What’s Tiger Woods’ win at the 2008 US Open got to with high performance under stress? Allow me to share a quick story first … Recently I facilitated a workshop when in the onset phase of ‘Gastro’. As participants arrived I suffered from weakness, nausea and waves of stomach cramps. If I was at home, I would have curled into bed, shut the door and placed a bucket by my side. I disclosed my discomfort to my client and we decided to press on … 50 people had given up their evening to contribute critical thinking. The stakes were high. …

Wow! Improv has become such a source of inspiration for me of late. If you ask yourself “Improv … what is he on about?” … then read this great summary from Viv McWaters (who I must thank for all of her advise and wisdom over the past 8 years!). Viv has designed these great Improv Gift cards and I was lucky enough to receive her very first set. Recently I spoke over Skype with Viv and Robert Poynton where we discussed our work and how Improv was a core part of what we do. Viv went a step further and …

Here’s yet another short-term solution to landfill problems. Take the old advertising billboards (made from toxic PVC) and turn them into art. Helps beautiful spaces and keep nasty stuff out of landfill. Hopefully we’ll get smart and future billboards that get pulld down will be made from materials that could be taken away by landscape gardners and used as mulch mats … or something similar. But for now … I like this solution! Geoff

Over at Faris’ blog here, he writes about a company that brought loads of people together and gave them something to do as a part of their branding . Watch for yourself. Faris writes … “The key is to produce something that both pulls people together and gives them something to do. I think this is probably the key to unlocking the awesome, and the biggest win for any kind of brand related action. We are social creatures – I’m sure you all agree – but we need reasons to be social. I suspect this is why we have sports …

Now here’s an entertaining little video called Future Cities from the World Science Festival. Here’s the description of the video … “We stand at a crossroads. Cities must change radically to achieve long-term sustainability. Energy, food and water sources, transportation systems and basic infrastructure, must all adapt to emerging pressures from climate change, dwindling resources and growing urban populations. Mitchell Joachim is an architect and urban designer as well as a partner in Terreform, a New York–based organization for philanthropic architecture and ecological design. His design of a compact, stackable “city car,” developed with the MIT Smart Cities Group, won …