Think Remarkable Blog

Eyeballs Out: How to Step into Another World…

2010-09-04T23:18:53+00:00

Big Moo co-author Donna Sturgess launches her newest book, Eyeballs Out: How to Step into Another World, Discover New Ideas and Make Your Business Thrive. The book is about the power of an immersion to reset what you know and stimulate new business-building ideas to reinvent and re-plot business. In a recent post on Forbes.com Donna talked about getting out of the office, and using immersions to push people in new ways of thinking. How about just getting out of the office to have a completely different experience? For many, that is a remarkable idea!

Published in: Remarkable Books by Julie Anixter

Donna Sturgess, Julie Anixter and Think Remarkable Team Offer Immersions in the Remarkable!

2010-08-15T14:38:42+00:00

To celebrate the launch of Donna’s newest book, Eyeballs Out, the Think Remarkable team is offering a series of customizable Eyeballs Out Immersions designed to create truly remarkable ideas by going where your competitors can’t or won’t go.

Anyone who knows author Donna Sturgess knows that she is a master of creating provocative, enriching experiences that center around innovation and will indelibly expand your worldview.

Eyeballs Out, brings out the power of an immersion to reset what you know and stimulate new business-building ideas to reinvent and re-plot business. Now one or two day immersion workshops are available to provide leaders with the stimulus and insights to evolve their business by stepping into a new world and taking on the unique mindset of the beginner primed for discovery. Participants will experience:
—The conductive thinking that comes from the engagement of both physical and mental processing throughout the experience
—A rich diversity of insights, perspectives and experiences from which to learn and apply to your business problems and opportunities
—A powerful injection of inspiration and external awareness as you see, feel and probe an entirely new experience to challenge your assumptions and operating boundaries

Goals of the Immersion
The immersion is designed around your business challenges and what you want to achieve. A facilitated workshop session is included after the immersion to ensure the new insights and learnings are translated into actionable ideas.
—The immersive session is custom designed to explore the dimensions of another world that are aligned with your challenges
—It is a rare opportunity to pause and reflect on your business issues and problem solve in new ways
—Participants will learn how to use the vast amount of stimulus to compose novel approaches and ideas to grow your business

The Plan
Immersions are designed as either one or two day experiences with a workshop component to facilitate and capture percolating new ideas. The sessions are custom created to your goals and can be organized for small or large team experiences.
Several examples follow to outline the immersion and its business purpose.

NASCAR—- Building Brand Fans

The world of NASCAR is an exciting social extravaganza. Its far-reaching popularity has made it the second-most popular pro sport in the U.S. The sport boasts a fan base of about 75 million, and they are some of the most devoted sports fans in the world.
Intense competition surrounded by devoted fans is a hyper-lens for business. What does it take to build such devoted fans for your product or service? The NASCAR experience is a grass-roots immersion in mass-market fans, product sponsorships and endorsements. This immersion puts you up close and personal with more than 12, 000 mass market customers who are motivated by the sense of belonging and connection they experience at these supersized events. The experience will enable you to challenge your customer assumptions to build fans for your business.

GLASS BLOWING—-Decision-Making , Process Thinking

Glass blowing is a true process. The works is done in pairs, and the steps are synchronized moves as you twirl the molten glass to make a basic bowl in just one day. Glass blowing combines process thinking and mechanics to achieve creativity. The focus is on efficiency in the ways of working and how decisions during action can produce something new. It is a world of new language and sensations using the odd wooden tools of the glass blower to produce imaginative products from sand, water and heat.

The physical and mental actions of glass blowing stimulate thinking beyond the workplace to consider how decision-making and process thinking impacts your work performance. How well is the internal decision process understood by everyone and does it foster business creativity or squelch it? The glass blowing immersion is a challenging and invigorating experience to open up new dialogue on teams.

EXAMPLES OF OTHER IMMERSION TOPICS

—Creativity
—Community
—Sustainability
—Strategy & Mapmaking
—Innovation
—Team Building
—Customer Connection
—Competitiveness
—Wellness
—Beauty
—Social & Cause Support
—Remarkable Thinking

To discuss immersion ideas for your business please contact: Donna Sturgess at 412-551-7436

Published in: Remarkable Experiences by Julie Anixter

Remarkable CSA: Horan Bros Work Family Farm for 20 Years for Heirloom Tomatoes +

2010-06-13T12:35:29+00:00

Published in: Remarkable People by Julie Anixter

Disruptive Innovation Gets Its Own Awards Show at Tribeca Film Festival

2010-05-01T12:53:47+00:00

One straight hour of remarkable innovators appeared on Thursday when Craig Hatkoff, one of the founders of Tribeca Film Festival, decided it was high time to brings some public attention to the work of Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christiansen, and his theory of disruptive innovation. So. Tribeca launched the First Annual Disruptive Innovation Awards. Disruptive Innovation is a theory developed and coined by Christiansen, which essentially is about “creating products and services for that are “good enough” for markets that don’t exist, but will, as soon as people realize they can “hire those products or services to get a job done.”

