creativity | Jennifer McClure`

Poetry, Hip Hop, and HR: Creativity and Leading in the Future of Work With Arend Boersema

Have you ever thought of poetry as a tool for revolutionizing your thought process and sparking creativity? Well, my guest on episode 84 of the Impact Makers podcast has!

Arend Boersema, is a human resources leader, hip-hop enthusiast, spoken word poet and writer, and in our conversation, he shares how we can use art forms like poetry to disrupt our thinking, and to unlock creativity in the workplace.

Having lived in various countries and cultures around the world, Arend embraces his diverse identity as a global citizen, and utilizes his passions and experience to help leaders to tap into their creativity, and to think differently about work and life. He’s a firm believer that writing poetry can be a useful activity to explore self-expression and uncover new ideas.

During the pandemic, Arend found solace in writing and capturing his experiences through spoken word poetry, and this creative expression culminated in the publication of his book, “Poetry at the Heart of Business.”

As an HR and organizational development expert, Arend incorporates spoken word poetry, hip-hop, and haikus into training classes, retreats, and summits as tools to encourage creative thinking, and to foster a sense of community among participants.

This episode is a fascinating blend of art, creativity, and leadership that you wouldn’t want to miss. I hope that it sparks something in you, and inspires you to use poetry, hip hop lyrics, or some other form of art that you may be passionate about to engage your own creativity and self-expression in your leadership journey going forward.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

The importance of HR in creating a positive employee experience and fostering company culture.
How incorporating storytelling and spoken word poetry into your work can make concepts and feelings come to life in unique ways.
How embracing creativity and self-expression can enhance leadership skills and help us to connect with others on a deeper level.
Using poetry and art as tools for personal growth, self-reflection, and making sense of the world.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 84

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Arend Boersema – Website, LinkedIn Profile

Book – Poetry at the Heart of Business : Spoken Word Poetry Exploring the Concept of Company Culture & Belonging by Arend Boersema

DisruptHR Philadelphia Talk – Do You Even Hear Yourself? (Leadership & Self-Reflection) | Arend Boersema

DisruptHR Philadelphia Talk – Turns Out, You Can Fix Stupid | Arend Boersema

Written by Jennifer McClure

How to Make Work Suck Less By Making It Fun with Jeff Harry

These days, every workplace expert and futurist worth their salt is talking about The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, burnout, and dwindling employee engagement levels.

Some are even offering solutions to these problems, including showing more empathy, focusing on improving access to mental health benefits, offering more workplace flexibility, and suggesting increased communication from leadership.

But I’ve not heard anyone suggesting that we can address these issues through introducing more play and fun in the workplace – until I met today’s guest, Jeff Harry of Rediscover Your Play.

Jeff is passionate about making work suck less, and he does this by assisting leaders in building a workplace where individuals learn how to tap into their true selves, to feel their happiest and most fulfilled–all through play!

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

The two questions to ask your leaders to understand your company culture.
The difference between forced fun, and introducing play in the workplace.
Why allowing yourself to get bored is the key to unlocking creativity and innovation.
How to address quiet quitting through play.
Why psychological safety is required before introducing fun or play into the workplace.
The reason why meetings suck, and what you can do to fix it.
How what drove you back when you were a kid can really answer questions like “How do you want to show up in the world?”
How can you cultivate the next great idea?
How to add more play to your grown-up life.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 67

Key Quotes From This Episode:

“What is the worst behavior you are currently tolerating [in your workplace]? Because that sets the tone, that sets the culture.” ~ @Jeff Harry

“Allow yourself to get bored the way you got bored as a kid. And then, when you get bored and…you’re not being inundated by information or not looking at information, then just see what ideas start to come up.” ~ @Jeff Harry

“Challenge the status quo because clearly it’s not working for a majority of people if we have such high disengagement, such high absenteeism and, such a movement around like anti-work or Quiet Quitting.” ~ @Jeff Harry

People & Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Workplace from Meta

Rediscover Your Play

Jeff Harry LinkedIn

Play-Well TEKnologies – Teaching Engineering to Kids

Gary Ware – Breakthrough Play

Impact Makers Podcast Episode 67: Building a Culture of Mindfulness and Supporting Employee Mental Health with Headspace CPO Désirée Pascual

Braver Angels

harkness.ai

Lauren Yee – Cultivator of Curiosity

Show Sponsor:

This episode of the Impact Makers Podcast is sponsored by Workplace from Meta.

