Group culture in a classroom: doing things differently
Read moreWhen I first read Phil Jackson’s book Sacred Hoops in 1996, I was struck by his descriptions of the Chicago Bulls and what I have come to call their “culture of difference”. Of course, they were elite athletes playing basketball at a world-class level, but so were many of the other teams in the NBA. The Bulls felt that they were different from
Creating a group culture
Read moreThis week, I am teaching a two day seminar to MBA students in Grenoble. As I am working far less in business schools now than in previous years, coming here got me thinking again about how I like to run my classroom and interact with students. Almost exactly one year ago, the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD.org) invited me to
More thoughts on boredom, creativity, and technology
Read moreI finished the previous post wondering whether the “always on” devices that power our worlds, and that make modern life so convenient, are not simultaneously diminishing our ability to come up with new ideas. If we spend so little time “unconnected”, if we are never bored anymore, will we lose the capacity and the inclination to explore our own minds?
Can boredom really stimulate creativity?
Read moreAs I wrote briefly last week, I was fascinated by a concept I discovered recently in an in-flight magazine: that boredom and creativity may be connected. In fact, I had long considered boredom to be quite a sorry state, the sign of a lazy mind, and a condition to be avoided. With my new perspective—that boredom may be
Reflecting on boredom
Read moreA funny thing happened to me this week on a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. We were all set to go, the cabin door had been closed, all electronic devices were turned off for takeoff, and then the captain announced a “small technical delay” of 15-20 minutes. Perhaps because of considerable prior experience with such events, I tend to get
Reflecting on reflection, and creativity
Read moreThese past 10 days, I have been on the road in Miami and Boston, a bit too busy to write a blog, but I wanted to post something short nonetheless. In fact, I have been thinking a lot recently about two of my favorite topics: creativity and reflection. And, I am more and more convinced that the two are connected.