Brock { Abroad }

Building on a previous post, 21st Century Leadership, leadership styles in the past, present, and future are explained by Pieter Spinder at Knowmads.

When it comes down to traditional leadership, bureaucratic and autocratic leadership styles come to mind. Involving hierarchy, power retention within “manager-style” positions, all decision-making is given on a vertical style of bureaucratic leadership where only the highest positions are involved. Staff, within organizations and corporations, do not consult staff and are typically not given the opportunity to provide input. Without explanation, they are expected to obey orders. Usually, they do so without ever given a second thought. This is typically due to a structured set of rewards and punishments that are involved if they fail or succeed. In other words, if they obey or disobey.

Autocratic leaders are especially reliant on these threats and punishments to influence their staff, which they don’t trust or listen to for input, anyway. Bureaucratic style is a bit more managed “by the book,” so to speak. Everything is done according to procedure or policy. If not covered by the book, it’s passed on to the hands of a higher level without further regard. It’s this behavior that places a police officer as simply a rule-enforcer instead of a leader, for example.

What are some qualities of other present leadership styles that are valuable and what are the leadership styles of the future? Some valuable qualities that can help make a group of people collaborate more creatively involve just that type of attitude. These qualities get everyone more involved, they create a community dialogue and discussion. They are an easy entrance to expanding your network in order to open up to a wider audience, within a differently structured format, involving like-minded educators of a similar skill level. Here are the styles of the today and tomorrow we explored:

Transformational Leadership

Make change happen in self, others, groups, and organizations. Charisma is a special leadership style commonly associated with transformational leadership; extremely powerful, extremely hard to teach.

Transactional Leadership

Emphasizes on getting things done within the umbrella of the status quo, which is directly in opposition of transformational leadership. Using a “by the book” approach, this leader works within the rules and is commonly seen in large, bureaucratic organizations.

Creative Leadership

Ability to uniquely inspire people, generating shared innovative responses and solutions to complex and readily-changing situations.

street art, Tel-Aviv

Corrective Leadership

Empowers staff to facilitate collaborative behavior and creates a synergism by working with and through other people instead of bowing to authoritarianism.

Change Leadership

Endorses alteration, is beyond thinking about individuals and individual organizations, and single problems with single solutions. Rethinks systems to introduce change on parts of the whole and their relationship to one another.

Intelligence Leadership

Is able to navigate the future by embracing ambiguity and reframing problems as opportunities. Takes a proactive stance in taking their organizations into uncharted territory.

Multicultural Leadership

Fosters team and individual effectiveness, drives for innovation by leveraging multicultural differences. Teams are able to work more effectively in the atmosphere of understanding and mutual respect.

Pedagogical Leadership

A video from 21st Century Pedagogy attempts to answer the question: How do we involve new technologies to meet the changing needs of students in the 21st Century classroom?

The literature from the presentation reads:

Technology will never replace teachers. However, teachers who know how to use technology effectively to help their students connect and collaborate together online will replace those who do not.

There is a paradigm shift from leader/teacher centered “orientation” to an interactive, connective organizational system using more democratic learning with a more dynamic communicative approach. This is seen as an alternative to instructional leadership by enabling the learning and intellectual growth of those led. Read the rest of this entry »

Today was a great self-working Wednesday where the tribe got together, cooked together, danced, and started shipping! (literally!) Eight of us found our way to work en route a ferry where we went to sunny bar and cafe Noorderlicht near the MTV headquarters on the industrial north island of the city. Constructed from a greenhouse and secured at the base with cement bags, eclectic furniture, and an organically delicious menu and equally enjoyable staff, it has a panoramic vista of Amsterdam harbor. With painted leather sofas littered amongst old ship hull tables and cranes dotting the waterfront, this creative cafe was a buzzing hub of people working, talking, eating, and laughing. I think the tribe managed to do all of the above and then some! We split up to work on two very exciting projects that are keeping us incredibly good busy at the moment. One, from Royal Haskoning SMC and the other from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

{A special thanks from the tribe to Roel and Ellen over at Access to Retailing for the great tip on one of Amsterdam’s hottest hangouts.}

How you can have both your apples and chocolate: on balancing discipline and flexibility… Read the rest of this entry »

find what is sacred.

believe in belief.

be inquisitive.