Everybody’s talking about the metaverse these days, but Workplace from Meta is different – I mean, the clue’s in the name, right?

Workplace is a business communication tool that uses features like instant messaging and video calls to help people share information. Think Facebook, but for your company.

It’s part of Meta’s vision for the future of work – a future in which your job isn’t just something you do, but something you EXPERIENCE. A future in which we’ll all feel more present, connected, and productive.

Start your journey into the future of work at workplace.com/future.

Connect with Jennifer:

Send her a message [https://jennifermcclure.net/contact/]

On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure

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On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker

Written by Jennifer McClure

Combining the Power of Moonshot Thinking With Actionable Plans to Make an Impact in Work and Life With Ozan Varol

How many times have you heard the phrase – “Well, it’s not exactly rocket science” – when someone is referring to something as easy?

I guess that means that we associate those who actually ARE rocket scientists with being exceptionally smart. 🙂

And while that’s probably true – actually it IS true – the reality is that you and I can THINK like a rocket scientist, without actually having to send anything into space.

So, just how do rocket scientists think? And how can you and I apply that thinking to our work and our lives in order to increase our impact?

My guest on Episode 47 of the Impact Makers Podcast has an idea. In fact, he’s been there, done that, and has written the book on it.

Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned award-winning professor and #1 bestselling author. He’s also one of the world’s foremost experts in creativity, innovation, and critical thinking.

Ozan grew up in Istanbul, Turkey, learned English as his second language, and moved to the United States by himself at the age of 17 to attend Cornell University, and major in astrophysics in order to achieve his dream of becoming an American astronaut.

While attending Cornell, he served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers project that sent two rovers – Spirit and Opportunity – to Mars. Then in a surprising twist, he ditched his dream of becoming an astronaut, and chose to attend law school instead, where – in true rocket scientist form – he graduated first in his class, earning the highest grade point average in the school’s history.

After practicing law for a few years, Ozan joined the ranks of academia at Lewis & Clark Law School in beautiful Portland, Oregon, where he became a law professor, with a goal of influencing others to make giant leaps on Earth.

In April 2020, Ozan’s book – Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life – was published, and it was recently named one Inc.com’s 6 Business Books You Need to Read in 2020. It’s also listed as one of Amazon’s Top 20 books of 2020 in three categories (non-fiction, business, and science), and was chosen as the number one pick on noted author Adam Grant’s list of the top 20 leadership books of 2020.

I recently connected with Ozan, and have enjoyed learning from him through his popular weekly emails, and I’m challenging myself to apply the 9 strategies in his book to make giant leaps in my work and in my life.

I think you’ll get a lot of great takeaways from my conversation with Ozan, and I encourage you to connect with him, buy the book, and sign up for his weekly email that shares one big idea that you can read in 3 minutes or less.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

Why moonshot thinking can produce great results – even if you don’t reach what you’re aiming for.
What we can learn from snakes that can create space for new ideas to emerge.
The importance of just starting – and not waiting until everything is in place – to facilitate the emergence of new ideas.
The benefits of moonshot thinking during times of chaos and uncertainty.
How looking at the assumptions in your life and applying first principles thinking can generate original insights.
3 ways to open up your mind to allow for moonshot thinking – even if you don’t consider yourself a visionary thinker.
What George Costanza and rocket scientists have in common – and what you can learn from both.
The power of putting yourself into “Airplane Mode”, and why doing nothing is more valuable than you think.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 47

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

Key Quotes From This Episode:

“We really are a species of moonshots, even though we’ve largely forgotten it. We’ve been seduced into believing that small dreams are wiser than moonshots, that coasting is better than soaring, that flying lower is safer than flying higher. So even in moments like this, where the world is turned topsy-turvy, where there is so much uncertainty, there is a lot of room for moonshot thinking.” ~ Ozan Varol

“The great thing about moonshot thinking is – even if you don’t get what you’re aiming for, you end up soaring far higher than you otherwise would.” ~ Ozan Varol

“Moonshot thinking isn’t just about dreaming big, and then sprinkling some fairy dust and hoping that your dreams magically take flight. That’s not what moonshot thinking is. Moonshot thinking is that intersection between pragmatism and idealism. So you’re dreaming big, yeah, but you’re also combining it with a very actionable plan for actually making your dreams reality.” ~ Ozan Varol