CELEBRATE YOUR FREEDOM ON LABOR DAY  Why do we celebrate Labor Day?  In 1894 workers in the company town of Pullman, Illinois went on strike. In Pullman, everyone worked for the Pullman Railway Car Company. Where you lived in town was based on what you did: the workers lived in row houses, the managers in modest victorians and George Pullman himself lived in the opulent hotel where his business contacts stayed while in town. There were town stores and a town bank. Rents were automatically deducted from your paycheck.  A national depression in 1893 forced Pullman to layoff hundreds of workers and reduce wages for those remaining, but living costs remained the same, and were deducted off the tops of their checks. Oh that sounds fun. The workers went on strike and were joined by the American Railway Union. National transportation and mail deliveries came to a standstill, and riots broke out. President Cleveland called out 12,000 troops to suppress the chaos and declared the strike illegal. In the chaos that ensued, two men were killed by Deputy Marshals in Kensington, Illinois before the strike was finally over. Shocked by the violence, people created an anti-Cleveland demonstration (boy this sounds familiar). Congress stepped in to quickly pass an act making the first Monday in September a national holiday,  Labor Day. This day was to celebrate American workers; their productivity and contributions to society and the economy. If you are wondering what to celebrate over that ice cold beverage and awesome barbecue this Monday, here's an idea...because of this and other early labor strikes, you and I got to go to school as children and play during summer months. (Remember that when your neighbor's children wake you from your nap by shrieking while running through the sprinklers!) That's still not a luxury for children insome parts of the world. Many of you reading are entrepreneurs running your own businesses. That's an amazing thing to celebrate! But if you aren't working for yourself, thanks for what you do to make the world a better place. PS you might end up looking like this guy in the Cliff Merritt labor cartoon books series:  #hunk Whatever you end up doing this Labor Day, celebrate that you are unique. You and only you bring your perspective, value, talent, skill and humor to the world.  You are free to make your own choices and decide where to put your energy and enthusiasm to your piece of the world. If you choose to call it labor, remember it's a labor of love.  If you or someone you know are feeling a lack of freedom and want to shift what you are doing, go Draw Your Future, and catapult yourself into the "labor" that's right for you. Special thanks to those who went before us and paved the way to our freedom!  Have a Happy Labor Day! GENIUS TOOLKITS #CREATIVEGENIUSYOU We are coming out with some awesome downloadable toolkits to help you be the creative genius at your offsite. To get in on the early bird special pricing email us atinfo@upyourcreativegenius.com ENVISION WALL MAKE A SPACE FOR INTERACTIVITY What to do with that extra wall space? Put up a blank sheet of paper and put some pens by it. Let your team interact with you. Or let us help you at your next all hands meeting. We'll capture key comments in a picture so they last longer than a word cloud. ;-)  SHOUT OUT LIVEYOURDREAM.ORG if you are looking for a place to help make a difference for girls around the world, here it is: Live Your Dream a self-motivated community of people who wish to support women and girls in their quest to lead a better life, while gaining inspiration in their own lives.  Check them out and do something today!