You’re beginning to ask bigger questions of yourself and the world you are encountering along the way. Suddenly, you ask of yourself: What do I really want to get out of this journey?

Up until then, you feel that you were merely stumbling around without actually paying attention to making sure that each foot went after the other. Your feet still stumble, but at least you attempt to be more aware of it. You have faith that those feet will keep taking you forward…

I like to call it {abroad} way of thinking…

I left on my own pilgrimage in search of my passion. I wanted to grow as a writer, but also as a person. I wanted to find my story in the telling.

What you say and do, how you communicate, are merely your forms of expressing yourself. Information gets lost, ‘in translation’. It begins taking on new dimensions from the completely unique perceptions each individual applies to some very universal concepts. In other words, everyone has their own definition of the truth and each individual must define it for themselves. It makes the world go round. It’s how things are created, innovated, imagined, and explored. It’s the art of dreaming and the science of doing. It’s understanding that everyone is in search of their own truth, and no two truths will be the same.

Disappearing from the world and into myself, I was able to begin to express where my heart was. I needed long-term solitude free of everyday distractions that were keeping me from knowing where my path should lead me. I realized I couldn’t possibly “know”, but I could always be experiencing.

After walking over 400 kilometers, I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment. However, The feeling was soon followed by an immediate sense of emptiness. A feeling that the journey was somehow over.

After a little over a week interacting with people as little as possible, I was beginning to feel a lot more comfortable in solitude. I was also beginning to see it in my writing, or rather, my confidence to do so. My confidence to create. Not just create writing, but create whatever and whoever I wanted to be, to live life in a new and exciting way. I was finally aware that there were infinite possibilities and if I was open to creating them, I could really begin to change who I was into who I want to be.

I began feeling happier. I felt a sense of newfound clarity breathing in fresh mountain air and carrying everything I owned on my back. Each step brought me closer to my destination, and one foot couldn’t go before the other. It was a practice in meditation on all levels. It was simple. Time didn’t seem to matter and was broken up by eating, writing, thinking, and not thinking. From one village to the next. From morning to night.

“never trust a thought that didn’t come by walking”

-nietzsche

I had a big question looming on my mind as I embarked on the journey. Where is the path taking me next? I was unsure if moving to a city full of vices was really what I was looking for. Wasn’t I supposed to travel the world? Wasn’t I supposed to spend a spontaneously simple life out of a backpack meeting new faces without any schedule or plan? It almost seemed as if I was just throwing the towel in and letting whatever happened… well, happen. Which, don’t get me wrong, isn’t a bad thing. As a matter of fact, It’s how I found myself here in Amsterdam, actually.

There is a big difference between leading your life and letting your life lead you, and I was beginning to see that I was going wrong because of one major problem. I was letting things just “happen” to me instead of actually making things “happen.” The problem was that I didn’t know how to make my life really be what I pictured it to be. I was staring at a blank canvas and hoping the Mona Lisa would just appear. In a perfect world, maybe. But we don’t live in a perfect world and I hope that’s why you’re reading this right now. Because you actually believe you can do something about it.

It’s by taking one step after the other, one stroke of the paintbrush at a time and being open to changing course when you think you were meant to do something else. It’s being open to yourself that will give you the answers and there is simply no possible way you can know what you’re supposed to do except for this very moment that, in this case, you have dedicated to yourself to in this moment, reading this very blog. It’s a choice that you’ve made. Fortunately, I can not tell you how to make any choice in your life.

It’s fortunate that we have that freedom to make those decisions for ourselves, because nobody knows you better than you do. No matter how much people love you, you understand that no one but yourself can possibly know what is best for you and it is important to take that time in solitude to evaluate yourself as an individual free from any job, person, thing, obstacle, or limit.

