courage as serotonin (your brain’s chemical for wellbeing) ignites your every step. Oh yes, you’ll still see cynics continue to create toxic settings along the sidelines, yet you’ll also gather newfound courage to sidestep snipers who challenge innovation’s progress.

Those who will settle for run-of-the-mill routines may still perform minimal job descriptions. Change-makers want more. To reduce anxiety, and increase wins, you’ll discover brainpowered tools in this ebook that activate your limbic system to make change easier in your organization.

Further Readings Related to – Change Made Easy

Mita Manifesto for Renewal – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/change/mita-brain-manifesto/

Blame it on the Brain – 25 brain facts that impact change - http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/working-memory/blame-it-on-the-brain/

Retention Lost in Lectures – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/multiple-intelligences/retention-lost-in-lectures/

Facilitate Innovative Brainpower – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/change/facilitate-innovation-with-brainpower/

Tone Tools design Goodwill in War Zones http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/ellen-weber/tone-tools-design-goodwill-in-war-zones/

Ode to Innovation Brainpower – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/basal-ganglia/ode-to-power-of-practice/

Mita Brain Renewal for Leading and Learning – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/general/mita-brain-based-renewal-for-leaders-and-learners/

Brainpower Beyond the Sea of Cynicism – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/survey/brainpower-beyond-sea-of-cynicism/

Stress Tanks Learners and Leaders http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/ellen-weber/stress-masks-as-savior-to-strike-as-killer/

Wonders and Woes of Change – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/change/wonders-and-woes-of-change/

Two-footed Questions Lead Change – http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/multiple-intelligences/2-footed-questions-lead-change/