Yellow Crayon & Q-Tips

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• Yellow Crayon & Q-Tips
• Live Smart After 50!

Yellow Crayon & Q-Tips

I had the sheet of drawing paper laid out on the table.  My two year old grandson Baylor stood in front of the table as I suggested we do some drawing.  I lifted a yellow crayon from the box and handed it to Baylor, greatly anticipating the kind of markings he would make on the paper.  Circles? Squiggles? Zigzags?

That's when Baylor taught me something about leadership.  He grabbed the yellow crayon and, hopping from the table, he began swirling it in his ear.  Squeals of delight filled the air.  He thought that yellow crayon was the coolest q-tip the world had never imagined!

Assumptions!

I had assumptions.  Drawing paper, yellow crayon, circles, squiggles or zigzags!

How about none of the above.  Baylor's uncorrupted and unbiased mind carried no such assumptions.  For him, it was yellow crayon, anything is possible--and it has to bring delight!

Assumptions are often necessary.  They represent a short hand that does not require we explain everything from the beginning over and over again.  Assumptions can also throw a cold press over our adult minds.  They often freeze us out of seeing new and more intriguing possibilities.

Henri Matisse tells us the true creator "has to look at life as he did when he was a child and if he loses that faculty, he cannot express himself in an original ...way."

And so with leadership.  How many times have you heard:

Mary Cassatt Children Playing on the Beach

That won't work around here.
That's not been our experience.
You need more resources to pull that off.
That's just not the way people work.
We've tried that before and it didn't work.
It'll take too long.
Etc.
All are assumptions.  All are wet rags.

Instead, think:  
Yellow crayons make great q-tips.

And bring a child's mind to your organization's creative dilemma.  Try to consider what would bring delight and don't fear looking foolish!


LIVE SMART AFTER 50!  The Experts' Guide to Life Planning for Uncertain Times
 


I am excited to announce the publication of LIVE SMART AFTER 50!  It is a wonderful collaboration of experts across the country and across vital areas of interest and concern for those in the second half of live.  It is a rich, informative, and inspiring read and it makes a fabulous gift this time of year.  Here's a blurb:

LIVE SMART AFTER 50! offers friendly, focused, forward thinking and action oriented help to the challenges of aging in the 21st century.  Rich in practical experience and wisdom, self exploration exercises, and diverse resources, it's a companionable guide for planning and preparing for the second half of life.

In a unique collaboration, thirty-three of the nation's experts in life planning and positive aging distill the most critical issues.  From finding work, community, creativity, purpose and legacy to financing your dreams, making sure your voice is heard, anticipating challenges of aging, and living with purpose and vitality, LIVE SMART AFTER 50! will help you get the big picture, identify and reduce risks, expand choices, and prepare to take advantage of--rather than fear--the future.

To order either a paperback or e-book version go to this link:  http://www.livesmartafter50.com/