The Only Program That Delivers Workshops on Applying Emotional Intelligence, Creativity & Innovation at Work, Critical Conversations, and Diversity and Cross Cultural Competency In One Process, including certification options. Three Days of Intensive Learning in New York metro area. - Register for  our TGIM newsletter to get information on our next certification event in Fall 2007. Add your email below to receive our valuable newsletter Get free ideas, articles, and resources from our TGIM newsletter. Get TGIM Newsletter » REGISTER NOW The Emotional Intelligence At Work and Creativity & Innovation At Work Workshops are now part of our HumaNext 2007 event. Click for complete details: http://www.humanext.com/humanext-seminars.html

Other Workshops You Will Learn In the Same Event Diversity, Cross Cultural Communication and Global Competency Training & Certification Diversity & Inclusion at Work, and Cross Cultural Competency workshops are now part of our HumaNext 2007 event. Click for complete details: http://www.humanext.com/humanext-seminars.html

Emotional Intelligence Certification and Creativity & Innovation Certification Unprecedented Opportunity.. Learn with an Option to Get Certified to Deliver These Popular Workshops:  Applying Emotional Intelligence At Work And Creativity & Innovation At Work Both in an intensive 3-day event. The Emotional Intelligence At Work and Creativity & Innovation At Work Workshops are now part of our HumaNext 2007 event. Click for complete details: http://www.humanext.com/humanext-seminars.html

HumaNext Training and Certification: The Way to Create Significant Change in Self, Others, and the Organization Are you interested in starting an emotional intelligence initiative in your organization and want to make sure you have the right support in training, tools, assessment, and a powerful training organization behind you? Our Applying EQ At Work is the answer. Do you want to help your organization’s leaders think outside the box and embrace innovation and creativity at work? Our Creativity At Work training is just what you need. Are you seeking to significantly boost your own personal development to reach a higher level of satisfaction and success in your professional and personal life? Are you a consultant or coach looking to associate with an established training company that can provide you with support, programs, resources, and tools to help you succeed and thrive? HumaNext’s unique certification programs will train you to deliver our powerful workshops, and give you all the materials, resources, tools, reproducible workbooks, and professional and personal support you need. Find out why people come from countries as far and as varied as the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Liberia, and Canada to attend our certification programs. Discover why some of America’ s leading organizations, like the Mayo Clinic, Roche, and others, have sent their training professionals to get certified in our programs. Attend to experience HumaNext’s powerful training methodology applied to today’s most vital skills: Emotional Intelligence is the hottest training topic today, and Innovation and creativity training has become at many companies what quality was two decades ago