It’s about taking the time to take care of your garden instead of thinking someone else will take care of it for you, or furthermore, that it will take care of itself.

{MOVEMENTS!}
because… “Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

Contents: Mind, body, and spirit
Number of Players: 1
Length of play: To be determined by you, but a minimum of ten days is recommended.

Who wants to play?
Do you find yourself often confused about if life isn’t giving you everything it could? Are you often plagued with worry or distracted from being happy the majority of the time? Do you stress about financial situations, spend money, and often regret it later, or find yourself poor, in general? Do you wish you could eat better, breathe better, want less, and live a simpler, healthier and happier life? Do you think you deserve more in life and want to re-evaluate the way you’re living yours?

Game Preparation: Your First {Movement!}

Alfred North Whitehead once said that “religion is what we do with our solitude.” Therefore, solitude, or inward {Movement!} is the key to making proper outward {Movement!} Make this first {Movement!} by listening to what your heart is telling you and answering these questions using a pen and paper. Keep these in mind throughout the game. Always remember that when you follow your bliss, spaces on the board will open up where there were no spaces before.

What went well this year? What did not go well this year?  What is the best praise you ever received?

Imagine your memoir as if you were 65 years old and had accomplished everything you wanted in life. Write it.  Write your obituary as if you died tomorrow. How different are they?

What do you want to get out of life? What can you offer the world that no one else can?

What is absurd in my life right now? When understanding the root of the word as deaf, begin to listen a bit more intently to your first inward {Movement!}

Remember! “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” -Goethe

That being said, are you ready for the next {Movement!}? Remove your complete self from your current life, put what you feel you need on your back, and walk. Choose a place, preferably outside your own culture, and determine to arrive by walking only. Think of a place, rooted in nature, that you’ve always wanted to see. Think back to your childhood, to a place you’ve read about possibly, or perhaps been told about.

Let’s Play!

Move your game pieces both inward and outward into available spaces to increase value. The more movements you make, the wider your perspective becomes. This increases value of your game pieces and ultimately leads the player closer to a win! Make measurable benchmarks, or rituals, to mark progress. The next village is a possibility, but so is the tree you can see ahead of you. Where you will end up at the end of the day can often be a reach.

Game Strategy: Use rituals to develop the ability to take time seriously and elegantly; intention of attention and quality curiosity are also key strategies.

How to win: Make both inward and outward {Movements!} away from how you currently live, into the life you imagine yourself living to attain ultimate synergy.
What is Synergy?
Simply put, synergy is balance. When playing, your goal is to create a balance between both inward and outward {Movements!} Think like a fish moving in current. You must be quick enough to fight the water, but smart enough to know when to be taken with the tide. Keep in mind that when seeking synergy that everything connects to everything else, and sometimes the straightest lines to what you want pass through the most unexpected but pleasant connections.

Rules:
1. Accept the fact that everything in life is the result of an action or lack of action.
2. Keep all contents (mind, body, and spirit) open in order to collect pieces in    the various spaces.
3. Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety or your expectations with your intentions.
4. If a player has bit off more than he/she can chew, they may ask for help upon admitting that they need help. This is a noble and recommended action if used correctly.
5. Don’t sing victory in the middle of {Movements!} However, if you don’t stop to rest, you’ll eventually fall down. If that happens, at least take a minute to enjoy the view.
**Want a more Difficult Challenge? Do not bring money. It is always necessary not to need money, however…

The Game Pieces/Rituals:

Mind- While playing {Movements!}, prepare a daily moment to stretch your thinking by journaling your experiences. Before departing each morning, write a few sentences to meditate upon during the day ahead.
Support material: The Dali Lama’s Rules for Living, United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Body- While playing {Movements!}, prepare a daily moment to stretch your physical being.   It can also help to remove outside stimulants such as caffeine, sugar, tobacco, and drugs. Record experiences using a pencil instead of a camera.
Support: Daily exercise and stretching.

