As in 2021 and many previous years, I’m offering my blue-sky beginnings as a vehicle for approaching the fall season with a sense of optimism, hope, and the promise of something new and valuable. These nuggets may provide you with the sparks of new ideas leading to new ventures, collaborations, learnings, and more.
These ideas are adapted from blog posts I’ve written since last year’s blue-sky post. For each, I have linked to the original post in the hope that you will read the original in context.
I also believe these ideas can be applied inside and outside the workplace, and at many different stages of life. Please let me know if you find anything to be useful and helpful!
The Importance of Writers and Writing
… in “The Last Class,” {Anne} Lamott reminds us why writers are so important, and why writing is worth the worries, problems, and frustrations: “Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for the reader. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of.”
Yoko Ono’s High Level of Wisdom
{Author Madeline Bocaro} “I believe that Yoko arrived at her extremely high level of wisdom from having to survive horrible situations and conditions throughout her life, beginning in her childhood. She most likely considers herself to be a survivor, rather than a philosopher. Her objective is to show us that we have completely misplaced our values. She awakens us to our own inner power.”
…dated September 30, 1977, in Los Angeles, {Booker T.} Jones writes of the moments immediately after his mother’s death from cancer: “Now I understand that’s the way life goes. It is a song sung between the verses, a game played during the time-outs. To grasp it you let it slip through your fingers.”
The Wisdom of Authors From Deborah Kalb Q&As
Mary Pipher Book: A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence, quote: “We still cannot predict our future. One of the great skills of life is accepting impermanence and living fully in the present moment.”
Umar Turaki Book: Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold, quote: “The book is a meditation on seeing, on how you look at the world and the power you have in what you choose to acknowledge in your life.”
Matt Richtel Book: Inspired: Understanding Creativity: A Journey Through Art, Science, and the Soul, quote: “What I take away from this book is that creativity is innate. It is, arguably, the defining characteristic of the human spirit. We create to survive, to progress, to distract, to endure, to self-soothe and promote.”
Claudia Kalb Book: Spark: How Genius Ignites, from Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers, quote: “One of the most meaningful lessons I learned is that even though periods of contemplation and exploration may feel directionless—even squandered—they are actually fruitful, and often critical to discovery.”
Robert L. Dilenschneider Book: Nailing It: How History’s Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together, quote: “I want readers to take away the idea that at any stage of your life you can start something and make it successful.”
{Janet Ioli} “I’m a big proponent of continuous self-development. As someone with a deep grounding in human development, I believe that leadership development starts with human development. That development is a lifelong process and is a journey of expanding consciousness. To expand our own consciousness, we must continuously challenge our own beliefs, values, and perspectives and take in new information not just as knowledge, but as a mechanism to self-reflect and change. I not only advise people to continuously read, study, network, attend conferences, watch videos, etc., but also to spend time self-reflecting on their own day-to-day actions in the context of all that information.”
Reinvention After Devastating Events
{Celeste Palmer} “Yes, we do refer to reinventing ourselves or having a new normal after these devastating events have changed our lives forever. Mostly, I’m helping people find balance and confidence, a new purpose or something meaningful again.”
Learn to Travel the Long and Winding Road
{Dr. Shantha Mohan} “An essential aspect of any field is innovation. It keeps the area alive and thriving. Whether you are creating a new technical product or service or creating a new piece of music or painting, the creative process of innovating is common to all fields. To be an innovator, you need to think for yourself. You have to understand the norms, but be prepared to go against them.
You have to be ready to travel the long and winding road because you will encounter many roadblocks and failures. It requires tenacity. And the pillars that build a tenacious individual— passion, audacity, grit, resilience, and flexibility—are must-have attributes for excellence irrespective of the field.”
(1)Seize opportunities when you can. (2) Appreciate people while they are still here. (3) Stay in touch with people, and be available to them, to the extent you can. (4) Learn what you can from people while they’re still here, but also after they are gone. (5) This lesson is inspired by my longtime Drucker School friend, professor Jeremy Hunter, whom I also interviewed that week in April 2005 (and is fortunately very much alive!). I remember fragments of something he posted online years ago, but which I believe is called Ichi-go ichi-e. I’ve seen various translations online, such as “one time, one meeting” and “for this time only.” But my memory of what Jeremy posted sounds the most poetic to me, and seems the most apt as I look back to that week in April 2005: “Cherish this encounter, for it will not come again.”
Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things
{Alan Gomez} “To put it simply: don’t be afraid to try new things. It’s scary, but you don’t realize what you’re capable of until you try something different. I had one or two ideas in mind when I left journalism, but each day really brings about a new opportunity. I never thought I’d teach…until I was offered the opportunity. I never thought I’d be a consultant…until I stumbled into it. I never thought I’d be a voice actor…until my friend came storming over to my house demanding we give it a go.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told clients “To be honest, this is my first time doing this.” And somehow, nobody has turned me down because of that. If you study up on something, learn from people who know more than you, and present a smart plan, there really is no limit to what you can do.”
Expanding the Limits of Our Experiences
{Joe Byerly} “Psychologists have found that the information we allow into our consciousness influences what we focus on. If I read a book about Tesla, I start to notice Teslas on the road when I drive to work. Similarly, when I read a book about empathy, decision-making, or ego, I start paying attention to those areas of my life. Reading expands the limits of our experiences.”
More Wisdom of Authors From Deborah Kalb Q&As
Peri Chickering, Book: Leadership Flow: The Unstoppable Power of Connection, quote: “Leadership flow as a title and guiding image is about an invitation to live with a deep and abiding experience of connection to the wisdom and rhythms which drive the very fabric of our universe – we are a part of this wisdom and it lives in us as it does in everything around us.”
Philippa East, Book: Safe and Sound, quote: “For me, writing is a way to try and understand the world, other people, and myself. I think this drive originally led me into the field of psychology – and now storytelling has become my means to ask and explore those questions.”
Jacquelyn H. Berry, Book: Find Your Carrot: Stop the Foolishness!: Get on With Your Authentic Self, quote: “To produce something helpful and worthy of notice will take a lot of failure; otherwise, someone would have done it already. Want big success? It isn’t going to be on your first try. Period.”