1. Learn, Unlearn, Relearn

Futurist Alvin Toffler has it right:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

I am really good at that. I read widely and voraciously, across genres and organizational departments. I take online courses – like Design Thinking (Darden); Digital Acceleration Master Class (Hyper Island); Storytelling for Influence (Ideo U); Complexity Theory (Santa Fe Institute) – so I can get ahead of the curve.

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 2. Change Agent

I am a charter member of the Change Agents Worldwide community, a world-leading collective of progressive practitioners and theorists of what used to be called Enterprise 2.0 but is now, well, an all-encompassing conversation about the workplace, purpose, and the power of networks and community. Participation in this community has been a virtual accelerated executive MBA on the future of work.

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3. This Much We Know

I don’t pretend to know it all, far from it. I know, well, <– this much –>. TMWK is my learning blog, where I work out loud on my ideas, understanding, learning, services, prognostications and brand. I have written 500+ posts since 2014, sometimes a torrent, sometimes a trickle, always authentically me, warts and all.

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4. F.R.E.S.H.

The basis of my approach is to keep it F.R.E.S.H.: fun, revealing, entertaining, social+sharable, heartfelt. The blog is the best place to visit if you care to know me more, as well as @ThisMuchWeKnow on twitter, which is full of links and commentary reflecting the current status of my investigations.

5. Working Out Loud (WOL)

This is an emergent network/workplace practice in which I lead by example. A basic principle is: share is the new save. Work in the open, share what you know and do, be a part in the larger conversation around a topic. Work with a generosity of spirit: How can I help?

I am deeply connected to the WOL movement, present regularly on the topic, including at Pecha Kucha Vancouver #33, and co-created #WOLWeek which occurs twice a year.

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6. Intrapreneur

7. Corporate Disorganizer

I constantly apply my learning and emergent ideas back at Teekay. I call myself an Intrapreneur and Corporate Disorganizer, because same-old, same-old comms practices are dying in front of our eyes.

Tools, practices, behaviours, accountabilities and opportunities are all morphing, and only those teams that continually seek and fail-forward can properly support their organizations. We are a team of makers, organizational effectiveness experimenters, leadership voice and personal branding coaches.

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8. Curiosity

My young kids have reawakened my curiosity gene. I am able to learn from them every day in the way they lay out their building blocks of knowledge. My favourite quote is this one from Peter Matthiessen:

“Soon the child’s clear eye is clouded over…

Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn.

The sun glints through the pines and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers.”

I am a seeker.

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9. Perpetual Beta

My network has supported my personal and professional development. In an alive state of perpetual beta, ready for all eventualities, I am better prepared than anyone I know to lead a progressive MarComms function to make the biggest positive difference.

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10. Creative Tension

I sponsor creative tension at work. Nothing comes easy, we have to work at it, especially if we exist in a fast-moving, emergent profession – like marketing and corporate communications.

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So, where does that leave us? Ready to put all this into practice, which is the topic of my next article: 5 Ways We Are Redefining Modern MarComms

Salut!