core thinking

Who are you?Expectations

Who am I?Brand is a symbol for an organizationThe essence

The story and culture is more important

Fire CirclePhilosophyThe fire circle provided food, company and warmth, the basic needs

The fire indoors, still the centre of life but contained

The fire was replaced by electronics, radio, then TV. For the first time we knew more about the outdoors than or families

The virtual experience, one person believing they have 837 friends

Intuitive desire to ‘gather around the ‘campfire, coffee pot.

core thinking

• I hope to make you a bit uneasy in your thinking, to challenge you

• being comfortable with not following a map• not getting tangled in stuff that doesn’t matter• a different look at issues• working in a flexible box• celebrating common sense

Core Thinking

Where it began

Me at hmmmm 6ish

Every fall oranges would arrive from Asia. Shipped in wooden boxes

The Box was a box and8 pieces of wood

+ 32 nails

So I cut the corners off the square boards until they were round and made a Red River Cart

Thinking Everywhere

-Take the wide view- survey ALL aspects of the issue- consider ALL the resources- Take the wide view

Observing through Osmosis

-Not just reading, watching and talking- be aware

Take a Second Look- Avoid ‘going through the motions’ -When we follow the standard route we expect the ‘usual’ result

Paris in thethe spring

Prisoner of Perception

-I worked in a factory where most of the employees were immigrants-Most had exceptional skills but believed they were trapped because they did not speak English well- don’t be imprisoned by your perceptions-These workers had graduate level skills and once shown a broader view they realized they had choice

Phil Hartman as the Anal Retentive Chef

"People try to tell you that the secret to pepper steak is the seasoning, but we know different don't we? It's getting the pieces all the same size."

Following a Problem – a string of issues-Problems often appear as a simple sequence of events, minor issues, actions or inactions

- work hard to keep them that way or …….

Ball of String Problems

…the will become a ‘ball of string’ problem

I recall when I was complicated and life

was simpleLife now seems so complicated I think I am simple.

Kids learn through play

Unfortunately I didn’t realize this until I was an adult

Child’s Play-a piece of paper and imagination- sometimes it is that simple

The Coffee Version

- making the simple complicated- out of reach of kids- designed for adults

Loss of Simplicity

- The sustainable playground, recycled, natural, organic-Hand made

The engineered experience

Designed for adults to have a breakDefined by liability

Break out TaskBreak into groups of ten or soSit/stand in circle

Ready, Shoot, Aim- too often we don’t have the time to take aim- The missed shot ends up being the determining factor in creating policy

Curse of the Cow Path

-Sometimes a path is just a path, not a route- look up over the ‘grass and bushes’- build the pathways based on the best route- review the pathways regularly- based the route on the goal

Boston Town Planning- based on cow paths-When a wonder through the filed is formalized into ‘policy’- all it really was was someone trying to find there way

HB4 BUTWords and letters letters and words

Illustrated Issues

-Think geographically- set up a bulletin board in a common area- Post all the issues- Factors- ideas

Taking the Long View

-seek a perspective where the issues shrink and the perspective comes into view- see the grid and influence of the structure

Map the Issues

- Show the issue, its elements and relationships

Graphic Thinking-Show relationships, big circles, small circles- use post it notes for flexibility and evolving the issues and relationships- suggest drawing map instead of digital image

Connecting the Dots

- Get into your map- make the issues real, vivid, take the broad look

Marketing Average- Note the image is not only the words but is it also distressed worn, vintage look

Friends and Neighbours

-The relationships we developed through play, sharing, common interests and generally being friends have been replaced.

Friends have become contacts-We schedule everything- activities are ‘compartmentalized’- today helping one another is considered ‘volunteering’- communities are becoming ‘engineered’ planned- driven by fear

Community has Become NetworkRelationships have evolved from sitting around the fire to the online experience- The lie of Facebook, 839 ‘friends’ equals 3 in person friends

Celebration Florida

Engineered livingThe gated communityPredictable safe

The Exception of the Green Grocer

-The most remarkable aspect of Granville Island is not that you can talk to the producer- it is that being able to talk to the producer is ‘unique’- how far have we come from caring

Influence of Standardization

• Taking a different view• Being comfortable in doing so• Rules and regulations have taken us so far

from normal that now ‘normal’ is unique• Sometimes a cup of coffee is just a cup of

coffee

Working Within a Frame Work

- Predictable- Comfortable- Consistent- well suited to the ’standard- rigid- inflexible- trackable

Working Within a Frame Work

- Same ‘parameters’- Flexible-Respects existing standards- ‘exception’ ready- adjustable to variety of conditions-

Loss of common sense

-Loss of judgment- replaced by structure and policy- where is the practical wisdom

Sometimes a cup of coffee is just a

cup of coffee-A ‘part’ of a time for reflection, contemplation, social time- simply a cup of coffee

We have ‘engineered’ a cup

of coffee-A barometer of a generation- reflecting expectations- increasing demand for choice

Strategy of choice

- Plague of choices- lets make some good ones- as choice increases, satisfaction decreases

Defined by the PERCEPTION

of your actions- Not the intention- Make your intentions clear- Your actions should reflect your intentions

The Four P’s of No.Product, don’t like to result

Process, did not follow policy/channels

Professional, cannot defend to my colleagues

Personal, I don’t like it

Trust yourself

What are we doing?

-In an effort to treat everyone equally we risk treating everyone fairly- we lose judgment and discretion- we must regain our perspective- look at our core:

- resources- skills- objectives

- its time to get a grip

Core Thinking-Be comfortable with taking a different view- have the courage to look wide- look at the essentials of each issues- act because you care for each other