The wonderful lightness of learning through twitter and video games
Convening groups of people, having fun and collaborating together on shared passions is our favourite way to learn together – and we’ve done a lot of that this year.
During our 6th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference in March, South African journalist Fiona Snyckers shared a panel with writers Shafinaaz Hassim and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers on the power of women’s stories. I tweeted during Fiona’s talk as she referred to celebrated author of the legendary Fear of Flying, Erica Jong. We were both fairly star-struck as we got promptly followed. And that’s how this issue’s mini-interview came about.
Twitter also played a key role in sourcing this issue’s book review. Claire Diaz Ortiz leads social innovation at Twitter, Inc. and has just launched Twitter for Good: Change the World, One Tweet at a Time. It’s just the kind of book I’ve been waiting for: it uses the power of social media to do the kind of important work we can all do with a little bit of motivation and the click of a mouse. And I was one of the lucky ones entrusted with a sneak review copy (I love my job).
As part of our Inaugural #Wired Women conference last month, I launched a new presentation with my son Adam, which we have called What Gaming has to teach us about Leadership. What an exhilarating learning journey I am being exposed to as the world of gaming teaches me lessons about motivation, strategy and leadership.
We’re running it again as a breakfast forum on Wednesday 26 October. We would love you to join us if you have insights, questions and ideas about gaming and its impact on how we lead, manage and teach.
We’re also excited to introduce an exciting new digital storytelling course with Pam Sykes. (see below) And as luck would have it, my friend Martin Rutte from The Centre for Spiri tuality in the Workplace has just announced an international competition – the Spirit at Work Creative Video Contest – with prizes of of $7,500, $3,500 and $2,000. “We’re asking you to make a short 3-5 minute video on what spirituality and work is, or how you would promote it in a workplace.”
Find more info here.
What a great incentive to come on the workshop, sharpen your storytelling skills and make South Africa proud.
After all, in the words of Erich Fromm, “Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?”
Debby Edelstein