Met Howard Tullman, CEO of Flashpoint Schools, who graciously shared this look@Craig Hatkoff’s http://bit.ly/Tribeca-Disruptive-Innovation-Awards. Besides the gentle eloquent Christiansen, my fave award went to PS22’s chorus who you just have to see (you’ll be one of the SIXTEEN million who have enjoyed this NY public school chorus on You-tube thanks to the 2.0 choral director, award winner, http://ps22chorus.blogspot.com/

Published in: Lead Stories by Julie Anixter

Our Top 10 Remarkable People of 2009

2010-01-01T15:11:37+00:00

THINK REMARKABLE’S TOP 10 PEOPLE OF 2009 – the first in a series, we cull through all that we witnessed to serve up the most remarkable people, books and experiences we’ve had circa 2009. May you enjoy them too - Julie, Dean, Donna and Scott

Because these people are making indelible marks as humanitarians who mainstream the mastery of their particular craft and calling.

1. Will Allen, Founder, Growing Power
Because this farm-raised former NBA player is creating good jobs, good food, and even better community in Milwaukee—with towering authority that it can be done in one fell swoop.

2. Karen Armstrong, Author and Trailblazer
Because she created and launched the Charter For Compassion to restore compassion to the center of morality and religion. Her goal: to unite all religions under the shared connection of compassion.

3. Reed Hastings, CEO, NetFlix
Because he took video rentals to the next level of innovation and simplicity. With Blockbuster in the dust, he is about to do it again with on-demand—this time Hollywood is playing along.

4. Bobby Henline, Wounded Vet
Because he took his burns, his amputation, his injuries, and turned them into comedy and an example for the rest of us.

5. Jon Huntsman, Sr.
Because he is an honest business innovator, one of a dying American breed; a true capitalist who’s honesty and integrity are consistently reliable—meaning his word (or a deal handshake) is his bond, in good times and bad.

6. Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet
Because right relationship to food is a gift, and Graham and Julia Child pioneered cooking on television; his enthusiasm and humanity on the Galloping Gourmet made him a worldwide sensation. Graham is exploring the healthiest of diets and home gardening.

7. Nathan Martin, CEO, Deep Local
Because we are dazzled his innovation and entrepreneurial approach to advancing phase II of computer life leveraging mobile, web and voice.

8. The Nobel Foundation
Because their decision to award Barack Obama with the prize so early in his career was an audacious plea for peace on earth, good will to men. (Anybody? Anybody?)

9. Scott Simon, Host, Saturday Weekend Edition, NPR
Because he is the most wide-ranging and humane of radio interviewers who in opening his richly diverse window to the world makes Saturday mornings very very special.

10. Chesley Sullenberger, Pilot
Because there were two flights that could have ended in disaster in 2009—and didn’t because of people—Sully’s quick thinking and skill saved the day in the Hudson….and NW flight 253’s conclusion was positively impacted by a couple of brave passengers and crew. The opposite of our frailty is our ability to act.

Published in: Remarkable People by Julie Anixter

Drive

2009-12-26T16:43:58+00:00

For more on Dan’s new book and the January 1 conversation visit http://www.danpink.com/

Published in: Remarkable Books by Julie Anixter

Dan Pink Rides Again!

2009-12-26T15:35:59+00:00

And Invites Us to Talk on New Years Day! http://bit.ly/5EBovB

To me, he is a little bit like the Lone Ranger, or Wyatt Earp, a brave, dashing adventurous soul who will make the new frontier safer for the rest of us. He rides alone but he shows up in our town just in the nick of time, and though we’re already on the border of the unknown, somehow, we feel better, more secure, because of his interpretations, his work on our behalf. He did it with Free Agent Nation (I’ll never forget him using Erin Brockovitch as an icon at a talk), he did it with Whole New Mind, which popularized the Right Brain just in the nick of time, and now…(procrastinators can cheer up on this one) with Drive, Pink invites us inside his latest deep exploration into motivation. I feel the pounds rolling off, the book chapters getting written, the closets being cleaned! And in Big Moo, new era-esque virality (Dave Balter did you coin that one?) he INVITES US to an intimate 500 person conversation at 2 p.m. on New Years Day. All we have to do is pre-order the book and send him the receipt. Hey! It motivated me!!!!

Published in: Remarkable People by Julie Anixter

Remarkable: Brig. General Rhonda Cornum, M.D. on Holistic View of Army Strong

2009-11-28T12:33:22+00:00

The Army has always trained its soldiers to be physically strong. With its Comprehensive Soldier Fitness it’s aiming to make soldiers and their families psychologically strong as well. Host Scott Simon and NPR’s Weekend Edition Interview with BG Cornum is part of a powerful new series exploring the human face of the war on terror. Each story in The Impact of War is a powerful window into the experience of the people on the ground living through it, but the interview with Brigadier General Dr. Rhonda Cornum struck me as a very special moment and testament to A) a woman warrior who B) takes her own personal experience of captivity and war and medical training to C) lead the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, the Army’s newest resiliency training. It is a program designed to improve the emotional and psychological fitness of soldiers and their families. What could be more deserved right now, than to put the best resources to work for soldiers and families?

“Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is really a strategy that the Army is starting to use to ensure that each soldier has the opportunity to maximize his or her potential in each important aspect of their life and their health, which is not just physical, it is really part of the roadmap to arrive at ‘Army Strong,’” Cornum told “DotMilDocs” listeners April 2 on Pentagon Web Radio. She says the program’s intent is “to boost the resilience of soldiers and their families by increasing their physical, emotional, social, spiritual and family strengths.” She said the Army has historically concentrated on the physical fitness and physical health aspect of its soldiers. “It’s a preventative measure to not get people surviving, but thriving,” Cornum said. “The idea is to make them more emotionally and psychologically fit.” Cornum added that the five domains—mental, emotional, spiritual, family strength and fitness—don’t just happen, they have to be trained. “We recognize now that those other domains are equally important, particularly in this time when the Army really is under a lot of stress,” Cornum said. With military suicides, divorces up, this I believe, is truly noble work. Perhaps, like so many other new learning technologies, when the Army has figured this out it can deploy it to the civilian world.

Comments on the story from the NPR blog included these two of note:

Ira Wing (irawing) wrote:
@ChrisT: I agree. Slaughterhouse Five had an intense impact on me when I read it as a young adult, but when I re-read it after coming home, it resonated with me and was a big part of the healing process. That said, I think that most people can cope with the stress of combat. It affects us, but it does not break or ruin us. Trying to live with what you’ve done in isolation is toxic to anyone, not just soldiers returning from combat.
November 21, 2009 2:52:11 PM EST

rosa james (rosamarie) wrote:
I am glad the Army is aiming to train soldiers and their families psychologically strong. This has been long needed even before the war with Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot of soldiers and families have suffered mentally because psychological counseling was not a manditory thing. To me anyone in the military should have psychological couseling whether they need or not. The professionals should be able to tell if someone is in need of help just by talking to them for a while.
November 21, 2009 1:04:11 PM EST

Published in: Remarkable People by Julie Anixter

9%, 10%, and 3 People You Don’t Often See

2009-11-15T13:27:48+00:00

11-15-09—Data is good. Data is chilling. Data can incite action. Only 9% of the kids in DC Public Schools will go on to college. The number for my hometown, my beloved Chicago, is a depressing 4%. Secretary of Ed Arne Duncan calls the underserved schools of our nation “drop out factories.” He’s one of an unlikely but refreshing and remarkable trio that includes Rev. Al Sharpton and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. “We are going backwards in a technological age,” states Sharpton, and “we have to go beyond our comfort zone.” They have formed Race to the Top. They’ve raised 4.3 billion dollars for a discretionary fund to invest in schools to improve student achievement. Here’s the rub, they will use money to drive change: “We will only invest in districts where there doing the right thing by children…where student achievement is part of the evaluation.” Says Gingrich…“We have three have been in rooms together in Philadelphia and Tucson and Baltimore, and I have watched Al Sharpton be amazingly blunt. There is nothing humane about schools that send kids to prison instead of college,” and “the country is tired of politicians not working together to fix this. So this is one example of the remarkable, and I especially respect the bi-partisan nature of this roadshow. So they’re out to fix the 4% and the 9%. Now. We need the same dream team approach to the intractable 10%—the staggering unemployment number that is “unlikely to budge over the next three years.” I nominate Warren Buffett, Phil Jackson and Oprah. I’d like to see them hit the road together, city by city, and raise expectations, energy and private funds to rouse the heart of this under-served, under-discussed, overwhelming national blight on the American Spirit. I just don’t get why there is not more imagination creativity and good old American ingenuity to figure this one out. We’re too good for this. Our country is too great and our social and human needs to enormous to have 10% of us sitting on the sidelines.

Published in: Remarkable People by Julie Anixter

Power of a Remarkable Culture: 2009 Xerox International Women’s Conference

2009-11-08T13:30:41+00:00

11-7-09 Niagra Falls, Canada - 24 hours with several hundred of the Xerox Corporation’s top women reminds us of the power of culture. It was demonstrated at every level: 200+ senior women chose to pay their own way and spend 2 weekend nights to gather in a forum that celebrated time for yourself, accomplishment, vision, and community. Organized by TWA president and Xerox execs Gina Testa, and BA Kilberg-Walsh, they honored Marlene Bessette , VP Strategy and Customer Loyalty, with the Positive Difference Award, and celebrated work-life balance with Big Moo Authors Julie Anixter and Donna Sturgess, visionary, leadership consultant Val Willis and humorists Sandra Beckwith and Anne Barab. Speaking of making a positive difference (!) Xerox has distinguished itself in history by elevating the first African American Woman to CEO, Ursula Burns, in July 2009, whose first bold move was to acquire ACS, a game-changing deal for Xerox that accelerates its growth in the $150 billion business process outsourcing market and creates a $22 billion global enterprise for document technology and business process management. One can only wonder what else is in store in a company that has a remarkable hunger to transform itself, a history of innovation, and a culture that supports diversity as a business strategy. The most remarkable thing about the conference is that 200+women wanted to be together to renew themselves and demonstrate their commitment to creating a sparking, remarkable future for the company they love.

Published in: Remarkable Experiences by Julie Anixter