"What if?" and "Why Not?" -- The Dive

Maximum Impact Club Website
Leadership Book Club Website

Well, here goes the dive. My first foray into the blogosphere. I will do my best to be an interesting blogger. At least, to make some observations that ring true and to pose some questions to ponder.

First, a few particulars...the websites listed above are websites that I created to support clubs focused on Leadership and on creating Maximum Benefit through creative and imaginative networking. Both are an experiment. I will keep you posted on how they go. Please visit them, add your comments and suggestions.

The website here: Lori Vallelunga Photography Website is my photography website. I also have photos posted on Webshots. The link to that website is: Webshots Photos. You may find them interesting, perhaps they will even stoke your creativity. I hope so.

Why do people start to blog? I have often wondered about this question. For me, I decided to start blogging for two reasons:

1. One of the ten new leadership skills that Bob Johansen highlights in his new book Leaders Make the Future is "Immersive Learning Ability" which he defines as "Ability to immerse yourself in unfamiliar environments, to learn from them in a first-person way." For me, much of the social media craze has been alien and the social media outlets a foreign land. Therefore, in order to prepare myself to have the leadership skills that will be necessary in the coming decade, I am working to immerse myself in these foreign cultures: Facebook, Linkedin, Webpages, and now blogging. Sort of like traveling without the exotic foods and smells.
2. In a fantastic little book that I will discuss more later, Imagination First, the authors challenge us to build our capacity to imagine.I have always considered myself a pretty creative person with a strong imagination. However, blogging is a new outlet for this creativity. We shall see if I am any good at it.
   

Imagination. The title of the book I referenced above: Imagination First. Unlocking the Power of Possibility conjured up ideas of pleasure and photography and grand ideas that would change the world. I started reading it as soon as I received it. Imagination as defined by the authors (Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon) is simply the capacity to conceive of what is not...the ability to conjure new realities and possibilities. The authors argue (convincingly to me at least) that imagination, creativity, and innovation are linked, but that imagination must come first. From imagination springs creativity -- the active application of imagination. From a creative expression, innovation can occur, although creativity does not always lead to innovation. These are ideas that resonated with me. They rang true.

In this handy book, the authors lay out 28 1/2 practices (yes, half a practice, takes some imagination, doesn't it?) that can help us to strengthen our ability to imagine. My initial thought is to blog about each of these practices and how I am trying to apply them. Maybe they will work for you as well or maybe you will have your own imaginative application.

So, here we go: Practice #1 Make Mist. Ready. Get Still. Go. Without repeating the content of this short chapter, this practice is about allowing yourself time and space to be silent, to shut out the distractions of email and telephones and tweets and blackberries and to just allow yourself mental space for your imagination to work. For me, this is absolutely critical to imagination. Without it, I get stuck in the sometimes dry world of analysis and data and facts and figures and solving problems and dealing with traffic and by the end of the day I am too tired to use my imagination muscle. I find this misty silent quiet space in a number of ways: through reading - for pleasure and for growth; through spending time outdoors, absorbing nature, hiking or walking or just looking off my balcony (the photo on my profile was taken from my balcony), or I play with my photography. Essentially, I I try to get away from thinking and allow myself the opportunity to experience. Ready. Get Still. Go. What do you do?