Twelve Hungry Men and Women: Amazing Things Happened in the Certification Training Session The twelve total strangers who arrived at the training facility in New York on a rainy morning, ended up by the third day hugging each other, taking hundreds of photos, exchanging emails, business cards and gifts, and promising to stay in touch. Some surprised us all by giving gifts to each person. Even though people had very different cultures and backgrounds, the team spirit was amazing, and the friendship was out of this world. The amount of laughter, shouting, clapping, and physical movements often brought out the people at the front desk of the facility checking to see if everything was alright. We told them “don’t worry, this is just our way of learning together.” Each of the twelve persons attending is a truly accomplished and talent person. We spent more than an hour listening to participants introducing themselves, talking not only about their work, but also their upbringing, their challenges, their accomplishments, thier lessons learned, and their dreams. The depth of personal experiences and authenticity was impressive. One participant wrote: “Wow! What a strong pool of candidates to have in the workshop.” I wondered whether it was just a lucky chance that we got this kind of group. But when I kept hearing from them how they loved reading TGIM, I concluded that the readers of TGIM must have a unique human quality to them. This assured me of having the same high quality of attendees for our future events. Take for example, the two unique women who couldn’t be more different in almost everything, one is a Sister of the Holly Family of Nazareth, who wore the traditional dress of nuns and sat down quietly upon arriving. And the other is a people-loving, talkative, Muslim woman from the United Arab Emirate, who was originally from Scotland, who wore the Islamic Hegab, covering her head and entire body, in a way not that different from that of the nun. They sat on opposite sides of the room. Even though their obvious presence must have raised the curiosity and perhaps the anxiety of some of us, the amazing thing was that their presence did not cause the slightest problem or inhibition throughout the three days. In fact, they contributed in a highly positive and significant way to the learning, each in her own different way. They both joined in all the activities and exercises, even the most physically challenging ones. One bringing Allah in her natural expressions in Arabic, as in Inshalla (God willing) and the other bringing the Bible’s language, as in “we will need to baptize some of these concepts to fit the church’s culture.” The ability of these two unique women to be part of the learning, and the ability of the group to relate to them so naturally and positively, were the greatest application of the concepts of emotional intelligence which we were learning. One participant put it best in her comments about the learning experience, “Even though both ladies “wore her religion on her sleeve” they did it in so natural and bold a way as to make it easy for us to treat them like everyone else while staying aware of their uniqueness. Which is what we should do in relating to everyone.” But every one of the other women and men present was equally unique and impressive. And because we used our unique approach that we call, “Learning By Teaching” each of the twelve participant brought something unique from their experience and personal life to add to the learning. They each presented a short segment of the workshops, but they certainly added a lot of personality and relevance to each segment, which is exactly what I was hoping when I designed the “Learning By Teaching” approach. One originally skeptical participant wrote, “I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to let participants present parts of the content. I thought that you’re the expert not us. But after seeing how everyone added real value and personality to their segment I now think it’s a great idea.” The success of the Learning By Teaching approach was certainly one of the amazing things that happened. When we discussed the concept of risk-taking in creativity at work, it was enriching to hear the real-life stories of many participants who took real risks in their lives: starting a non-profit or for-profit business; changing one’s country, religion, and marital status all at the same time; starting a Ph.D. study after retiring from one’s first career; and getting into consulting in a second or third career change process. There were numerous other moments of insight and inspiration. Like when the dear Sister explained the latest presentation technology to me, I’m the one claiming to be on the cutting edge of learning and presenting! Or when she told us about her hilarious experience, with another sister, riding a bicycle-drawn cart in the middle of a rainy day in New York, with cars zooming in maddening speed around her while the driver explaining New York’s landmarks in a loud voice. Other participants told their real life stories that happened to them in Italy, Turkey, UAE, England, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and other parts of the world. Learning from each other, and enjoying each other’s experiences, couldn’t have been more gratifying. Many of the people who hugged me, shook my hand, gave me gifts, or took pictures with me at the end of the session told me how they will take this experience back to start a challenging change process at their organization, or in their country. As a facilitator, I couldn’t ask for more. “Twelve Angry Men” is a famous old movie. But here we’ve had “Twelve Hungry Men and Women” – hungry for real, exciting, and transforming learning in an atmosphere of warm human connections. And from the highly positive feedback sheets we received, It’s good to know that participants have got quite a feast. And Sue Dallal and myself have been truly amazed and gratified by the entire experience. © 2005 Francois Basili - HumaNext / Communication Ideas

Join us and catch our Thank God It’s Monday spirit

Who Should Attend Internal training / HRD/ and HR professionals in all types of organizations who want to be trained to deliver our workshops to leaders, managers, and staff in their organizations. External consultants, trainers, and coaches who want to get certified to license the rights and receive complete materials to deliver our workshops to their clients in the USA (contact us for special arrangements to deliver our programs overseas.) This opportunity is great for both seasoned and new consultants who are starting their business. Leaders, managers, and key staff who want to learn emotional intelligence, creativity, and team transformation skills for their own professional and personal development. They can attend at reduced fees without taking the certification materials, but otherwise participate fully in the training. Educators in schools and high education systems who want to learn emotional intelligence and creativity skills to adopt and use the material with their students or for their own development. Recent graduates, recently established consultants, and professionals from small non-profit organizations who can take advantage of our scholarship program (limited openings) to attend at reduced fees or no fees. See information about our Scholarships below.

