Halooooooo from 30,000 ft! Thanks to the wonders of high altitude wifi I can blog and fly at the same time - Wooo Hooooo!
This week I've been at summer school in Cape Cod, learning from Chris Worley - one of the 'greats' in the field of OD (organization/al development) about sustainable management organizations. It was awesome.
Some of the awesomeness was due to my learning buddies Chickeee & Elsie; we used to work together in what now seems like a previous life, but now have moved onto new and exciting things and my how we've grown! We all have so much common experience and understanding but our most recent experiences have given us different perspectives and edges that make us look the same on the outside but different underneath. It was a fascinating week.
Awesomeness factor 2 came from the whole 'summer school' concept. The cape cod institute is thirty two years old and provides summer classes for mental health & OD professionals at the Nauset high school in cape cod. As a grown up it's really cool to step back in time to high school (actually my UK version was called secondary school) but the concepts are similar, classrooms, common areas, dodgy loo's and plenty of space to saunter round trying to look cool! What REALLY surprised me is how insular some of my fellow students were. I get that an 11-18 year old may be 'too cool' to engage with others, but really 45 year olds??? Perhaps I'm too intimidating or expect too much but I could have used a bit more engagement people!!!
The third awesome was provided by Cape Cod itself, its BEAUTIFUl. Wild flowers, dense woodland, cute cottages and a laid back attitude provide the perfect get-away to sit back, relax and open up to new ways of thinking. As a Brit I feel very comfortable on the cape with all it's English place names and small stature, it reminds me of being in Devon or Cornwall and somehow it's a bit like going home.
Finally the very last awesomeness was our Prof Chris Worley. What a groove ball! Quite apart from heading one of the most prestigious OD programs and working with some of the most amazing corporations on the planet...this bloke is a devoted family man, humorist and general good egg. He responded to every raised hand & shouted comment with a "yes please" and even threw in the odd swear word - probably just to put me at ease!
So after all that awesomeness why am I up in the air? Well it's simply this...once your mind is stretched in new directions it never regains it's former shape; now I have to DO something with what I've experienced and learned or else it will wither, die and be for nought and I won't let that happen.
I'm so thankful for my summer school experience, for things learned, questions formed, experiences shared and perspectives expanded, let's hope my 30,000 ft perspective will help me see wood from the trees and make the most of all the awesomeness.
