Herbs are growing on my porch. In 2014 I bought my house in my fantastic neighborhood and found to my delight, after the closing, that there was an honest to goodness porch swing, a feature that I had missed when taking a tour, coming back for the inspection and even when visiting with my Mom. You see, I have always loved porch swings. My Aunt had one for a bit when I was a kid and I just loved how relaxing they were and how you could just swing and talk for hours, maybe with a glass of tea in hand. My swing lived up to its given purpose, family and friends do sit and swing and we do sip on tea, coffee, and even wine and beer. It is a versatile swing but, how does it relate to herbs?? Well, on the other side of my porch sits a razed planter bed (thanks Mom) where there is parsley, oregano and rosemary. This is another feature that I always associated with a true home and as soon as I can figure out how to best use these tasty little plants they can go to work, bringing even more good taste into my house.

These walks down LEAD memory lane have been fun. Again we had a ton of Pittsburgh people at the 2015 conference. This year Al could not join us though the Thomas family did make the trip. Kathy drove with the boys and Stacy while Eric, Sarah baby Andy and I drove a jeep. The sessions were good again. Yeah submitters and committees. I was a part of a panel discussion on Audio Description at the end of the conference. Sadly, there is a photo of me in a headdress floating around the net somewhere, I love the ballet… Eric and I also attended a fantastic British session on Relaxed Performances and I went to a great one on donor engagement in funding access work, done by this great V.P. from the Kennedy Center. She was late because I think, maybe traffic but, once she arrived, she was fantastic. Stacy is also becoming a font of knowledge on volunteer programs. We did attend the opening. Interesting and huge place but they needed more interaction in my opinion. The day before the conference started the Thomas’s and I once again hit the town. We did museums, the mall, my pore Bear burnt his feet walking over part of the world as we traversed the Navy exhibit, we went back to the Archives and saw an exhibit on the drinking habits of the first families. it was a good time over all! Finally, the trip home was no fun, not in the least. We left at the wrong time and got caught in traffic that lasted until Pennsylvania and I mean the state and not the Avenue. When we did reach home all of us were tired and crabby, just like a family after a long trip. I hoped to return to D.C. again soon.

Next was the Chicago LEAD. Number 1, there were 20 of us there from the burgh. Win! 2 The KC staff did a site visit in Pittsburgh earlier that same year, we were hosting in 2016 b/c, 2015 was the 25 anniversary of the ADA and they wanted it back in D.C. . Their trip here was fantastic though. We hit the Children’s Museum, Warhol, Cultural District (including the Children’s Festival) and Museums in Oakland. I bought them lunch at SAL’s and they bought Mary Ellen, Tiff, Anne and I dinner at Sonoma. Back to Chicago, we ate a lot, deep dish, Big Bole, and lots of wanuts, yes, a waffle donut. Eric and I starred in a Kennedy Center produced video. The sessions were so so, not peeking our interest. There was one cool one involving robotics but other than that… :( We got soaked in the rain one night, which was truly funny, mainly everything great about our trip happened away from the conference. I did hope to return to Chicago, which actually happened the following year, AFTA did a precon on diversity and inclusion. This trip’s most fun night for me involved dinner with two of my favorite Miami people, Cass and Peyton. Dining and grabbing a drink with these two now true adults was a ton of fun!

