Category Archives: inspiration

Robot Heart Stories: An experiment in high concept experiential learning

Written by jason. Posted on October 22, 2011. Filed under Children & Youth, inspiration. Comments Off.

This is really interesting:

Robot Hearts Stories is an experiential learning project that uses collaboration and creative problem solving to put education directly in the hands of students. This fall, two classrooms, a continent apart, will work together to get a lost robot home, and they will need your help…

Visit the blog page on the site to get a better sense of how “educational” content/learning is being weaved into the experience.

A Steve Jobs quote that resonates

Written by jason. Posted on October 6, 2011. Filed under inspiration. Comments Off.

As the retrospectives fill the airwaves and online, I’m kind of surprised that the quote that has captured the media’s mindshare is on death. (okay, well not really considering Steve Jobs passed away). That said, I think the following is one of his stronger quotes from Stanford’s 2005 Commencement (man, I wish he gave our speech when I was there). RIP Steve Jobs – thank you for not settling.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

‘Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd’ – excerpts

Written by jason. Posted on February 8, 2011. Filed under Business Thoughts, inspiration. Comments Off.

book coverI’m nearly at the end of Youngme Moon’s, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd. It’s been a fairly good read so far. She’s been able to make even the most obvious of business ideas seem fresh.

There are a number of ideas/quotes that have stuck with me that I plan on sharing with you. To start:

Great ideas, novel ideas, original ideas…are tenuous at birth. And the reason for this is that, early on, they are often indistinguishable from crazy, impractical ideas.
…if we want innovation to happen, we need to suspend our disbelief enough to let it happen.

I’m a firm believer in this statement. I’m sure you are too having encountered the naysayers within your organization. The challenge – whether you be a start-up or struggling not-for-profit – is to create an environment, an organizational culture if you will, that is at minimum non-hostile to new ideas. Once you’ve established this type of environment, the next step is to create a culture of support. This is when fledgling ideas really take root, grow and proliferate.

What steps are you taking to change your organizational culture to be supportive of new ideas? I’d love to know.

Creativity at Work: 10 Ways People Are Using The iPad To Create Content

Written by jason. Posted on December 7, 2010. Filed under inspiration. Tagged , , . Comments Off.

A little inspiration for a Tuesday in December. Take a look at slide #8 – a simple yet interesting idea. It reminds me of young music artists selling tapes and cds out of their car. I wonder if we’ll see more of this at the outdoor art festivals come next spring/summer?

10 Ways People Are Using The iPad to Create Content…