Workplace

Creator vs Employee: Why don’t you get a real job?

Rich Kirkpatrick0547 views

Subscribe to the audio blog on your favorite podcast app: Subscribe Have you ever wondered why work seems meaningful to some and not to others? Perhaps it has to do with how we see ourselves. Are we creators or employees? There are a few recordings that playback in the mind of innovators and creators and they begin early in life. In grade school, the teacher says, “Sit still, color within the lines, and stop daydreaming.” They scolded us for the doodles on the edge of the folder and shamed us for our sensitivity. In the old days, teachers simply put you in the corner of the room. The mission of education, in the mind of a myopic society, aims for conformity and uniformity. Sticking out threatens the general order. Things are simply the way they are and if you want to challenge it, you will pay the price. The schoolyard…

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Why Brainstorming Meetings Suck and How to Make Them Better

Rich Kirkpatrick0584 views

Subscribe to the audio blog on your favorite podcast app: Subscribe If you want to see eyes roll, tell the team you planned a brainstorming meeting. The hope is to practice innovation, foster teamwork, or prop up low morale. Motives, whether sane or desperate, propel such a meeting to the calendar. The effectiveness of these types of meetings is another story, however. Be honest. They suck. Let me jog your memory. The dreaded no-idea-is-bad on the whiteboard turns into three people dominating the meeting while the rest watch the clock, hoping to get to the break room microwave first to warm the leftovers they brought for lunch. After an hour’s work, the whiteboard has the thoughts of these three people, and the no-bad-ideas promise fails. Passing objections and restrained snickers frustrate the goal of non-judgmental civility, however. The leader writes lists of ideas on the board, filtering, categorizing, and labeling them in…

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Flexing the Muscle of Imagination: The hard work of creativity

Rich Kirkpatrick0542 views

Leading worship requires a heavy dose of administrative strengths. There are team members to schedule, music to arrange and distribute, plans to execute, and budgets to keep. Just because you sing and hold a guitar doesn’t mean you automatically get to create! Yes, you serve by making music and prayers work in service for your church. Yes, the desire for unique artistic expression worthy of a worship service rate high on the task list. But, imagination takes a back seat.

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The Dangers of Binary Thinking: When a 2D thought meets a 3D universe

Rich Kirkpatrick0826 views

Mystery cannot be contained by two dimensions. We seem to escape mystery within the walls of our binary reality. If life was as simple as a switch, we could simply turn off or turn on solutions. In fact, we do that very act every day to choose hot or cold water out of the faucet. We change the channel or swipe to the next stream of content on our smartphones with ease. Choices, no matter how full of first-world sophistication all reduce themselves to a binary question. With thousands of TV shows, hundreds of thousands of songs, and millions of click-bait articles to peruse, the choice is either a yes or a no. The muscle that might have once been used on imagination and wonder is now occupied to manage the firehose torrent of information and entertainment headed in our direction. Our schedule will not allow exploration, however. Reasonable people…

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5 Sins of Social Media Users – How to grow a flimsy, fake following!

Rich Kirkpatrick22366 views

Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are now not only personal expressions but company branding machines. With the proliferation of this new media, I have identified five sins that create weak impact—unless you are into rewarding stupidly bad behavior. And, they drive me crazy! The dark side of social media might hurt you more than help. Many companies see added stats to follower lists, but do they know that their supposed social media manager is cheating a system instead of engaging people? 

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