Become EQ Certified Affiliate

What Participants Said About Our EQ Certification I never shared with you how meaningful the New York experience was for me. Listening to you all and learning from you has changed the way I see the world, and helped me to build a vision far greater than I’d ever imagined. Thank you for generously sharing your stories and yourselves. It means more to me than you know.               - Holly McLemore, Training Manager . -         There are several things I can implement immediately  -      Great self-awareness – Illuminating. -         I give it the highest mark. What I enjoyed most was the EQ Modules, the Fight / Flight / Fly concept, .. I’m very glad I came. -         What I enjoyed most was the information Francois shared; his enlightenment -         The concepts and ideas were informative and thought provoking. Very helpful. -         Wow! What a strong pool of candidates to have in the workshop. -         Interaction with the group is one of the strengths of the certification.

Success Stories: Within One Month of Attending, Our Graduates Delivered Training to Major Corporations and Conferences Within just one month of graduating from our October 2005 Certification session, some of our Certified HumaNext graduates delivered successful training sessions to major clients in the US and abroad. We heard of two success stories; one about a graduate who delivered our Creativity At Work workshop at a major national conference for communication professionals, and the other sent us the following email from the Philippines: Hi Francois and Sue I had my first run of the Applying EQ at Work seminar with the management team of Samsung ( a multinational Korean firm here with 4000 employees). I had 22 participants and I was really excited to run the program. Of course I showed our pictures (taken in NY) as clip arts in most of the slides ( this presentation tip I shared with Francois) and they felt so good because of the international flavor they seem to have. The 2 day seminar worked really fine and they all left with so many "take home benefits" from it. This was evidenced by the evaluation they had on me as the speaker and about the design of the seminar and contents. Isn't that great?? I am just so proud to share that piece of good news to both of you as you are instrumental in making me a part of the first EQ at work seminar. Thanks for all the knowledge and I had so much fun imparting these information to my participants as well. Best regards, Ging Igual

I definitely felt as though I was taking part in something very special during the last three days "3 in 1 Friends: I left the training inspired and energized, and looking forward to using the tools. I appreciate each and every one of you and thank you for making the training so impactful for me." - Amy Jaffe Barzac, Co-founder, Boundless Playgrounds. To my fellow 3-in-1 explorers: Thank you for making this learning voyage both productive and pleasant. I could not have chosen better partners in this experience. I have begun to consider the challenge, and opportunity the training presents in my personal life, administrative roles, and consulting practice. - George Roets, Director, Public Health Services, Watkins Glen, New York. You were all so impressive and inspiring, and the materials so interesting – I definitely felt as though I was taking part in something very special during the last three days. Thank you for sharing your spirits so freely! - Your Admiring Alumnus, Resourceful Rick Richard Hammett, Full Time Doctoral Student & Graduate Assistant, Texas A&M University.) Francois, Thank you so much for the wonderful class is New York, which I will never forget. It was one of the most rewarding classes that I have taken. I look forward to collaborations with the great people I met at the class and a rewarding relationship with HumanNext. - Bobbi Ball, Executive Director, Partners in Community Building, Chicago. Francois, ...really really thanks for the wonderful experience we've had in our last seminar. Ging Igual, Part time consultant of Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Philippines.

What Participants Said About Creativity at Work Workshop -         Informative, enriching for both personal and professional settings. Very enlightening. -         A very interesting, educational & motivating experience. Can’t wait to get back to put into practice!! -         Francois was super! Integrated audience comments into the presentation. -         Having participants facilitate is a great idea. -         Extremely helpful, varied info. Exercises and examples: great! Great! -         Thought provoking, illuminating, will use immediately. -         Francois’s style: very friendly and inviting.

Bring These Two Powerful Programs to Your Internal or External Clients A Unique Opportunity: Get Certified to Deliver Two Most Popular Workshops on Emotional Intelligence and Creativity and Innovation at Work, in an intensive 3-Day Process Yes, now you can get certified to deliver not one but two powerful workshops to your organization or clients by investing just three days in one exciting certification process.  Save hundreds of dollars by taking advantage of this unprecedented opportunity. You will be delivering these sought-after, best-selling workshops to hundreds or even thousands of people for years to come. And you will take with you complete materials and training aids for these powerful workshops so you can start delivering the day after the training.

