Could “Conversational Leadership” Avert Deeply Troubling Times Ahead?

We live in a world where some moments are simple, some moments are complicated, some moments are complex, and some moments are chaotic. If the world were always simple, then each of us could make decisions and easily predict the outcomes. If the world were always complicated, then each of us could research our options, make decisions, and likely predict the outcomes. If the world were always complex, then each of our individual decisions would impact each other and outcomes would likely be unpredictable. If the world were always chaotic, then it might appear as though we don’t even have decisions to make, almost as if decisions were being made for us as we react and respond to the environment around us.

Please pause a moment to slowly consider these three questions:

1. What would it look like to have a “conversational approach” to your life?
2. Do you spend more time in “conversation mode” (e.g. working with people) or in “action mode” (e.g. completing a task)?
3. Are you intentional, choiceful and aware of how many jovial conversations you have, and how many intense conversations you have, and any other type of conversation that you have?

Our civilizations appear to have tremendous progress in handling simple and complicated moments. Simple and complicated moments are often directly related to cause-and-effect. We’ve become quite skilled at seeing cause and effect, especially when we’ve previously experienced the cause or the effect. However, in complex and chaotic environments, we seem to make more mistakes. Although mistakes can provide an opportunity for learning and improvement, there are many approaches for skillfully operating in complex and chaotic environments. One of the emerging approaches for living in a highly complex and connected world is being called Conversational Leadership.

In several of this books, Jungian psychotherapist Dr James Hollis talks about how the first half of life is about being happy, the second half of life is about making sense. This line of thinking often sparks thoughtful and intriguing conversation. Those conversations can offer different perspectives and provide each of us an opportunity to understand ourselves and each other better. It is through conversation that each of us can partner and understand each other in a deeper, more meaningful way. We can try to make sense of the complexity and chaos around us through conversation.

In simple and complicated moments, we’ve become quite skilled at taking action in order to make progress. In complex and chaotic moments, it may be helpful to remind ourselves of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote that “the ancestor of every action is a thought.” In conversation we have opportunities to share those thoughts, clarify those thoughts and even raise awareness of the thoughts themselves.

Conversational Leadership is an emerging broad field that includes leading, designing, cultivating, and convening conversations. Those conversations are intended to be purposeful, intentional, choiceful and as skilled as the group is ready to be. That said, Conversational Leadership intends to apply to all conversations, regardless of their type. It is also important to note that Conversational Leadership intends to be valuable to everyone, because the field views everyone as a Conversational Leader (not only positionally ranked “leaders”). Admittedly, the field is tending to be focused on conversations within organizations at this point. 

The field is so new that even the label itself is debated – it could be Conversational Management, Conversation Management, Conversational Communityship, Conversation Architecture, is it Conversation Design, or so many other options. Some people might say that many leaders are not conversational in their approach, they tend to demand or dictate and have little range outside of those options (and have even be quite skilled in how they present those demands so they don’t necessarily come across as demands). Some people might say that “most conversations are not designed, or poorly designed”. Some people might say that many of the recent advances in fields such as Project Management, Information Technology, Human Resources, Operations are due to improved conversations and collaboration, so Conversational Leadership is about “shining a direct light on conversation itself, as opposed to improving conversations for a specific outcome”. Similar to other broad fields, such as Knowledge Management or Organisation Development, it might be quite challenging to pinpoint an exact label or definition for the field. Each of those options could result in their own manifesto or definition, and maybe Conversational Leadership is the amalgamation of many fields related to conversation, even including the science of conversation which has existed for some time to study the rhythms within conversations.

For now, maybe we consider the model below as one way to look at Conversational Leadership.

This framework is probably too complicated and could be simplified. Let’s step through each area of the framework, and open the conversation for feedback and improvement.

General Purpose of Conversation

In the top bar we see “General Purpose of Conversation” and “Current Need”. The general purpose of conversation can be highly debated, but in the case of Conversational Leadership, we’re referring to making sense of a highly complex and connected world. The general purpose of conversation from this perspective would be to partner and understand each ourselves, each other, and our situation(s) through conversation. It is about enabling our best ability to act and improve.