LOOK UP, LEADER See that awesome sky. It seems that there's a lot of expectations of leaders in this brave new world of constant connectivity.  It's that insistent voice calling from the wings, "Come on, come on! Surely you can come up with something bright and shiny, brilliant and unique everyday!" Whenever that new thing arrives, big or small, it's heralded with wild trumpeting, a resounding cheer, bright neon arrows pointing to #yippee you! followed by multiple retweets from social media mavens across the clouds through FB/twitter/pininterest/snapchat (or that new social media thing I don't know about yet). While some people are focusing on the glamourous flavor of the moment, I admit, I'm becoming more and more interested in those quiet, and equally cool, ideas that emerge from the soft spoken creative genius leaders who would rather not post anything, anywhere. How do we carve out space for these less flashy, simpler ideas from that quiet creative genius you in a world filled with constant noise, ads, posts, and techno stuff? Here's a suggestion  and you can do it anytime you want, but it's especially effective when you find yourself glued to your phone or computer screen. LOOK UP. When you were a child, this was such a simple and innocent act.  In my childhood world, I'd be out messing around in the backyard with my bro, Jim, and suddenly I'd fall down into the grass and roll on to my back and I'd just stare up at that amazing sky.  Sometimes it was blue or light gray or bright pink. Sometimes it was filled with spacious emptiness. Sometimes it was swirled with wispy streams of overlapping and beautiful complexity. The sky, full of clouds or clear pristine space, is a reflection of you and your potential - it's expansive and wide. Looking up creates a simple physiological shift; a physical reminder that while your head might be caught in the drivel and doldrums of the day, that you are more than that brain. You are big and beautiful and expanding. This past week I gave a talk for the Soroptimist International of the Americas in Vancouver, BC.  This women's club has been around for almost a century helping women and girls to reach their potential.  They fund programs to help support women's education, health, or to prevent human trafficking, or to provide resources and opportunities around the world. Check them out and support their work. My audience in Vancouver BC was from many nations and these women drew the most amazing pictures of their dreams for the future. The SI women continue to look up from all parts of the earth and in their willingness to serve others, they remind me what an honor it is to be alive. One of the leaders said during her lunchtime talk, "We are indebted to life until we serve life." - Raquel Arreola Ruiz, past President of Soroptimist International of the Americas. And so it is. Today, why not give yourself a break from your screen.  Right now. Go outside and look up, leader.  Remind yourself that there's a bigger picture and plan for you too. Stop a moment to appreciate the amazing and expansive world that surrounds you, that you're an intricate part of, that offers you the chance to expand beyond who you are and what you know.  Look up, leader. "Oh my,  Bettina! Will you look at that!  Look at the sky!  It just goes on and on, and oh my goodness Bettina, I'm think I'm getting some kind of understanding here.  Bettina, this is what I believe God is like. Why God just goes on and on and.." - Pauli Moran, from the play, Farmgirls. GOAL SETTING SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014, VANCOUVER, BC Pictured here: the SI Team from Taiwan. Awesome artists and tireless leaders joined me for a photo following my keynote. Thank you! MAP YOUR FUTURE HOW A SIMPLE PICTURE can change everything. If you haven't drawn your vision of the future for awhile. Download that free template here. Then watch this video and get going! Look for our new toolkit to help you work with your team or organization! SHOUT OUT CRAVER TAKES 1ST! The short one on the left won the bike race in Gresham last weekend. The tall one on the right is a 55+ bike racer who made it happen with an awesome lead out. This is what it means to be on a team.  Find your team and appreciate them. Guess what? You reading this?  You are my team and I am so grateful for #creativegeniusyou.