Deliver the most popular workshop topics needed today Imagine having the ability to deliver the most popular workshop topics needed by most people in organizations today by attending our certification process in just three days of intensive learning. If you are an internal trainer or external consultant, your investment in this one time certification will provide you with complete workshop materials you can immediately deliver. Your value to your organization or your clients will be significantly enhanced as you can now deliver the latest, most relevant skills to the organization's leaders and staff alike. If you have your own training practice, or want to break into the lucrative training consulting field, there is just nothing on the market today that provides you with this kind of certification in two powerful and popular workshops in just three days at a price less than what others charge for one workshop! And you will have to look very hard to find a company like HumaNext LLC, offering over one thousand training products, tools, and programs in every kind of media there is, from onsite workshops, to off-the-shelf, to online courses, to CDs, to training videos, and more. (Just take a look for yourself at our website: www.newtrainingideas.com ) By your certification and affiliation with us, you will get many benefits, including access to our remarkable library of training resources at reduced prices.

The Most Value You Can Get from a Certification Program We have designed a Certification Program that delivers unprecedented value to both internal trainers and external consultants. By attending ourcertification-process, you will gain the following benefits: You will be able to deliver two of the most needed workshops today, instead of just one workshop offered by most other certification programs. You will be offering your internal or external clients the latest, most popular workshop topics. Emotional Intelligence is currently one of the most popular topics in training. You will need an equal, or more, investment of your time and money to get certified in this topic alone by some programs. Creativity and Innovation training has become highly needed in today's innovation driven economy. It can also very nicely complement the Applying EQ At Work program by offering a popular area of application that covers idea generation, problem-solving, and innovation at work.

Your Certification Starts with Applying EQ At Work Two powerful workshops in three days: You will spend most of the first two days learning to Apply EQ At Work, and the last part of the second day plus the third day learning to apply Creativity & Innovation At Work. Our powerful Applying EQ at Work training program is experiential in nature. It enables participants to experience the concepts of emotional intelligence, discover the awareness and behaviors introduced and feel the exhilaration of applying the new competencies during the training. Upon completing the Applying EQ At Work workshop participants will: Become aware of the business case for emotional intelligence at work and understand why today's leaders need to develop this important set of competencies. Understand the nature of emotional intelligence and how the human brain works. Learn the four dimensions of EQ and the key EQ competencies and skills associated with them. Develop Self Awareness and understand its impact on attitude and personality. Develop and apply Self Management skills in ways that boost leadership and accomplishment. Develop and apply Social Awareness skills in ways that build the capacity for empathy and the ability to understand and relate to others. Develop and apply Relationship Management skills in ways that enhance the ability to exercise leadership, work collaboratively, resolve conflict, and achieve dramatic results at work. Choose from a battery of practical emotional intelligence techniques to use in a variety of work-related applications including communication, leadership, coaching, working with others, conflict resolution, and supervision. Click here for details on Applying EQ At Work

Your Certification Includes Using EQ Assessment Our Certification Program includes using powerful emotional intelligence assessment tools that profile people’s EQ. These research-based tools have been developed by licensed industrial/organizational psychologists with over 20 years of consulting experience. Many of these tools are available in 5 languages: English, French, German, Chinese and Mandarin. This will enable you to offer validated self and 360 assessment tools to your internal or external clients.

You Will Use Research-Based EQ Assessments What Assessments will you be using during the Certification process? We are pleased to offer the highly respected research-based Emotional Intelligence assessment tools by Kenneth M. Nowack, PhD, a member in Daniel Goleman's Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Dr. Nowack is a licensed psychologist with over twenty years of experience in the development and validation of assessment instruments, surveys, simulations, and tests. He has developed extensive 360-degree feedback, personnel selection, performance appraisal, and human resources training programs for clients in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Dr. Nowack has conducted research and published extensively in the areas of health psychology, behavioral medicine, stress management, 360-degree feedback, executive coaching, assessment centers, training needs assessment, and evaluation. Some of his publications have appeared in Training and Development, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Training Magazine, Performance and Instruction, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Work and Stress, Psychological Reports, and American Journal of Health Promotion. You will be able to offer your internal or external clients these research-based tools. Dr. Nowack's assessment tools in other skill areas, from leadership to teamwork, are also available to HumaNext affiliates at special rates.