The “Current Need” refers to your current needs in any active conversation that you’re having. It also refers to the needs of the other people in the conversation. Even more complex, it also refers to the needs of the entire group. Group needs are often different from individuals’ needs. As simple as it sounds, it can be quite difficult to be aware of your deepest needs in any given conversation. It can also be difficult to express your deepest needs in any conversation. For example, imagine you’re standing at a train station and the person next to you starts a conversation with you about the weather. Do you need to discuss the weather because that topic might begin to build trust and lead to the next topic. Or, do you need to have a personal conversation about a recent death in the family because that topic completely occupies your mind. As I learned in acting school, maybe its not only “needs” that are relevant, maybe it is “needs, wants and desires”. Then, its not only about the topic that’s being discussed, then it also becomes about “how” and “when” and “where” and many other facets of the conversation.

Imagine if we were all skilled at knowing the general purpose of conversation, and our current needs/wants/desires in this conversation, and how to express those needs/wants/desires. The two key questions in this area could be:

1.  Are you having the conversation you need to be having right now?
2.  Are we having it in the way we need to be having it?

Leadership and Communityship

Notice that there are 2 columns in this model. The left column is much wider than the right column. The left column focuses on “conversation”, while the right column focuses on “leadership”. The “Leadership and Communityship” is less fleshed out than the conversational column because many decades of work have been done in leadership. Henry Mintzberg coined the term “Communityship”, which if I understand it correctly, is attempting to say that maybe we need to augment individual leadership with group-level leadership which could be called “Communityship.”

Conversational Theories & Models

Underneath “General Purpose of Conversation” we see “Conversational Theories & Models.” There are dozens of well-received books/models that offer how to have certain kinds of conversations. For example, but not limited to, there are books on crucial conversations, healing conversations, deep conversations, non-violent communications, influencing, negotiating, etc. There are also quite helpful models such as polarity thinking/mapping that can serve to enable highly-aware conversations. Conversational Leadership, at this point, simply aims to be a pointer to the many existing models that support improved conversational skills. Stay tuned to this area though, there is hope that the field itself could result in new conversational theories and models.

Conversational “Sets”

Next to theories & models, we see “Conversational Sets”. At first, we listed mindset, skillset and toolset, we later added John Hagel’s spirit-set and heart-set. Each one of these boxes again offers a list of pointers.

Conversational Mindset could include conversational beliefs and principles such as “everyone has an equal voice” and “time for feedback and collective sense-making”, etc. The idea is to be aware of the mindset you’re brining into each conversation, and the patterns you have across all of your conversations.

Conversational Skillset includes your conversational behaviours and habits. For example, within your conversational skillset, what is your behaviour for making time to reflect? What are your listening habits? The list of conversational behaviours and habits is quite extensive, so in Conversational Leadership we are working to raise awareness of your conversational behaviours/habits and their impact on yourself, others and the situation.  

Conversational Toolset includes a long list of “tools” for designing conversations. For example, we could use a knowledge café design or an after action review design for conversation. Liberating Structures is a related field that offers at least 30 different conversational designs. Conversational Leadership could have a Conversational Toolkit to include conversational processes and even software that support conversation.

Above mindset, skillset, toolset, you'll notice spirit-set and heart-set. Credit (and further detail) goes to John Hagel for these concepts. If I understand them correctly, these concepts are to remind us that mindset, skillset and toolset tend to come from the brain, whereas heart-set and spirit probably come from somewhere else. Maybe it is the difference between mind and brain, maybe its the difference between thinking and feeling, maybe it is something else. From a Conversational Leadership perspective, spirit-set and heart-set are intended to be reminders that our conversational spirit and our conversational heart/emotions are well worth being aware of, and potentially even bringing into the conversation.

Current Conversation

At the bottom of the conversational left column, we see “Current Conversation” and “Applied Conversational Skills”. This area is intended to remind us that Conversational Leadership can be applied in every conversation by every person at any given time. It is meant to be the real-time application of all the other areas of the Conversational Leadership framework. In other words, during a conversation, am I able to “see” the conversational design, the conversational process, my own needs, the general purpose of the conversation? Can I embed light structure or facilitation if and when necessary? Am I aware, and listening for, individual and group needs? What is being said in the conversation, what might be covertly being said or not said in the conversation that is impactful?  This area of the framework is simply intended to be a reminder that Conversational Leadership is an applied discipline, it can be considered within every conversation.

