Hat Tip to Garr Reynolds for this one …

The Girl Effect website is all about a ‘movement’ on the rise. It starts with the premise that adolescent girls living in the developing world, if given the chance to participate in their own community, can make a difference … collectively (that’s many millions!) they can change the course of humanity.

They have developed this wonderfully simple video to communicate their message. Best to watch it at their website here. Here’s the embedded version …

Ok, so what? Here’s some questions that sprang to my mind …

What if we used this type of communication (video, typography, music) more of the time?

What would be the impact if we used this type of creativity to communicate messages about other big issues like climate change?

What if we communicated more messages of hope, stories that point to solutions and spent less time dwelling on the impending doom of it all?

Somewhere in all of this lies a better way. Elevating the ‘status’ of the creative arts to be an equal with science and traditional rational problem solving is part of my quest and reason for ‘doing what I do’. Authors like Dan Pink and legends like Sir Ken Robinson are also on this journey.

As someone who works with groups of people lots of the time, I get a chance to observe when people and group are in their ‘element’ … that is when they are fully engaged, enjoying themselves, listening to others and letting-go of preconcieved outcomes. When I invite people to roll up their sleeves and ‘play’ in workshops, my sense is that they go to a new level in their thinking and experience a deeper connection with those around them.

Tim Brown has a great 20 minute presentation on the Nexus between play and business here at TED.

In Sum …

I’ll continue to talk about this and explore the use of creativity and arts in my consulting practice. I’ll continue to push the boundaries in communication and in the way think about enabling change. I’ll continue to have many conversations with as many people as I can and expand my thinking and networks. I’ll continue to enjoy monthly skype chats with The Slips (Viv McWaters, Chris Corrigan and Johnnie Moore) about all of this and more!

cheers

Geoff