One of the Many Tools, Assessments, and Profiles You Will Receive and Use The Emotional Intelligence Style Profile (EISP) uses Degree of Structure and Motivation as scales to create a four-quadrant grid that describes the style of Emotional Intelligence people are most likely to use.

You then apply your emotional intelligence to boost your Creativity at Work Our EQ certification process includes our innovative workshop on Creativity At Work. The level of creativity for people participating in our Creativity at Work training was measured before and after the workshop. Results indicated that participants were able, on the average, to double the number of innovative ideas and solutions they generated to work problems after completing this workshop. Click here for details on Creativity At Work Workshop

Another Powerful Tool You Will Receive and Learn to Use: Creativity At Work Profile for Charting Individual and Team Innovation The Creativity At Work Profile is a paper & pencil self-administered, self-learning tool that helps the user to uncover his or her preferred innovation style. Creativity At Work Profile goes beyond revealing and boosting individual creativity. With 42 more questions about the user's organization ( or department, or team ) and a similar graphic representation by each user to be added together, a collective picture of the organization's innovation status immerges.

4. A Blended Learning Approach Your HumaNext certification offers a complete blended learning approach to training. Blending learning is emerging as the most effective and preferred method of developing people at work. It is based on the recognition that it takes more than one workshop to effect lasting change in people’s thinking and behavior. It offers a blended package of learning opportunities, tools, and programs to help learners continue to develop along several weeks and months of continuous learning. It uses various media to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and the application of skills. Your certification with HumaNext gives you and your internal or external clients a variety of learning media, vehicles, and opportunities. It gives you print and electronic materials, guides, workbooks, and PowerPoint slides for workshop sessions, access to online courses, access to online assessments, reproducible paper-and-pencil profiles, 49 interactive courses on CDs, as well as email and telephone support for you as a HumaNext Network Associate. You will receive one of each of these resources for your own use, and get 20% discount on all your future purchases of these resources for your internal or external clients, with more discounts for volume purchases. The total value of the materials you will receive is over $1200.

The Ten Advantages of HumaNext Certification: What You Will Gain from Attending 1- You will become a Certified HumaNext Consultant and Coach, gaining all the benefits of associating with a training company that offers the most innovative training needed by organizations today. Just take a look at this website to get an idea of some of our capabilities, products, and services. We offer other services, such as a complete online training library at a separate website, and a full training video service at another website. Having a company like HumaNext / Communication Ideas behind you to give you support is one of the powerful advantages you will gain from this 3 in 1 certification. This support is very valuable to you whether you are an internal trainer or a consultant. 2- You will receive a full 20% discount on all training products, programs, and services offered by us (except videos) for as long as you maintain your certification status. If you are an active consultant or an internal trainer with an average annual training expenditure of, say, $10000, our discount will save you $2000 right there. (You maintain certification by paying a fee of $295 per year after the first two years since attending- subject to future increases in subsequent years.) 3- You will receive a complete Applying EQ At Work program package, with a step-by-step Facilitator’s Guide, high quality dramatic PowerPoint slides, and reproducible Participant’s Workbook. You will not need to pay for any workbooks for participants in the future, as many other certification programs require, saving you thousands of dollars in the long run. 4- You will be trained to use and interpret a number of  assessment tools including EQ assessment. 5- You will get a complete Creativity At Work program package, with a step-by-step Facilitator’s Guide, high quality dramatic PowerPoint slides, and reproducible Participant’s Workbook. You will not need to pay for any workbooks for participants in the future, as many other certification programs require, saving you thousands of dollars in the long run. 6- You will be trained to use and interpret the Creativity & Innovation Profile, for drawing your team’s, or your organization’s, creativity and innovation profiles. 7- You will receive reproducible materials as part of the two complete training programs and tools, a total value of over $1200. The reproducible Workbooks for the workshops are simply priceless, as you will be able to reproduce them for hundreds of participants at no additional charge, unlike many other vendors who charge for each workbook. 8-Your HumaNext certification will give you access to a Blended Learning approach that makes learning last. You will get 90 days of access to our Applying Emotional Intelligence at Work online course. 9-You will also receive a very valuable bonus: A library of interactive courses on a CD, covering all the key management and business skills you need to succeed. 10- The location of our training sessions has no equal: The capital of the world, New York City, with all the exciting attractions it offers.