Impact & Improvement Loops

You might notice the arrows on the far left and far right of the framework. These arrows are designed to remind us that every conversation has an impact on ourselves, on others and on our situation. If we approach conversations in a meaningful way, ready to learn and improve (not only the task and topic, but our conversational skills as well), then we can likely begin to live life in a conversational way. The hope and drive of Conversational Leadership is to connect with each other, make sense of our situations, and carry forward as best we can.

Your Feedback

Having read this, what do you now think of Conversational Leadership? What does the concept of Conversational Leadership evoke in you? Can you think of times where Conversational Leadership would directly improve your situation? Can you imagine where the field of Conversational Leadership could go?

Passion Driven Classroom Book Review - Or Is It "Ideas to Apply KM in your org"

In 2011, Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold published “The Passion Driven Classroom”. I immediately heard great things and 2 years later I had the opportunity to read it – what a great book.

Personally, I’m passionate about knowledge management (KM), and I’m also passionate about the education system. This book blends both. I had assumed that Angela was “in” the KM world, but after some simple google searches, it appears she comes straight from the education world. Its fascinating to me that she talks about KM and applies it to the education system, and yet I’m not sure she even realizes it? Awesome [to see worlds combine]!

The book starts out talking about “passion”. Again, like KM, it feels like she’s fighting battles about “please believe me, this is important and it’s a better way”. I think we often fight a similar battle in KM, and I’m not sure the battle even exists, I think we self-create it?

The first chapter describes passion, the second chapter defines it. In the third chapter, she starts to apply it. She calls it “clubhouse learning”. She re-names the teacher the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) – again, sounds like KM - She talks about how the workshop classroom is driven by curiosity; the role of the teacher is expert learner and passion practitioner. Amazing.

Here’s where it gets great. The first tactical example is to create a “Resident Expert” wall. A list of your students and what they do well. KM would call this the beginnings of an expertise location system – ie an employee profile.

Then it gets better, chapter 4 gets into the “learning essentials”. They are “learning clubs”, “opening message / daily boardroom”, “reflection” , “task board” and “good fit tools and technology”. From a KM perspective, Learning clubs are Communities of Practice (CoP) within the classroom. The opening message / daily boardroom is a beautiful implementation of a fundamental “work out loud” culture (i.e. what are the plans for the day, what did we accomplish yesterday, what do we need to accomplish today, etc.). Reflection is an After Action Review and Retrospect. The Task Board shows who’s in what CoP and who’s working on what. The good fit tools and technology is exactly what it sounds like (i.e. be open to technology and find the best tools to help you do what you need to do). What a beautiful way to answer the key KM questions of “who knows who”, “who knows what”, “who does what”.

She then shares her “HEART” model, which is an acronym for Hold On (study the book cover and guess what it might be about – or in KM, study the project charter and predict how the org will respond), Eyes and Ears (look for connections, patterns, etc – just like KM!), Ask Questions, React/Reflect, Tell and Show. Again, this sounds almost identical to the work-out-loud models and cultures we’re looking to build.

Oh, I almost forgot the final essential for Learning Clubs and that’s “Celebration”. We often talk about celebration in project management (PM), and personally, we like to apply that PM technique to our KM efforts as well. She even gives some very tactical examples of how to celebrate (i.e. “silent cheer”, “hearty handshake”, “round of applause”, etc.)

The book then moves even deeper in to how to setup the classroom as a Learning Club. She talks about “Thinkbooks” where each student has a profile, answers key questions, keeps notes, etc. She breaks down the boardroom meeting, giving specific examples of questions to ask. She talks about “heart maps” as a specific way to help students write words (or pictures) in a hand-drawn heart. Those words help each students and their fellow students understand each other’s passions (sounds like an employee profile as part of an expertise location system, yes?).

Deeper and deeper she goes in Chapter 6, now giving a specific minute by minute agenda for each day. She talks about time segments for “passion discovery”, “learning is thinking” and “practicing our passion”. This reminds me of one of all time favorite KM processes known as “Knowledge Continuity”. She seems to pre-define the 5 most important CoPs (clubs) that each classroom should have. I suppose that would be like pre-defining the first 5 CoPs to start at your organization, which is maybe the only piece of the book that pure KM’ers would probably debate (saying its probably better to follow the bottom-up, grass roots approach of simply enhancing the communities that already exist in the org).

She closes by saying that readers of the book should join #edchat on twitter (twice a day every Tuesday).