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5 REASONS TO BRING YOUR REAL SELF TO WORK It's Summer, Why Not? Is there a difference between your real self and the one you use to adapt to your work environment? if you just said yes in your head, I want to give you 5 reasons to just bring you. When you bring your real self, well.. 1. It's more relaxing. I'm not suggesting you wear your pajamas to work, but rather be the relaxed, summertime you inside those pajamas. The authentic you who has a viewpoint, an opinion, a voice. The one who used to lounge by the pool, or buy your friend a popsicle when that truck came around with the awesomely obnoxious music. The one who just did things spontaneously and asked for forgiveness later. 2. It's easier to handle other people when you are yourself. Relaxing into the self you were born to be, helps you be less ruffled by that off-handed comment from your boss (or your boyfriend). You can just smile or shrug or be curious, just like you were when you were 3. 3. It takes more courage and being courageous rewires your brain (in a good way!). It means you'll ask for the time off you need, then you won't take a stay-cation and keep checking your email every 5 minutes, you'll actually go to the water, get on a floatie and float. You'll feel more competent and confident to ask for that promotion, follow up on that lead, ask that person out to lunch. 4. It creates more space in your head. Head space opens up when you stop trying to please other people because you are supposed to and allows you to give naturally. Giving for real only happens when you really, really want to and you aren't thinking about that reward you're going to get...someday.  5. It's more fun.  No kidding. It's fun to be yourself. You are playful, creative, silly, sarcastic, hyper. When you let all of yourself come through, you're once again that wide eyed child, excited and amazed by everything and everyone.  Just be you. If the gap between who you really are and who you bring to work exists, why not use this summer to bridge that gap. Become a role model for those around you. Don't be surprised when, before summer's over, someone turns to you and says, "I want to be more like you. You are so…yourself!"    WPC  COMMUNITY MARKETING & EVENTS TEAM ROCKSTARS I hope those of you who went to WPC 2014 got a chance to add your mug to these cartoons! Thanks M/S Community Marketing & Events team for asking for my help! AWESOME CHOE WE'LL MISS YOU AT BMGF Martha Choe is leaving the Gates Foundation. I'm going to miss her insight, objectivity, humor, support and smiling face. Thanks for all you do in the world! Can't wait to see what you'll be up to next.   VISION TO REALITY SKYPE SESSIONS If you have been ready to make a change and have been stalling out, perhaps you need a mapping session to reboot and refocus. Shoot me an email and book a SkypeVision to Reality session. You'll talk, I'll draw your vision into reality. Then the fun will begin! info@upyourcreativegenius.com

Get Disruptive With Your Leadership & In Those Dull, Endless Meetings!

One of the ways to get better results is by getting disruptive with the heirarchy in your organization. You can "offer opportunities" to employees (or your family) all you want, but the real opportunity comes when you turn over the reins.  How do you do it?  By including everyone in the problem identification and decision making process.  Want to share the workload when you are lauching products or creating new programs?  Let others identify the problems, brainstorm solutions and determine the roadmap for how everyone to create success.

If you want to learn more about how to create positive combustion, why not take a workshop hosted by my colleagues Keith McCandless and Nancy White.  (I met these two disruptors when we graphic recorded for the Dalai Lama in Seattle.)  Their workshop, Liberating Structures Immersion Workshop: Leading by Including & Unleashing Everyone is August 16.  What is it about?    "In contrast to managing a project, Liberating Structures catalyzes a broad movement. Leaders responsibly let go of over-control in a way that invites more local action and momentum. Leadership is more distributed: waiting for someone else or gaming the system is replaced by more freedom, self-organization, and mutual accountability. Guided by must-do and must-not-do principles (aka Min Specs), a movement spreads without central control."

Now, how do you become an ANARCHIST in your meetings? Gamestorm them. Here's my newest most favorite game - it's called "Mood 'o Meter." Break participants into small groups (if it is more than 8 people), or push back their chairs, stand up and put down a piece of flip chart paper in the center of the table and turn it into a board (versus "bored") game.  Ask them to draw 3 concentric circles on the paper.  Around the outside circle have everyone write what they believe needs to get done in the meeting, putting a star next to the one with the highest priority (3 minutes to do this).  When you have agreed on the top 3 things that need to go first (2 minutes max deciding), move to the second circle.  Have them draw a picture of themselves on a post it note with a word that represents the strength they brought into the room and on the back, a word that represents their "shadow side"  or mixed mood they brought. (3 minutes max to create)  Have each person share their picture, strength and mood.  (5 min max)  Based on the strengths of the group, have the group self-select a facilitator, scribe and timekeeper.  Write their names in the center circle! Then, start that meeting!

For more super cool Gamestorming ideas, pick up a copy of Sunni Brown's book.  Disruption is QOM!

MY BIG ASK:  I'd love to feature more of your maps and stories of how you areDRAWING YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY!  Send them to me!

If you need a kick start, tune in this Saturday at 1PM PSTon "Minding Your Business" with Robbing Block 1300KKOL mybmedia.com

Or call me for a individual mapping session or email me to sign up for one of my September Graphic Recording or Drawing Solutions workshops in Seattle.
Happy SUMMER!!!