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In This Issue: August 23, 2007
 Warm wishes,
Michael Bungay Stanier
Principal, Box of Crayons
PS - Know anyone looking for answers? Please forward Outside the Lines to anyone you think might be interested.
Five Big Questions
Do you have a particular album that takes you back to a certain time and place?
One of mine is
Dire Strait’s, Making Movies – I
was 16 when I first
heard it, working
on a goat farm
with my friend
Scow.
It’s woven into my memories of that summer, the summer when I first ate avocado, first drank a great bottle of red wine and realized absolutely that I never ever wanted to cut another goat’s
toenail as long
as I live…
… and that’s
a wrap!
And we’ve
been making our
own movies too.
The sweet anticipation
is over, and The
5 ¾ Questions
You’ve
Been Avoiding is
finally live.
We’ve
had a ton of great
feedback … here
are just three of
my favorite comments:
- “Just got around to watching the 5.75 Questions...it's 08:50 here on a wet, grey London morning and that was just the sort of thing I needed to wake me up and get my brain in gear for the day so thanks for that.”
- "Wow! LOVE those questions. I've sent this to: My 19-year-old son … My 63-year-old brother … My 57-year-old husband … My 65-year-old best friend … My 90-year-old Dad."
- "Thank you so much for your new movie. It is very thought provoking and you are too cool presenting such coaching themes in a fun and cool way. I saw you here in Melbourne a while back now and I think you are too cool for school." (I’ve ALWAYS wanted to be “too cool for school”!)
So just
what IS “¾ of a question”?
That of course
is the tease…
You’ll just
have to find out here
Five other questions
At the end of the
movie, you’re
invited to sign
up for the free
e-course, Five
Questions for a
Life of Fun, Inspiration & Action.
I hope you’ll take advantage of the course. Anshinka
in India wrote:
“....u simply make me think what i had never thought before....”
By the way, you will get just one email from me to say Thank You for signing up. Please ignore the line that says you'll see a second email asking you to confirm your subscription to Outside the Lines. If you are reading this, you are already confirmed!
And – if you
enjoy the movie,
please pass it along
to friends and family.
Want to learn more? Here are some great resources
Making Questions Work,
Dorothy Strachan. An
invaluable resource
for coaches,
facilitators and
trainers. Not just questions – but
the best context
in which to use them
as well.
Think Better,
Tim Hurson. I know Tim and I’ve just seen an advanced reader’s copy of his first book. It’s excellent – and one of the chapters is “Stay in the Question.” This is a invaluable guide to productive, creative thinking. It’s
available for pre-ordering.
Making Movies, Dire Straits. Still a classic
Don't take my word for it
Smart folks thinking
out loud about questions:
"There are no right answers to wrong questions."
-Ursula K LeGuin, American author
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the
questions
themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign
tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would
not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions
now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along
some distant day into the answer."
-Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet
"The answers you get from literature depend upon the questions you pose."
-Margaret Atwood, Canadian author
"He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask
a question
remains a fool forever."
-Chinese proverb
"There
are years that ask
questions, and years
that answer them."
-Zora Neale Hurston, American author
"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark
on the things you have long taken for granted."
-Bertrand Russell, Welsh philosopher
"The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions."
-Susan Sontag, American author
"You mustn't always believe what I say. Questions tempt you to tell lies,
particularly
when there is no answer."
-Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist
Great Work Teleforum
On Thursday, September 6th at noon EST time, Nicki Weiss of SalesWise and I are holding a free teleforum on “Less Good Work, More Great Work.” We’ve only got 150 lines – so first in, first served. You can register here.
We’ll be looking at just what the difference is between Good Work and Great Work… and three things you can do to increase the amount of Great Work in your life.
Register here
This is a free teleforum. Just fill out the contact info on the form marked with an asterix.
What Stops Coaching from Flourishing?
I'm presenting a workshop called "Coaching 2.0" at the OD Network Conference in Baltimore in October and I need your help.
In the workshop, I will explore what allows coaching to REALLY flourish in organizations.
To do that, I want to understand the barriers that stop coaching from having the impact it might.
If you work in an organization, or provide coaching to an organization, I’d greatly appreciate you taking 5 minutes (or less) to complete this quick survey on coaching in organizations. You can take the survey now
As a thank you, I'll happily send you (if you wish) the results of this survey AND the handouts from the conference.
You can access the survey here
Many thanks to the 600+ people who've answered the survey to date - I'm very grateful for your support.
Got It Going On: Michael's Speaking Gigs
There are some upcoming public workshops in Toronto, Baltimore and Italy. You can find out more here.
"The
day was a huge
success. My team
felt invigorated
with the new
skills learned
and found it
extremely beneficial
to practice the
new techniques
on a 'real life'
example. Michael
gave us some
very practical
tools and insights,
but was also
flexible and
accommodating
to the needs
of the group.
I have great
confidence that
my team will
continue to apply
the learning." -
Melissa Gasson,
Director, Kraft
Canada.
Could I
be of service
to your organization?
If you are responsible
for booking speakers
or organizing
conferences, or
know someone who
is, find out more information here.
About Michael
Michael Bungay Stanier is the guy behind The Possibility Virus, an organization that provides products and services so people can have lives of fun, inspiration and action.
To learn more about his corporate offerings, see BoxOfCrayons.biz
You can find out more by contacting Michael directly at michael@boxofcrayons.biz or +1 (416) 532-1322.
Subscribe - To subscribe to Outside the Lines click here or go to PossibilityVirus.com.
Reprint - I'd be delighted if you should wish to reprint (for free) any part of Outside the Lines in your newsletters, websites, and message boards. Simply include the following attribution:
Michael Bungay Stanier is a professional keynote speaker, the author of the best selling coaching tool, Get Unstuck & Get Going ...on the stuff that matters and the creator of Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun. A certified coach and Rhodes Scholar, he works with teams and organizations to help them do less Good Work and more Great Work.
Schedule - Outside the Lines is distributed on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month. Your contact information is never traded, never rented, never sold.
I send out an extra email one to three times a month detailing programs and offers.
©Box of Crayons 2007. Box of Crayons is a registered trading name of Maida CC Inc.
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