doug smith training

Are you a strong boss? Are you totally sure of yourself? Is your team a wild success? Get feedback. Pay attention. Assume nothing. The stronger the boss, the more compelling is the need for honest feedback. Promote honest feedback, listen, and continually improve. -- Doug Smith

How does it feel when someone stands in the way of your goals? Frustrating? Senseless? People who stand in your way could have lots of reasons why. Maybe they even are standing in the way on purpose, to slow you down. Chances are though, that it's not about you, but about your goal. If your goal is ambitious and noble, why would anyone stand in the way? Wouldn't they get behind your efforts once they know how cool and important they are? It's all about communication. Have the conversation. Let people know about your goals. Get their help. Test your theories with friendly dialogue. You'll learn, you'll grow, and you'll find more influence with people once they have a real chance to discuss your goals -- the good, the bad, and the ugly parts. Who can you tell about your goal today? -- Doug Smith

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Is "why" the toughest question? It can sound accusatory. It can sound provocative. Used clumsily it can prevent information from being shared. It's a dangerous question. But it's useful. Sometimes as leaders we do need to know why. Stay curious. Not judgmental. When we need to know why, we need to know why. Part of communicating for results is getting the information that we need to make decisions. Hedging is for the stock market, not feedback conversations. It takes courage to ask why, and it takes courage to answer why. Ask it anyway. Ask it because. Why? -- Doug Smith

Are you ever tempted to major in the minors? Do you ever find yourself working diligently on things that barely matter? It's happened to me -- a whole day spent answering and reading email. A whole day perseverating over one slide or one learning activity. A night in a new city spent revising the 50th draft of a program I'm already doing. Instead, let's focus on making things better. Let's tackle the big problems, before they make all the little cares obsolete. Big problems need not be ignored. We dare only to tackle them before they bury us. Reform banking. Stabilize climate change. Feed the hungry. House the poor. Eliminate exploitation and inequality. Which problem concerns you the most? What ideas do you have about solving that problem? -- Doug Smith

Do you ever find yourself wanting to be creative but stuck for where to begin? I like to work with random prompts sometimes just to get my creative flow started. Here's one I captured on video while taking my morning walk. Two things occur to me - 1. It's a great way to identify what medium to start your idea in, and 2. I should shave before filming a video. Your spinning wheel doesn't have to be elaborate. It's just a way to get the start of an idea started. You could also substitute the types of creative works for something else random. If your creative works are solely focused on painting, put different styles on the wheel. Or colors to use.  Mix it up. Add an element of chance. And then get started. What's your best creative notion today? -- Doug Smith

You hear it all the time: fake it 'til you make it. What do you think? Here's my humble take on the concept: And yes, it might occur to you that I am faking it as a videographer. No, not faking it -- it's quick, it's cheap, it's my creative notion for the day. -- Doug Smith

When you're being creative, should you go for quality or quantity? That's my question today in my morning walk Creative Notion. What do you think? -- Doug Smith

What creative project are you working on this weekend? Here's a little video written and directed by Daniel Vaughn that I acted in a little while ago. Oh yeah, we made it over a weekend. Create a fabulous, inspirational day! -- doug smith

When you make videos with your mobile device, how do you hold the device? Vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape). Here's my thought on that: I know the production values on this video are sketchy but that's not the point. It's part of a series of quick creative musings designed to get you going creatively. Now. Enjoy one wonderful creative and inspirational day! -- Doug Smith

Make a video! That's my creative notion. You already know how easy it is. But make one very short video each day to spark your creativity. Here's what I offered during my afternoon walk: Have a fabulous, creative, inspirational day! -- Doug Smith

Are you growing? Are you learning? Are you excited about what you're working on? We need to keep growing. The alternative is just not appealing. Grow. Learn. Make new roads and set new directions. Here are some goals worth growing for: Achieve peace thru dialogue Reform banking into a fair and stable system Build stronger relationships thru deeper conversations. Develop shared understanding by discovering, exploring and creating art and music. Normalize climate thru conservation and renewable energy Do you need more? That's a hefty list. Call it my wish list. Noble goals all. I have NO IDEA how to achieve any of them, they are all much bigger than me or my influence. But maybe you have a clue. Maybe you have a way. Maybe you know someone who knows someone who...you get the idea. We've got to start somewhere, AND we've got to grow, so why not grow thru noble goals. Break them down. Get started. Grow. -- Doug Smith