I found it fascinating that she basically dove into a KM plan for an organization, and yet she wasn’t thinking about that at all, she was thinking about how to structure a classroom. From the KM perspective, we’d probably translate her words into define CoPs, understand yourself and others, work out loud and follow your passions (and leverage a little technology in there too). Fascinating. I’m excited to see these approaches (and words) coming out in education and in organizations.

Well worth a read and let's apply these ideas in our classrooms, our schools, our education systems and our organizations!

Review of the Leadership Development Program at the Center For Creative Leadership

I attended the LDP program at CCL in Greensboro, NC from Aug 5-9, 2013. I thought the program was excellent and I'll provide a quick review here. In case you might attend the program someday, I won't give away any spoilers or notes that might lessen the experience for you.

First, it's worth noting that Greensboro is CCL's headquarters. Maybe this is true for other locations, but it felt like a Disney experience, they planned every detail for us without making it feel "too" planned. For example, weeks before the classroom portion starts, they provide multiple lines of communication (emails, personal phone calls, etc.). Also before the classroom, you'll take several online personality assessments and request online feedback from many people you work with. 

CCL highly recommends that you stay at a local hotel known as "Proximity". It's very nice and its rumored that US Presidents have stayed there. Not only do you have your own room, there is also a suite on the first floor that is shared by all of the participants in your class. Breakfast is covered by the program and it is served on the first floor in the building connected next door. It is a full restaurant where breakfast is served (as opposed to continental or buffet). The service is great, they are very nice and the food comes amazingly fast. CCL has a bus pick up all of the participants and drive them over to CCL hq (where class is held). I never quite cracked the code, but somehow the 2 instructors know exactly when the bus is arriving and each instructor holds open a door to welcome each and every student- nice touch!

On your first day, you're in a new location that you've never seen before, so what do they do? They give a walking tour to the whole class so that you feel comfortable with the building, which is beautiful! They have local artists display in the hallways of the building, you can even purchase the art, if you'd like. 

So before you even walk in the classroom, you're feeling the quality and attention to detail of the program. It only gets better from there.

The agenda was quite a "secret", or maybe I missed it somehow. So, with respect to that, let me just say that there are 7 "experiences" that you'll have. If I told you exactly what they were, you could probably google them and somewhat ruin the excitement (and the learning opportunity). 

To give you an idea though, you'll review not 1, not 2, but 3 different personality assessments of yourself. I loved this approach because each assessment provides a different perspective for you to learn and consider. 

You'll learn a specific approach for giving feedback and you'll thoroughly practice it. 

There are two day-long experiences that you'll have that I simply can't say more than "they're amazing". Be prepared to open your mind and learn from other professionals. 

Finally, you'll have plenty of one-on-one time with an expert executive coach. Be prepared for an "a ha" moment (or two) as your coach helps you understand how to be a better leader in your own unique way. 

In the class I attended, I don't know if we were lucky or if this happens every time, but we formed an unbelievable bond as a class. We shed tears of joy together and we all hugged on the final day, it was that kind of quality experience. 

I highly recommend the course and I personally look forward to the continued friendships and the coaching that comes with the class. I think I'm already a better leader and a better person because of this experience. 

Favorite Topics on Scoop?

What are your favorite topics on scoop? Thanks!

Ask Questions In These Areas

-Energy
-Financial
-Environment – global warming, earth (fields, valleys, caves, oceans, water, land, ice, mountains, beaches, trees, cities, suburbs, etc.)
-Health – food
-Defense
-Technology (nano, computer,mobile, cyber, virtual worlds, touch, hologram, etc.)
International (global security, politics, business, peace, health, economy, wisdom, etc.)
-Communication
-Strategy
-Leadership
-Marketing
-Business development
-Collective, collaboration
-Diversity and inclusion
-Legal – supreme court cases
-Living things (People, Animals, plants, etc.)
-Chemicals
-Materials (wood, metal, glue, tape, etc.)
-Words, audio, video
-Numbers
-Project management
-Education – problem solving, critical thinking, strategic thinking
-Transportation
-Social – bullying, etc.
-Air earth fire water liquid solids plasma
-Music, art, acting, photos
-Internet devices (computers, phones, etc.)
-Senses (see, hear, touch, smell, taste, sense, etc.)
-Light, sound, air, movement, balance, and electronic, infrared, digital and computer devices

