I cannot say "Non, je ne regrette rien"

"No, I regret nothing".

I wish I could say that too. I regret almost nothing in my life. (So far). But there is one thing I regret. One chance I had that I did not take. And this has haunted me since.

In 1998 I was in Austin and visited a toy-store. And there I found a singing flower. Very silly. yet irresistible. It sang "You are my sunshine" and danced a simple dance (just tilting sideways). I hesitated. Checked the price tag, checked whether I could fit it into one of the bags.

And then it happened. Some stupid rational voice inside me said "You don't need that singing flower. And it is a very silly thing."

So, I turned around and walked away. The flower still singing.

And since that day I have regretted that I listened to that rational inner voice. I know that my life would have been better if that flower had been part of it. Singing to me every day, singing to my wife, dancing in front of my kids.

So, do not listen too much to rational inner voices telling you what is "silly" or "best for you". You know better! And you might miss good things in life, like "You are my sunshine"-singing flowers!

By the way. Here is the flower --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88DIh9vgyr8

(Not mine though. I still do not have a singing flower...And I think I never will have. )

Adult storytelling

In a workshop for leaders we told stories. I had prepared a couple of pages with simple drawings. There were circles and boxes and lines on A4 sheets. Or just a line. Or a dot. Not pictures of anything, just a few lines on a each paper.

We sat very close. Just like you would imagine a storyteller sitting close to the children.

I showed the first page and started "Once upon a time there was a ...." and then I pointed to the symbol and looked at one of the participants. Who immediately responded with "a snowman". And then I continued with "that one day" - and now looking at next person that quickly added "went shopping". And we continued. I connected the sentences - and the group added context.

We flipped page. I pointed to the symbol and said something that would connect to previous sentence. And by looking at a person she or he would add to the story. My part became smaller and smaller. I was just a 'page flipper' showing silly symbols on A4 sheets. And the group was co-creating the most wonderful small stories.

There were laughters and giggling. But also excitement. The group was exciting telling the stories. And all were curious what would happen next. What would the circle on the paper turn into? A moon? A cheese? A football kicked by a vampire?

We created magic! They created stories. And they all listened to each other. They build upon each others contributions. We played. Seriously.

And it was fun. With a couple of A4 sheets with simple symbols we managed to create stories, excitement and engaging stories. And for a moment we managed to bring forward our inner child.

I love storytelling.

And this small exercise showed that not only children can create stories and fairy tales. Adults can too!

"could be"-thinking

What is this? It is something of course. But lets instead consider what it could be.

Well, it could be the letter "B". As in:

or it could be the number "13" as in:

When we replace "is" with "could be" we get several options. And we get new perspectives. We might even consider different context. And we don't get any conflict. All alternatives are valid!

We also tend to become future oriented. The "could be" indicates a transformation, a journey, into the future.

Try it. Replace all "is" (and "am" and "are") with "could be" and you will most likely get more alternatives, see things from a new perspective, more easily accept new ideas since they could be developed into something. And you will almost automatically consider the future and how to reach it.

What "is" you company? What "could" your company "be"?

What are you? What could you be?

And even"this blog entry is crap" can be re-thought. Think "This blog entry could be deleted" or possibly "This blog entry could be inspiration for me".

"You man, be human"

Well said by Tage Danielsson.

Packages...re-thinking needed (?)

Would it not be nice of we could get rid of all packages? Imagine if we could get all what we need without all these boxes, plastic bags, and (many times) unneccesary packaging material.

"Packages" are used for many reasons - and there are many useful functions to consider. But there are also many harmful functions.

In this picturee you find some of the useful (green boxes) and some of the harmful (red boxes). (Not complete of course!). So, now we just need to find ways of removing the harmful functions and keep the useful.


Starting today to change how we use "packagin" would not be too soon...

No glorious victories for winners

"Winners never talk about glorious victories. That's because they are the ones who see what the battlefield looks like afterwards. It's only the losers who have glorious victories."

(said the god Om in Terry Pratchett's Small Gods)