Spirit- Imagine your departure as a metamorphosis. Slow down and treat each {Movement!} as part of the process. Understand that you have very few actual needs and that the world needs you to need less.
Support: patience, silence, trust, faith.
Remember! “If fate throws a knife at you, you can catch it either by the blade or the handle.” -ancient   Persians

The Board: The board is comprised of spaces and pitfalls in a labyrinth-like manner. Pieces move forward from space to space in either a random or pre-planned positions. Encountering pitfalls may hold a player back, inhibiting growth and often keeping him locked in one space. The goal is to pass by spaces which you do not love. The board neither has form nor size, but moves in a circular structure. The board is your life.

The Board in Detail: Spaces and Pitfalls

(1) NATURE Spaces- By displacing your pieces in nature, you are able to stand strong and better understand the world around you.

(2) URBAN Spaces- By displacing your pieces onto an urban area, you risk encountering pitfalls. However, you also are at a higher chance for encountering PEOPLE.
Pitfalls for Mind: Mass Media, mass consumption.
Pitfall for Body: Pollution, lack of natural space.
Pitfall for Spirit: Confusion, frustration, chaos; “Métro-Boulot-Dodo” mentality.
“Métro-Boulot-Dodo” is a French expression to describe urban life. It literally translates to “subway, work, sleep”.
Remember! The easy way is not always the best.  Be mindful of bumps along the way. When you get stuck in a spot, there will always be a way out when it’s time for it to be over. If possible, try wearing someone else’s shoes for a day. Always choose curiosity over certainty.

(3) PEOPLE Spaces- Attempt to land on as many “new people” spaces as possible.  Upon landing on a “new people” space, you will discover if it will be a “positive influence” or a “negative influence”.

Positive influences nurture your three pieces and help you continue moving. Negative influences are pitfalls and inhibit growth. For extra {Movements!}, be willing to seek out friends from other cultures and from across the globe.
Remember! You’ll eventually meet your unmet friends in the often most unexpected, but necessary moments.

Collecting “positive steps”
When one positively reacts while in a space, {Movements!} are made in collecting the positive steps. Collecting positive steps is done by following the golden rule: do unto others as you would want others to do unto you. Steps forward include:

Being generous. Saying thank you often. Complementing one “stranger” a day.  Sharing good information.  Praying positive. Recycling. Eating an apple from your surroundings. Imagining other cultures through art, poetry, and novels. Listening to music you don’t understand. Dancing to it. Cooking your meal from what you’ve gathered while walking. Smiling at the people you pass. Planting a tree along the way. Getting enough sleep. Doing something for nothing. Camping. Carrying a permanent water bottle.

Game-storage:
When finishing walking, ask yourself if you feel you are a different person, and is so, in what ways? Here are some other positive steps to continue playing the game:

Understand the workings of power and privilege in your culture. Act locally. Question consumption. Learn how your lettuce and coffee are grown. Look for fair trade and union labels. Help build economies from the bottom up. Become multi-lingual. Travel to people, places, and cultures- not tourist attractions. Play games from other cultures. Watch films with subtitles. Honour everyone’s holidays. Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water. Know where your bank banks. Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination. Question military/corporate connections. Don’t confuse money with wealth, or time with money. Judge governance by how well it meets all people’s needs. Be skeptical about what you read. Pledge allegiance to the Earth- question nationalism. Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this. Write to people who have inspired you in the past. Learn your heritage. Never believe you have a right to anyone else’s resources. When eating, eat adventurously, and enjoy vegetables, beans, and grains. Learn where your water comes from and where your wastes go. Assume that many others share your dreams.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”                                                                                                                     - Leo Tolstoy

So, my website has undergone a bit of a make-over. I have a new banner photo, a new photo format, and have cleaned up the long post into more condensed previews. Finally, I changed my About page (colors may be off, sorry, so read below) to something I recently wrote as my statement of purpose for the National Geographic Youth Correspondents Program I think it fits me a bit better, and over time, will be the backbone to creating a business from this website…
Read the rest of this entry »