Tim Herd

Trickling runoff from a mountain’s upper reaches coalesces into rivulets, which in turn merge into brooks. Brooks combine to form streams; streams gather into creeks, which build into expansive rivers, whose hydraulic action not only moves bedrock and other so-called immovable objects, but whose flow nourishes and sustains life, land, and the entire watershed.

Such is the combining power of confluence.

Much like the tiny drops that start the flow, your teammates may come from very diverse origins. With them they bring swirling eddies of expertise and experience, bearing diverse backgrounds and beliefs, and packing a plethora of principles, paradigms, and persuasions!

But when they align in a unified flow, their cumulative momentum and empowering force are nearly unstoppable.

(more…)

We’re all for creativity: Hooray!

As an esoteric concept, that is. Because when it flashes its bright ideas in our face, it gets personal and we decide it’s not all that.

We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.  —Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

According to a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania, our two-faced response to creativity stems from the baggage that new ideas tote along.

Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy!  —Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

Will this crazy scheme actually work? What will people think of me if I endorse it? What if it fails? Our love of cre­ativ­ity is what we pro­fess in pub­lic—but our dread of it is what we tend to hide from the world, and of­ten even from our­selves, the researchers found. (more…)

I do believe in spooks! I do! I do! I do!

So exclaimed the Cowardly Lion in the Land of Oz: When confronted by a personal threat, he simply gave over to his fears and allowed their power to rule him.

Tsk. Poor guy. That was before he discovered he already had all the courage he needed. And though the threats to his personhood did in fact exist, their impacts were based more on perception than reality.

Kind of like cliques. Without doubting their existence, I don’t believe in cliques, thereby denying their influence over me. Despite being the crushers of self-esteem you thought you had left behind in junior high school, they’ve followed you to the workplace, the volunteer committee, the professional organization, and the civic club. Their existence is confirmed by the outsider, and reinforced by the in-crowd.

(more…)