You Will Be Trained By Francois Basili, Author of the Two Workshops You will be trained directly by Francois Basili, CEO of HumaNext / Communication Ideas, and editor of TGIM newsletter, who developed the two workshops of this certification. Basili has more than twenty years experience as a corporate training/ HRD and communication executive and consultant. He led a number of major cultural transformations for organizations in the US and abroad. He led workshops attended by executives from American, European, and Asian corporations. Basili's workshops helped to dramatically change participants' performance at some of the toughest work cultures in the world, such as Bechtel's projects in Saudi Arabia, and a correction facility (jail) system in New York. He presented at such national and international conferences like the Strategic Research Institute's conference in New York, and has given interviews to several national publications on critical workplace issues. Basili's corporate experience included heading the training/HRD and communication departments for a $1.2 billion, 12000 employee healthcare organization in New York. Basili's writings on communication and training topics appeared in publications in the US and abroad. He is the editor of TGIM newsletter read by thousands of training and communication professionals around the world. He holds a B.S. in Engineering, and a Masters in Public Administration from New York University. What People Said About Basili's Workshops: Illuminating, useful, and new. Excellent workshop. Opens up new thinking and not accepting status quo. Extremely interesting. Would like to pursue further. Excellent. Brought out areas of applications that people would normally overlook. Basili got people involved – made them think – gave them a different perspective on different approaches. Enlightening. Very informative and useful. Group interactions were most illuminating and fun

Why Certify and Affiliate with HumaNext HumaNext offers one of the largest and most comprehensive training programs, products, and tools available today. What this means for you is that your association with us will give you access to the largest selection of training programs in all skill areas in all media from one source. Whether you need training programs in print, online, on CDs, on Videos, or onsite, you will find a large variety of resources at our websites. We offer more than a thousand courses, resources, programs, assessments, and tools for every skill need at work. Take an overall look at our resources at the HOME page of this website (http://www.newtrainingideas.com/index.html) Your certification with us gives you a 20% discount on all our products, excluding videos, for as long as you maintain your certification status, saving you thousands of dollars. Your association with HumaNext will give you the support you need to succeed as a consultant, coach, or internal training professional. You will have behind you a vast resource of some of the most innovative and powerful training tools available today. And we add more resources almost every week.

HumaNext Is Your Positive Training Partner: We Create Thank-God-It's-Monday Workplaces HumaNext/Communication Ideas is a different kind of training company, which is exactly what you need to create a different, more positive and productive work culture. Our mission is to provide powerful and innovative training tools that help people create a workplace so exciting people say, Thank God It's Monday! Why not partner with a positive company that knows how to inspire people to feel good while achieving better? Get free articles and ideas by registering for our TGIM newsletter.. Get the Thank God It's Monday Newsletter Email: Send Page To a Friend Contact Us at: info@communicationideas.com Or call: 1-973-427-3004

Register Early To Save You arrange and pay for your own accommodation in New York City. We also offer a limited number of full or partial scholarships for qualified small non-profit organizations, recent graduates, and new consultants (0 to 5 years in business. You may be asked to help us in a number of ways in return. Contact us for details: info@communicationideas.com )   You may also send us a Purchase Order of pay by check payable to Communication Ideas at 8 Brownstone Terrace, Hawthorne, NJ 07506 USA Cancellation policy: Refund of amount paid (minus 10% processing) when cancelled 45 days or more prior to workshop, 50% refund 30 to 44 days notice, no refund for less than 30 days. If workshop is given again in the future, forfeited amount (minus 15%) may be applied toward future fees.)

