100 excellent online tools to feed your creativity...

I can't say that I have compiled this list but it has some great tools... Check it out...

100 Creative Tools...

For all those aspiring Cultural Leader out there...

City University: MA in Cultural Leadership

This two-year, part-time MA provides professional development for existing and emerging cultural leaders, giving you the knowledge, skills and confidence to assume new challenges and responsibilities at all levels.

The MA is one of the world's first fully-accredited cultural leadership courses to Master's degree level.

Structured around a series of short, intensive workshops, it is designed for people who aspire to greater personal and professional development but have demanding jobs and busy personal lives. This structure also enables students to relate what they have learned to the workplace.

In addition to postgraduate accreditation, you benefit from:

• access to experienced leaders and sector analysts via workshops, mentoring and networking
• facilitated Action Learning Sets
• professional development and career planning
• concentration on key leadership concerns such as strategy, governance and interpersonal skills

For more information click here

Quote of the day...

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."

Eddie Rickenbacker
World War I Hero

Its all (loose) change...

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.” Robert C. Gallagher

In my experience, leaders of change often make the mistake of assuming that it’s all up to them to “make it happen.” – I know I did. So, they get out of the truck and start pushing; long days and long nights in the office; speaking from the soap box; being in many places at the same time; micromanaging…hypertension, here I come!

What I think we should be doing, as leaders of change, is applying the appropriate kind of leverage: formal power, peer pressure, well designed incentives, grassroots movement, influencing techniques and so on. You’ll turn the truck around if you know which controls to use.

I have been in organisations where people take some very loose orders from ‘upstairs’, jump on their horses and gallop into the fog. At some point, no one is sure where they are. Some dismantle and walk, eventually stopping altogether, some still ride into the fog for a while, but eventually, everyone is lost, confused, frustrated. The leaders thank everyone for their valiant effort and declare success.

The bottom line is the need to measure progress, adjust the means and, if needed, have the courage to change direction. Only then will we make it through adversity, uncertainty and the changing ‘foggy’ landscape.

So how do I feel about being a better Change Leader? Well, it is all very easy for me to finger point at the people who I think have dealt with change badly (notice I didn’t say lead). However, I am sure that I have been one of those leaders who charge their troops into the fog without a map. I need to accept that if change is inevitable I should make sure me and my troops know where we want to be going especially if we are not sure how we are going to get there.

I have just got Civil Partnered and more than ever I am feeling change – and, to be honest, loving it. I have not been given a map but me and my partner know exactly where we are going and looking forward to the journey.

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!" Peter Senge

What's Your Passion?

Passion: // an intense emotion, compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. from the Latin verb patior, meaning to suffer or to endure.

So, I got asked the question yesterday...

What’s your passion?

My palms started to sweat, my heart started to race. Am I going to sound stupid? What am I going to say? Do I even bloody know what my passion is?

It got worse... I found myself volunteering to give a one minute sound bite of what my passion is... I am not sure how this happened, but there I was, on stage in front of 35 people. Why, when I am not even sure what my passion is, was I stood up on stage looking ready to present an inspiring nugget of what I am passionate about?

There were 4 of us on stage; one brave sole decided she would present first. She says her passion is ‘supporting Nigerian farmers’...GREAT! I may not really know what my passion is but I know it will not be as laudable as that –my hands sweat more! Come on THINK!

The next person steps forward; he is passionate about ‘supporting people to take creative risks’. Great passion, why didn’t I think of that? He even used some great imagery – my heart starts to beat faster! Why am I up on stage?

Volunteer 3 stepped forward and delivered a great minute presentation of how she is passionate about mitigating people wasting their potential... fabulous! Another brilliant answer... Ok maybe I should just step off the stage and no one will notice...

The spotlight is on me... I don’t usually shy away from the stage, I am a theatre director after all, but I don’t generally get on stage without a script. So I took a deep breath... I thought well I must be passionate about something, actually I know I am passionate about lots of things but I just haven’t been asked to crystallise it into a one minute sound bite before. So I stepped forward and trusted something would come out I said...

“Giving people a voice...”

Yup! Giving people a voice, can you believe it? Firstly, I am glad that I actually said something. I was able to formulate and articulate something that I knew was there but couldn’t find the words to describe. Secondly, the irony of my passion; I strive to give people a safe and creative stage to tell their stories but when given the chance I found it quite a harrowing experience.

‘You can lead a person to a stage, but you can’t make them tell their story!’

So what now? How is this anything to do with leadership?

I have had time to reflect on this experience and believe that passion is a huge driver for leaders. Do I need to have my one minute soap box moment though? Well not necessarily – I think it would help to connect with people so they come on board and start to share your passion. Some passions are driven by anger, some passions are driven by love, and some are driven by a force you can’t really describe or understand; you know you have them you just can’t quite find the words to describe them. If I was in Star Wars I would have the force!

What I do think is important is to keep asking the question – ‘What is your passion?’ maybe there will be times of sweaty palms but maybe there will be times of complete lucidity where you know what drives you, how to connect with people and communicate that. I look forward to more of those moments.

May the force be with you...

“A great leader's courage to fulfil his vision comes from passion, not position.”

John Maxwell