I am delighted to be one of the contributors to the printable 2007 Creativity Portal Calendar. The calendar is now available to download for free.

Presented by Michelle James & Tom Goddard, JD, PhD, President of The Integral Company and founding member of the Integral Institute.

This workshop integrates the creativity-centered approaches of Creative Emergence with the comprehensive worldview of Integral Theory to create a robust working framework and new possibilities for today's leaders. We'll go beyond theory alone into personal embodiment and practical applications. We'll explore putting the integral approach into positive action for real-world results in an ever-changing, emergent world - applying the principles and practices in real time to professional and organizational challenges you and your clients face. Early bird discount through 1/21. You will leave with:

• Basic tools for breakthroughs in work and life
• Deeper connection to self/expanded perception of leadership
• A transformed relationship to the context in which you lead
• Discovery of your own creative solutions

I love this web site! When you get there, just click your mouse to change colors, and get your Jackson Pollack groove on! Your masterpieces are even printable.

In these times of rapid change and opportunity a new work frame of reference and state of being is needed to excel. The core reference point: cultivating and tapping wisdom. Wisdom is one of many emerging ‘powertools’ needed to create purposeful work that is viable in the marketplace. Vision is another. Together these create an unprecedented powerful transformative force for positive change.

A wisdom-centered vision is aligned with a higher purpose, which extends above and beyond oneself. It is more than you – it works through you. It’s a new ‘all-encompassing’ frame of reference from which we live our lives and do our work. It holds-up, embraces, and supports a view of life and work that is soulful and generative in nature...

This is part of an article by Patricia DiVecchio, President of International Purpose, Inc. and Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence

How do you approach working with others? What is your resonant mode?

Competition - "I win if you lose."
Cooperation - "I will agree to go along with you here, if you agree to go along with me here - which might involve some compromise on both our parts - a chipping-off sometimes."
Collaboration - "We work together in a way that includes what is important to both of us and our visions without having to compromisen."
Cocreation - "We work together in a way that includes what is important to both of us without having to compromise AND we what emerge is new, unexpected and greater than the sum of our visions."

The boundaries between these modes, of course, are permeable with overlaps. The key is that co-creation can contain collaboration, cooperation, and even competition under its umbrella, but competition generally does not contain co-creation. By consciously choosing to expand to a co-creative framework, our playing field opens up and we are at choice when to compete, cooperate, collaborate, or co-create - instead of doing only one of the modes on autopilot.

Every time we expand our habitual paradigm or mental playing field, new choices, options and possibilities open up. New interpersonal dynamics are possible. We do not have to negate one way of being to embrace another. By, to use an improv term, "yes-anding" each mode, we have creative choice on how we want to work. We can move in and out of different modes fluidly in a way that serves the purpose we are working toward rather than be "boxed by habit" into only one or two approaches.

One of the things I value most about the principles of improvisation is they establish an environment for lively co-creation. Within that larger container, participants have choices which other modes to engage at any given time, based on relevance within purpose...setting a fertile ground from which creative ingenuity can thrive.

We offer a variety of services which include emergent strategy consulting, corporate and public workshops, creativity training, Creative Emergence Coaching, ideation facilitation, professional development and wellness programs, conference presentations and Quantum Leap Business Improv. Our blog is The Fertile Unknown.

The Center for Creative Emergence is a business creativity consulting and Creative Emergence coaching company dedicated to integrating inspired creativity, meaning, organizational culture and business for a happier and more productive work life and richer business bottom line. We've helped cultivate breakthrough thinking and applied creative emergence for entrepreneurs, teams and organizations with diverse missions such as GEICO Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, Invest Northern Ireland, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the World Bank.