Scholarship Programs HumaNext is committed to supporting internal and external trainers, consultants, educators, and leaders by providing them with the latest and most valuable training tools and ideas. Toward this goal, we offer a number of partial and full scholarships to our certification / Train-The-Trainer sessions. All participants are eligible for the Partial Scholarship in exchange for working to help us spread our message.   The full scholarship is usually limited to small non-profit organizations, recent graduates, and new consultants. Both scholarships do not include travel and accommodation expenses. Participants must arrange and pay for these at their own. We also do not get involved in any visa processing to visit the USA to attend the sessions and cannot offer any assistance in this matter. Read he terms of these scholarship programs from the link below.. Scholarship Program Terms

Email Us For More Information If you need more information, not covered here, on this certification opportunity.. Email us your name, position, organization, and phone to: info@communicationideas.com Get TGIM Newsletter » REGISTER NOW Send Page To a Friend Take a look below at the tools we offer by subject category.

A Lesson from the Oscar for Leaders and Trainers While watching the Oscar ceremony Sunday night, I learned at least one good lesson I want to share with you. (I'm always on the lookout for lessons to learn in every opportunity.) Robert Altman was given an Honorary Award for life time achievement as a distinctive film director because of his irreverent and tradition-busting approach to film-making. (He directed the film, M.A.S.H., together with about 40 other films.) In his acceptance speech, he made an insightful remark about his hands-off style that allows actors even to get off-script and make their own dialogues and scenes. He said something like: “When I direct the actors, I want to see them do something I’ve never seen before. That’s why I cannot tell them what it is.” This is a great lesson for leaders and managers everywhere. It tells us that to really get the best out of people, we need to stop trying to control their actions and give them enough freedom to write their own script and deliver their best performance. This also is a great lesson for trainers, facilitators and educators. A good facilitator of training should learn from Altman to let participants write their own script and create their own lessons and concepts. As a trainer, I want to see participants in my training workshops do, say, and create something I've never seen or heard before. I cannot teach them what that is. Try to use this approach in your training or teaching sessions and watch how the learners will come alive and create Oscar-winning performance every time. This is the same approach we use in our “Inside-Out Learning” methodology which we apply to our 3-in-1 Certification Program. This is when participants who come to learn discover that the best way to learn is for them to teach. They end up “Learning-By-Teaching” which is one of the principles of Inside-Out Learning. Another principle is “If it doesn’t touch the inside, it doesn’t change the outside,” which is also true of acting. It turns out that the Oscar informs us not just of best performances on the screen, but also about performing best in our roles as leaders, trainers, and learners. If you want to experience this approach in action, while learning to teach creativity and innovation at work, I invite you to attend our Creativity & Innovation Certification. See information on this page or call us at 1-973-427-3004

Creativity and Emotional Intelligence in Marketing: The BMW Poem One of the great places to find creative ideas to boost your creativity is advertisement, whether in print or on TV. In the November 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine I read these words on the left page while a dramatic yet simple and small photo of the car occupied part of the opposite page’s white space. The copy on the page looked and read like a poem: This is not an SUV   SUVs tend to have poor manners. They put their elbows on the table and wipe their mouths with their sleeves. They do not floss.   They are boxen. Large beasts with huge egos and small brains, their DNA is rife with mutation. They are inclined toward top-heaviness.   They frequently laugh too loud and ask people to feel their biceps. They are full of cruft. They are bloated and have seventeen cupholders.   If it weren’t for bad style, they’d have no style at all.   This is not an SUV   And on the right page under a photo of the car you read,   This is the new BMW X3 SAV   In our creativity and emotional intelligence certification training, we teach participants that.. You can stimulate your creativity by looking at advertisements in print and on TV all the time. Ads are written by creative copy writers and designed by innovative graphic designers. So you get the benefit of  exposure to the most creative minds for free. You can be creative and emotionally intelligent in anything you do. This BMW "poem" is a great example of emotionally intelligent advertisement: It's clever. It's measured. It's funny. And it makes the point by appealing to both emotions and common sense.