Learning Leaders Breakfast

1. Learning to Change, Changing to Learn (video)
    a. convo
2. Who’s Here?
3. Stand Up
4. Bad Collaboration is Worse than No Collaboration
    a. Apple, m&a, 1 in 5 mgrs
5. Cynefin (image)
    a. convo
6. 3 problems
    a. Demographics
    b. Connect the dots (9/11, mars orbiter, challenger, Toyota)
    c. Decision advantage (ooda, time/attn)
7. ??-How long do you search?
8. ??-How many meetings/hours sharing status?
9. Solution Framework
    a. Who knows who (ona, Jeanne)
    b. Who knows what (profile, knowledge mkt, dir quality, unity, eureka)
    c. Who does what (portfolio mgmt, vna, talent mkt, vesp)
    d. Ppl > ppl; ppl>projects;projects>strategic objectives
    e. MEO – offshore, outsource, free agent
    f. Network of value
       i. Memories in brain
       ii. Living company (id, fiscal conservative, tolerance, environment)
10. ??-job title? Who do you go to for questions? How did you know? What if someones first day?
11. Wirearchy – 2 way flow of power, structure
12. Resilience
13. Stand up
14. Thank you!

Marian Liebowitz on 21 Century Skills

I had the opportunity to see and hear Marian Liebowitz speak about "what we can do as parents and students in the 21st century". I thought it was a great talk, so I wanted to share my notes.

She spoke to a group of [approximately] 30 parents of elementary aged students. She wrote a few notes on an easel as she spoke for visual reinforcement. She started with three main areas that she thinks parents/children should learn and practice:

- Self management
- Thinking (consider points of view)
- Problem solving

She further expanded into:
- Hypothesis (predicting)
- Creativity
- Communications
- Technology
- Collaboration (enhancing planning, thinking, and communicating)

She talked about "habits of mind" or "dispositions", such as persistence, reflection and self assessment.

I could immediately tell that she had great thoughts and I was interested in them. I felt my interest pique because it seemed as though we were very similar (in what we're trying to accomplish), yet coming from different perspectives....more on that below...

She then dove into specific examples (i.e. stories) and she recommended three books. Her first example was to give kids "a list" - i.e. "things I need to do". She called the items on the list "criteria" and she mentioned that we don't need to worry about calling these lists "criteria" (just know that they are).

She jumped back up to the abstract/conceptual and talked about:
- Time mgmt
- Priority mgmt

Then said something to the effect of "schools will look different in the future, not what we're used to, for example more online, some instructor-led and some learning with friends" (I of course loved these comments :) )

She then moved into one of themes that seemed to pop up from time to time - "you're not telling, you are asking" (as in, you should be asking more, looking for more conversation, and casting your thoughts/feelings less).

She jumped back to the example and talked about the importance of visual reminders - "kids like contracts, I used to buy gold seals, have them sign the agreement and then seal it, they said it looked adult-like". (I think there's a parallel to the project charters we create :) )

I think I forgot to write in my notes that she took questions around this point...which was good...made it interactive, dynamic, tactical...

Then she mentioned an interesting quote "Structure is not about 'what', it is about 'how'". (reminds me of the definition of process...now is when the thoughts start popping up in my head about 'how do we find the balance between structure/process and creativity/innovation')

"Don't tell them what's important, but help them think about it" (variation on a theme)

She then recommended her first book - Miss Nelson. She said it helps children understand point of view, i.e. ask "how did miss Nelson feel". Then she gave the poignant example of the Rutgers student that recently jumped off a bridge (and how those other children probably did not consider other's points of view) (I'm not sure this is a new message, I seem to recall my parents saying "walk a mile in someone else's shoes", but maybe its taken more seriously/critically now?)

We should help children ask (and answer) "What could she have done differently?" (variation on a theme)

"We should raise questions, not answers" (variation on a theme)

Her second book recommendation was - Doctor de Soto by William Steig (which I sadly never heard of! :( ) She talked about how it helps children ask "How do we make judgments?". She talked about perceptions leading to problems which should lead to brainstorming of solutions (ah, the first time we've flipped from structure to creativity, I think?).

