Kudos and Criticism
Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI), now defunct Graduate Program where I earned an MBA in Sustainable Systems in 2013. BGI pioneered Sustainable Business AND, as happens with many pioneers, BGI was shut down by forces BGI failed to recognize as enemies.
Hilary Wilson and John Gardner were key players in my educational process at BGI. John Gardner, was Dean, taught Agriculture and was incredibly generous with students. Hilary was one year ahead of me and introduced me to the wacky world of BGI. Hilary and John both had CANCER during our tenure at BGI. John passed on and Hilary moved forward, a fact of living and dying.
Circle with John is my most lasting BGI memory. I think there are 5 parts to circle; I only remember 3 - CHECK-IN, APPRECIATIONS and PROBLEMS WITH SOLUTIONS.
CHECK-IN
What is going on in your world right now? With my Corporate Hat on, I asked what does that matter? Corporate Culture Demands everyone “stay on message,” which silences many voices. Suddenly our emotions, our feelings mattered, mattered more than “staying on message.”
APPRECIATIONS
Constant complainers are like a wet blanket suffocating folks around them. Appreciations encourage us to look for GOOD everywhere. Few folks are intentionally EVIL.
PROBLEMS WITH SOLUTIONS
No whining! State the PROBLEM clearly and propose a SOLUTION.
KUDOS and CRITICISM
No more BGI Circles - just me sitting at my computer and writing blog posts. KUDOS for stuff I like; CRITICISM for problems I encounter; often the same company that I wrote a blog post about earlier. The time frame between BRILLIANCE and LOSING THE WAY are compacted into a very short time frame.
For example, IKEA has toppled from the heights in less than two years, the subject of my next blog post.
Drew Jones, my study buddy, and John Gardner drinking coffee on a break at BGI. Drew and Mindy Jones
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WE GO!