OUT AND ABOUT

The least common denominators of anthrocubeology are interactions, workspace, and choice. My becoming an anthrocubeologist (over here) is evolving within the framework of my interests – being an improvisor, practicing behavior design, and engaging servant-leader philosophies.

On being is the way I am as an anthrocubeologist, while sharing thoughts about lifelong learning, engaging self-reflection and self-identify, doing field work, and serving as a story catalyst.

Lifelong Learning

By my college education, I have a B.S. in ChemE. I am not a practicing ChemE. Like many college graduates who enter the workforce, for decades I have applied my geeky education more often in areas only remotely related to hard-core ChemE. Occasionally, I use a scientific calculator. More often, I have a variety of moleskines and wanna-be-moleskines with pencil and pen nearby. I capture my thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

In 1999, servant leadership crossed my path. And in 2011, I completed the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership online academy’s distance learning courses – The Foundations of Servant Leadership (taught by Isabel Lopez) and Applying the Key Practices of Servant Leadership (taught by Jeff Miller). I attended my first Greenleaf Center annual conference in 2012, and I co-presented with Jeff Miller at their 23rd annual conference in 2013. I believe in the servant-leader philosophy.

In November 2010, I discovered Health Month, which later led me to Tiny Habits™ by BJ Fogg. In June 2012, I completed BJ Fogg’s Behavior Design Boot Camp, for which my world looked different after learning about Behavior Design.

Simplicity changes behavior. … Put “hot triggers” in the path of motivated people. – BJ Fogg

In 2011, I began taking improvisation classes. I am an improvisor – learning, performing, and learning more – thanks to the wonderful people at Made Up Theatre and EndGames. And beyond classes and workshops, in 2012, I attended the AIN (Applied Improvisation Network) Annual International Conference, which was held in San Francisco, CA, USA. And 2013 was my first Memorial Day Weekend fun at Camp Improv Utopia.

Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what’s gonna happen next, and you are mostly just yanking ideas out of your ass as you go along. – Stephen Colbert

I believe the intersection of servant leadership and behavior design, inspired by improvisation, provides a vast landscape to explore the opportunities for workspace cultural shifts.

Self-Reflection + Self Identity

Curiosity. Intuition. Inspiration. I ponder and visualize the creation of workspace cultural shifts. I am guided by my 1994 epiphany –

There are BRIDGES yet to be constructed by those who live and

breathe in their ENVIRONMENT— AIR, LAND, and WATER. Egos stand firm

on the ground that they were born and choose not to acknowledge that

to get one step closer they must go one step FURTHER.

– which continues to shape my life choices.  I observe, listen, read, write, present, and connect.  People say –

Affecting cultural changes at work is lofty. Can’t be done. … You only have a B.S. ChemE? What are your other credentials? …  Oh – you are just doing team building. Been there, done that. … Other people know more about that and are doing i it. Why do you think you can do something different?

I say –

Glad to meet you. This is my unique point of view.

Having not been schooled in anthropology or organizations (e.g., development, management, systems), I rely upon self-guided learning, including learning from those around me.

Field Work

Exploration. Discovery. Recollection. My cubeopolis experience has been less about solving mathematical equations or anything involving chemical reactions. Rather, as a recovering ChemE, it has been about my efforts of adjusting to the physical workspace environment, maneuvering sociocultural interactions in small and large organizations, and exchanging information. 

Over the decades, my physical workspaces have varied – a cube farm (with and without a nearby window), a shared office with a door, my own office with a door (and no window). And by window, let me be more specific – views of a printer/copy machine area, a receptionist area, a parking lot, a bay area waterfront, or a wall of another high rise building.

While it is more conventional to define the workspace as one’s means of income, I consider workspace to include family, school, faith, employer, town, nation, and world. With this said, my field work includes my experiences – past and present – and those experiences of others in their cubeopolis – in their workspace.

In the fields of observation, chance only favours the mind which is prepared. – Louis Pasteur

Story Catalyst

Listening. Sharing. Channelling.  There is power in storytelling.  And each person has a story to tell about his or her experience in cubeopolis – about his or her workspace life stories. Each person as a story about how he or she experienced or witnessed another establish meaningful interactions in the workspace –

• the sociocultural experience
• the physical setting
• the decisions each person makes to connect or disconnect with others

– and how that affected his or her happiness. Meanwhile, we also know a few bad-behaving cubesters, relatively speaking. It’s likely these same persons “cubeopolis personas” would not be acceptable in other cultural settings – home, church, school. Moreover, for those with children, would their own bad behaviors be acceptable in their children?

I continue to discover that who I am must not be lost in how I express myself in cubeopolis. I have a choice. And this means others have a choice.

On being an anthrocubeologist means –

• curiosity
• intuition
• inspiration
• exploration
• discovery
• recollection
• listening
• sharing
• channelling

– it means choosing wisely.