She then moved into her second main point - "we need to stress Thinking skills". "Get away from our concrete way of dealing with kids". Her second book recommendation was
Alexander's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. She said it helps kids to ponder "Not is it right to feel that way, but why does he feel that way?" and "What could have been another ending?" as well as a series of "What if?" questions.

Her third book recommendation was "The man who walked between the towers". She talked about "How do you make dreams come true". "We have a tendency to dash our kids dreams, especially too early". "Greatness comes from dreams". We should embrace and childrens dreams and ask "So what do you think you have to do that?". I loved this line - "Once a kid develops discipline (read: passion) they can translate that to anything they do, so we should encourage kids to dream and dream big"

If I recall correctly, she "ended" there and took questions for quite awhile after that... here are a few quotes from my notes of the q&a time...

"Ask them - What do you think it takes to get there? [when they set goals]"
"We're living in a world that has far fewer boundaries, create your own boundaries"
"If you have a dream but no persistence [then you probably will not achieve that goal]..."
"How do we encourage persistence?"
"Try again, stick with it, try new ways"
"Spend time reflecting"
"Ask - If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?"
"The most powerful tool we have is modeling"
"We're always projecting our feelings [better to ask]"
"You might consider being careful to not bury the answer in the question, such as - Do you think this is going to be hard?"
"Practice flexibility"
"Aim for intrinsic rewards not a trophy culture"
"Don't kill their curiosity"
"Don't [always] be linear thinkers"
"Help them to deal with [and realize] ambiguity"
"We have the potential to have our kids be more flexible, and be thinkers"
"Help them learn to problem solve in a group"
"We have a tendency to over protect"
"Let kids have choices"
"Let the child do the planning, see if it works [referring to days, events, etc.]"
"Even if it was successful, ask how could we done it even better"
"We think were helping by structuring everything"


=== As I was listening, several comments sparked ideas, here are a few===

-John Seely Brown tells a great story about his neighbor. A young man that had a dream of becoming the best surfer in the world. He and his friends practiced, practiced, studied, studied and eventually became the greatest surfers in the world.
-The concept of "follow your passion" - and the question she asked about "what would be the impact if we all did that" - made me think of our recent trip to Italy. To me, that is a culture based on everyone following their passions - its a beautiful thing.
-Dr Randy Pausch says "Follow your passions, believe in karma and you wont have to chase your dreams, they will come to you"
-I heard a lot of questions/comments about specific individuals, I wonder [just like she asked] what affect these kinds of thoughts/approaches have at a macro level [like Italy]
-"Precision Questioning and Answering" is a phenomenal approach for asking great questions and giving great answers - I think it has value in this conversation
- video games - I thought Marian would be interested to see all of the TED talks that mention how video games provide an excellent way to learn, practice and improve -- very quickly.
-There's a great book that I'd recommend "Relax, it's only uncertainty"
-When we go on vacation, we like to each take a day and call it "our day", which simply means that person is the "leader" for the day (i.e. its up to them what we do, including a day led by our daughter)
-I read a great article recently that talked about the "ability to say no" (and HOW to say no - I think this relates to the time/priority mgmt issue. It can be exceedingly difficult to say no to opportunities.
-This was a key point for me - and a question that I really wanted to ask - Doesn't it seem tricky to find the delicate [shifting] balance between structure and ambiguity?
-I was surprised that personalities didnt come up as a topic - I could have easily seen any of the personality assessments popping up in this conversation...
- A line I've heard before in this kind of conversation is "we need to move beyond [read: add to] the 3 r's of the 20th century - reading writing 'rithmetic...and into [list all of the qualities we discussed]"
- If I were to list the skills of the 21 century, and I'm sure I'll forget a few, I might list reflection, problem solving (individual and team), retracting, strategic and critical thinking, finding information/knowledge, validating information/knowledge, synthesizing information/knowledge, connectivity, accessibility, innovating, creativity, artistic/design, multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural, communication, technology, research, experimenting, observing, networking, practicing/repeating, questioning, curiosity, leadership .... I think she covered most of them...
- "We have a classroom system when we could have a community system"
- Another related book would be the innovators dilemma
- One last question I would have liked to ask, even though she somewhat indirectly answered it throughout her talk was "How did you arrive at this kind of thinking?" (i.e. was it through life experiences, books, mentors, friends, physical locations/events... I'm sure it was a combination, but it would be fun to hear her perspective of the combination - a thread of pearls, if you will)