It started with Michelle James, generative-emergent-creative-super-maven extraordinaire, who convened/recruited/whatever, six of some of the most generative emergent creative super-people I’ve just about ever met. These amazing specimens of human consciousness had just presented at the Creativity in Business Conference (http://creativity-conference.com/) in Georgetown, and came out for a much deserved chill out @ Kayser Ridge for a few days. I’d have been crazy not to have worked this retreat (sorry Dawn — maybe next time…;) ). Speaking for myself, it was another great experience-notch to add to the Kayser Ridge belt!
Read the wonderful blogpost by Annalie (3rd from right, below) describing her time at Kayser Ridge. Wow, thanks Annalie — you are too kind!
http://catalystformagic.posterous.com/magic-in-dc-and-the-shenandoah-mountains
And now, all these good folks have “Kayser Ridger” to add to their extensive and wildly impressive resumes! Of course, they were “subjected” to an overview of Polarity Thinking while here, so they can add that, too. Lucky them! 😉
As if that wasn’t enough, we were treated to an aurora borealis — this link pretty much captures what we saw, except none of us thought to have grabbed a camera…VIEW IT > Talk about a treat.
Now that you’ve seen some pictures, check ’em out here, too:
Michelle James – Conference Curator – is CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence and founder of the Capitol Creativity Network and Quantum Leap Business Improv. She is a business creativity consultant, facilitator and coach who has been pioneering applied creativity and improvisation in business for 16 years. She’s designed and delivered hundreds of public workshops for solopreneurs and leaders and business creativity programs for organizations such as Microsoft, Deloitte, GEICO, National Institutes for Health, The World Bank, Invest Norhtern Ireland, Teach for America and Kaiser Permanente among others. Michelle has been featured on TV, the radio and in print and was recognized for Visionary Leadership in Fast Company’s blog, Leading Change for “her commitment to bring creative expression into the work environment in a very deep and meaningful way.” She is an artist, storyteller, improv performer, philosopher, and a CoreSomatics (Embodied Movement with Depth Psychology) Master Practitioner, all of which inform her work and mission.
Gregg Fraley – Presenter – is an author, speaker, innovation consultant, and “Chief Solver” and co-founder of Kiln Ideas, Ltd. Kiln’s innovation system brings trend intelligence into a systematic, whole-brain, continuous innovation process within companies. Gregg’s consults and coaches on innovation project management idea generation facilitation, and creativity/CPS training. Clients have included Budweiser, Givaudan, Nestlé Purina, Johnsonville Sausage, and Leo Burnett Advertising among others. Gregg’ s been a leader and board member of the Creative Education Foundation and the European Creativity Association conference in Italy, CREA, and did a recent keynote at TEDxNASA. He is the author of the creaitvity and innovation business fable, Jack’s Notebook. Before Kiln, Gregg founded an IT company, was a marketing VP, and worked in the television where and won a Cable ACE Innovation award and an Emmy. Gregg’s blog is www.greggfraley.com.
Annalie Killian – Creative Leadership Panelist – “Corporate Maverick” and Catalyst for Magic at AMP, one of Australia’s most eminent Financial Services corporations. In charge of Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, she stirs up employee creativity, cross-functional collaboration and open innovation. She is also the creator of the unique Amplify Festival of Innovation & Thought Leadership, where 3 thousand employees and clients participate with thought leaders and change agents from all over the world. She is sought out as a Futurist and for her experience in effecting transformational change in complex systems. She’s pioneered innovation in social responsibility and business/ community partnerships and won numerous international awards for initiatives that helped the South African society transition from apartheid to democracy. In May, she was selected for the prestigious First Mover Fellows at the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program. Her personal blog is www.catalystformagic.posterous.com.
George Pór – Emergence and Cocreation Panelist – is co-founder of CommunityIntelligence Ltd, a London-based transformation agency, the hub of an international network of consultants collaborating on larger projects. George is a pioneer of using social media for developing such strategic organizational capabilities as collaborative work and learning. His specialty is advising leaders about communities of practice as untapped engines of value creation. He brought the concept of “communities of practice” to the European Commission and guided a 3-year project to develop such communities. George’s clients have included Canadian Imperial Bank, Copenhagen Institute for the Future, European Foundation for Mgnt Development, Ford, Greenpeace, Intel, H-P, Procter & Gamble, Swedish Organizational Learning Association and World Wildlife Foundation among others. George holds Senior Research Fellow position at the University of Amsterdam Business School, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Knowledge Management.
Jack Ricchiuto – Presenter; Emergence and Co-Creation Panelist – is a collaboration designer, author, innovator and founder of Designing Life. He teaches groups and leaders how they can creatively organize themselves for success.
He brings creative process and community building into strategic planning, project management, product development, start-up formation and organization restructuring. As 9-time author, Jack has been a journalist for business magazines and radio guest expert on his books that include Collaborative Creativity, Accidental Conversations, Project Zen, Appreciative Leadership, Conscious Becoming, and The Stories that Connect Us among others. His 10th book “The Joy of Thriving” is due in January. Jack has teaches leadership, storytelling, and organization development in universities, including Kent State’s EMBA program, and corporations. Clients have included American Greetings, FedEx, DoD, US Cellular, Viacom, Ford, Moen, and the American Red Cross among others.
Carol Sanford – Presenter; Creative Work Cultures Panelist – has consulted for 3 decades to Fortune 500 companies globally (incl. DuPont, Colgate Europe Africa and Latin Am, and Intel), policy makers (such as British Columbia Premier), policy advisors, Arab nations, entrepreneurial start ups (such as Seventh Generation and hundreds of others) – inventing new ways to work holistically and systemically. She authored hundreds of works, including her recent acclaimed book, The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success. Known for breakthrough ideas, transformational initiatives and whole-brain approaches, her work has been featured in many publications (incl. HBR), on TV and radio business programs. Carol is one of the pioneers and practitioners of Living Systems/Whole Systems development in business and policy development. She leactures at universities incl. MIT Sloane, U Michigan, and U Washington among others, and serves as mentor/advisor to the Global Social Entrepreneur Competition at U. of Washington mentoring new businesses around the world. www.CarolSanford.com
Bruce Waltuck — a long-time leader in the fields of public sector organizational change and process improvement. Expertise and interest in applying concepts of complex adaptive systems to the work of leading change. Pioneer in collaborative labor-management relationships. Presenter and author, on stuff like customer service, quality, leadership, government improvement, data collection and analysis, collaborative dialogue, and more. Fan of New Mexican cuisine, early blues music, and the artistry of flying dual-line kites. Degrees in economics from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and in Complexity, Chaos, and Creativity, from the University of Western Sydney (yes it really says that on the diploma). @complexified on Twitter, hence the blog name. http://complexified.wordpress.com/about/
