Leadership Skills: The Personality Makeover
Monday, March 9, 2009 by Dave Blum There’s a great article in the latest issue of Inc. Magazine about the “personality makeover” of the CEO of Ruckus Wireless, a Sunnyvale, CA Wi-Fi start up. By all accounts, Selina Lo is a hard-charging, successful executive leader; at last count, her company had 147 employees and recorded […]
Building Teams & Allignment: with Open Space
Friday, March 6, 2009 by Dave Blum Have you ever been to a conference where there are intentionally no plans, no programs, no designated speakers, and the agenda is made up from scratch that morning? Well, that’s exactly the crazy/fascinating meeting I attended here in San Francisco this past Tuesday, The event was called “LaidOffCamp“, […]
Watch Your Step, part 2
Thursday, March 5, 2009 by Dave Blum So there I am on a Balinese beach, sitting in the sand, my feet full of sea urchin spines. (How’s that for a lead sentence!) Sprinting off towards the nearest hotel, my girlfriend, Yumiko, can be seen from a distance, negotiating animatedly with the local t-shirt vendors. Half an hour […]
Management Lesson: Watch Your Step!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 by Dave Blum What were *you* doing back in 1987? If you’re a Millennial, you may not even have even been born yet! (Wow, that makes me feel OLD.) For my part, back in the later 80’s I was foot-loose and fancy free, having just finished a two-year stint teaching English […]
Scavenger Hunt Ideas: 3 Ways to build a list
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 by Dave Blum Here are three types of scavenger hunt lists you’ll want to consider when creating your own DIY team building exercises: 1) A List of Items: When we were kids, our parents often set up our birthday or holiday scavenger hunts around the house or neighborhood. After receiving the […]
Team-building: Building-in Imperfection
Monday, March 2, 2009 by Dave Blum >Years ago while teaching English in Japan, I was struck by the fact that many of the female models and pop stars had (at least) one crooked tooth. Clearly there was some peculiarly Asian aesthetic going on here that I was missing, an aesthetic that was very different […]
More Advanced Treasure Hunting…
Friday, February 27, 2009 by Dave Blum A couple of days ago, I wrote about last weekend’s Bay Area Treasure Hunt (BATH), run by our Dr. Clue puzzle writer, Alexandra Dixon. Well, James (also a Dr. Clue puzzle writer) filmed the whole day for our team and put it up on YouTube. As you can […]
Star Trek treasure hunt cruise
Thursday, February 26, 2009 by Dave Blum Over the years, I’ve been amazed and amused by the odd treasure hunt ideas that have come across my plate. (I guess that’s what happens when you combine corporate team building activities and scavenger hunts for a living.) For instance, at one point I was in serious talks with an LA production […]
Guerilla Contacting
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by Dave Blum One of things I love about this weird wired age we live in is that you can find almost anyone online, write or call them, and very often they’ll contact you back. This just didn’t happen back in the day, when people used phones or even letters (you […]
Treasure Hunting with the Big Boys
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by Dave Blum It sounds a bit like a super hero movie: “In our midst lives a little-known subculture, operating under the radar of the everyday society, dedicated to the creation of puzzles and the solving of puzzles.” I’m not talking about the Dr. Clue staff (although we are definitely dedicated, […]