I’ve Been BitMoji’d, Literally!
So, I was asked to provide a BitMoji for my work to use on a key card. Sounded fun, but honestly, I had no idea what a BitMoji was. I knew what an emoji was, and have even blogged about them. In fact I just checked and I have blogged about emojis seven times. Click here to find my blogs on emojis. You are probably asking yourself, how did he figure out what a BitMoji was? Well, I did what any baby boomer would do, asked a much younger and tech savvy person. I happened to be working in a school at the time asked, so I asked a teacher. She was kind enough to help me find the app, download it, and show we how it worked. I love this reverse-mentoring stuff. What fun!
Well, do you BitMoji? If not, then you are missing out! I found it to be quite fun and even an exercise in reflection. I like the fact that you take a selfie and then your selfie is right there as you are creating the avatar. I found this to be a metaphor for how we reflect on how we are doing as leaders and in our jobs. Sometimes we need that selfie to help us reflect. Here’s my selfie and BitMoji (how did I do?):
What is funny is that at our 3D Leadership gathering this past weekend, the group was kidding me about using the word “literally” a lot. They created a “literally” hashtag: #literally. How cool was it that there literally is a “lit·er·al·ly” BitMoji. This caused me to reflect about the words and language I use, because we all know language matters.
Building a positive culture in our organizations takes commitment, consistency, and teamwork…and adding a little Bitmoji may just add that extra fun you are looking for. Don’t forget, it can also bring some reflection time into your own personal development and growth. Next time you are looking to represent your organization or school’s culture, just remember, there’s a Bitmoji for that! How will you use Bitmojis to add to your organization’s positive culture?
The Messiness Of The Truths We Are Frustrated With
Reality is, if you are willing to be present in the messiness and take appropriate action based on the conditions in which you actually find yourself, you will be uncomfortable quite often and also probably experience feeling vulnerable. We dove into this messiness at our Indiana 3D Leadership gathering this past weekend. The through line of our gathering was, “What’s My Story?” The first activity was to carve a pumpkin. You heard me right, carve a pumpkin. But not just the usual face, but a jack o lantern that answered the phrase: “Truths We Are Frustrated With.”
I’ve gotta tell you, I was blown away. They were all awesome. The stories were all awesome. The group was so into this project that they found a dark room, lit up their pumpkins, and formed a semi circle to tell their stories. I videoed a few of them and let me tell you they were all inspiring. I am sure I will have more blogs following this one on these stories.
One of the stories that jumped out at me was on the messiness of leadership and the truths that frustrate us. Check it out by clicking here:
I learned a lot from this observation and visual. This pumpkin carving and story taught us that, as a leader, it’s up to us to put ourselves second, and operate in a way that allows others to feel at ease, to feel understood, and to work in the way that’s best for them–even if it’s not the way we might operate ourselves. Sometimes we need to let go of the meaning we are putting on the moment and just be there.
Your team wants to know what you stand for and believe in, and that your values align with theirs. Great leaders step up to challenges, and come face-to-face with their commitments.
Tear Down This Wall!
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!” ~ Ronald Reagan
This past week during our South Carolina 3D Leadership gathering I was reminded of those immortal words of the first President I ever voted for, and my favorite President, Ronald Reagan. This past spring I had the opportunity to visit the very spot where he showed audacious leadership and spoke those audacious words. We were discussing change, our willingness to make changes in ourselves, and how change happens within an organization. As always, I had our participants make a graphic representation of their thoughts. As always, they all blew me away, but one really intrigued me. Ms. Linda Russell of Mevers School of Excellence drew a brick wall with a split in it with the word “change” (pictured here). As she explained her drawing and how we need to break down the walls, I was reminded of how this was what President Reagan was doing. As with all change, this involved risk and audacity, but he was clearly communicating to Soviet leadership what he [Reagan] desired.
Ms. Russell’s Great Graphic Representation
We later got into a discussion of good and bad leadership traits. I blogged about these in Leader Traits From The Palmetto State. Click here to read that post. One of the traits discussed was communication. I was so glad that we are able to have open discussions that actually lead to results and professional growth of participants. Two of our participants were discussing how a lack of communication was causing a wall to be built brick by brick. This barrier be, and was in this case, an unintended wall. Lack of good communication can send mixed messages or aloofness, complacency, and unwillingness that others will become alienated and not bother to interact with those parties. They may even avoid them altogether. It was discovered that the issue was just so much going on that time was not being taken to do easy and quick communiques. Right then and there the bricks began to come down from the wall.
Great leaders know how to overcome these obstacles. They cross the aisle, bridge the gaps that separate factions, and find ways to communicate in effective ways. They know that any walls are drag factors that will slow down progress and possibly sabotage the mission. So the walls must be struck down in order to move forward. How about you? Do you have any walls that you need to tear down?
Byron's Babbles 
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