When we’re under pressure to deliver, the urge is often to move quickly and get straight into action. Pausing can feel counterintuitive, almost like standing still when everything around us is demanding momentum. Yet in my experience, the time taken to ask the right questions at the beginning creates far better outcomes than simply reacting in the moment.
The close of the year is the perfect moment to pause and take stock.
As the director of your story, which scenes from your year will you keep? Which ones might head to the editing room floor?
If you’ve been with me a while, you know that so much of my work with Maverick Minds has always circled back to creativity. I approach creativity from both the artist’s sense, as well as creativity as a way of thinking, exploring, and making sense of change. I think of it as striving to be artful in how we work and engage with others, regardless of the profession we work in.
What happens when you bring the spirit of the playground into a room of business owners? At a recent session with the Basic Bananas small business community, it became a space to climb over challenges, slide into new perspectives, and explore fresh possibilities for work and business.
There I was, waiting at my place for my regular community of practice group to arrive. An always-on-time bunch, this time, no one had arrived by our scheduled start time, and then it dawned on me. We were meeting somewhere else entirely. They were at Stephen’s place, which is where I should have been, too.
At Payne Road State School’s annual Environment Leaders Day, students from across the district gathered to explore how young people can lead positive change for the planet.
It was a powerful feeling to be in a room full of enthusiastic and energetic young people who care deeply about the world around them.
Maverick Minds was invited back for a second year, contributing a session that helped students uncover and develop their leadership superpowers – the qualities, behaviours, and mindsets that support human-centred leadership in action.
Curious what a day of student leadership and superpowers looks like?