My second LEAD experience was at the Kennedy Center. This time we were on LEAD2013. I was asked to co-present with Betty which was very nice. We did an intro session on working with the visually impaired and it went well. In fact, this was my second time working with Betty in 2013, the first time was at a GPAC event in February when, they flew her up to open their planned program of spring sessions and I was her opening act of sorts. . Also at this LEAD Dan Hoffer of the Trust and I were able to attend a pre-conference offering called tech at LEAD. It was a fascinating day and while not exactly applicable to our day to day work, we did open our minds to new ideas. I was also newly introduced to the idea of an IBeacon system, which sounds cool but, I will need to play with it to get a useable understanding. Luckily the Warhol now has one. Museums have such potential to be cool and automate content delivery. Also, at this conference, we met some attorneys who could speak to risk. They were awesome. We also shared about our experience over the year working with Disney and BAA on our Autism Friendly Lion King and all who we spoke with sounded really interested. Additionally the Kennedy Center is expanding their Family Theater work into Sensory Friendly programming, which was something that we needed to think about over the coming years. Thus far we have added performances in 2015-2016 and 2017 and of course we did our day time gallery crawl. We met Roger who has continued to be a great friend and partner. Additionally the term Pittsburgh Mafia was born, I don’t recall how but know that it had to do with the fact that there are a lot of us and we hang out and genuinely like one another, also Diane from Imagination Stage was involved but, we are now the Pittsburgh Mafia. Over all it was a blockbuster LEAD. I will just add two more things. Betty and Jessica added a Sarah to their team and I liked her right away. Finally, to keep the Pittsburgh emerging Leader thing alive, Alissa of the Ballet one it in 2013. Yay! Also in D.C. we of course hit the mall. Had another Pittsburgh dinner which we invited Mimi to, Philly is PA too… Then we had one of the best Asian fusion dinners ever. I went to the Archives for the first time and parts of the Smithsonian for the millionth time. And finally we took a photo with JFK’s head. Oh, and even though I keep saying that I am done, I am never done with D.C. We went to Alexandria to have dinner with Chris’ old friend from college’s family. It was amazing sea food and amazing drinks and afterword as we were walking back to the car, we had ice-cream that may have been home made. It too was terrific and for Bear’s first trip, it was a huge success! D.C. is just the best!!!

I received an email last week from the Kennedy Center enumerating with short statements and photos, why people should attend their annual (LEAD), Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Conference. While all of their reasons were true and valid The email got me thinking on my history with LEAD and the things that draw me back each year. I will write about my experience with LEAD over the next few posts. So, here we go, my first LEAD was in 2012. As I wrote earlier at the beginning of that summer, Betty, the accessibility guru of the arts came to visit us. She was impressed with our enthusiasm and all that we were accomplishing at the Trust and during our wrap-up session, while lounging on couches in our Circles Lounge, she even said that we should think about being a host city for her conference one year. This is something that we would tease her staff about for years to come… Not the idea coming from their boss but, we really got it in our heads that our city was a great location for LEAD. The next morning, when taking Betty to the airport, one of my former coworkers, who I still miss working with, heard something else from Betty. She kept it a secret for months but, that following week, she and our boss, Rona nominated Al, Eric, and I for the LEAD Emerging Leader Award, so, at my first LEAD and the guy’s second LEAD we won an award for the Trust for our work in access. Rona flew up to be with us and introduce us at the awards dinner. We all got to speak and we were able to add an award with our names on it to the wall of awards and honors in the fourth floor conference room. Not too shabby. Also at my first LEAD we got to have a bonding dinner with our fellow Pittsburghers, hang out with Al’s awesome wife and daughter, get trained by the best in Audio Description, play at the Boston Science Center, further our idea of doing an Autism Friendly Lion King with an educational session put on by Lisa and Deb of TDF, walk around Boston’s art museum, meet Sally Garrison, the guru in access and evacuation, who would visit us in 2014 and meet so many other cool people who cared about the things that we cared about. It was such a great conference and we had such a great time.

In 2012, I saw the Chorus Line with my two coworkers, Eric and Al and Betty Siegel of the John F. Kennedy Center. We had invited Betty to our fair city to do some consultation on our theaters and this show happened to be playing at our Benedum Center as a part of the CLO’s summer season. To give a little context on my history with musical theater, my sister and I were lucky to grow up in the town of Meadville, a relatively small place with not one but two community theaters. Therefore, from rather young ages my Mom took us to see gems like, Grease, South Pacific, Anything Goes, Aladdin, Pinocchio, Tommy, The King and I, Guys and Dall’s, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dream Coat, God spell, The Secret Garden, Mouse Trap, Oklahoma, West Side Story and of course The Chorus Line… We were lucky kids. So, armed with community Theater productions, I was no novice when I sat down in the theater that night, alongside our guest. I must say, however, I was taken aback when Betty, sitting beside me, cried at various points throughout the second act. I was watching the story and my eyes were as dry as a bone. Was there something wrong with me, that I did not find this story of struggling artists tear worthy? Was I cold and unfeeling? Finally the show had come to its end. The actors took their Curtin call and the lights began to come up in the theater’s house. This is the point when Betty turned to me, still teary and said “she did it for the love of her art.” This is the moment when I knew that while I am a strong admirer and lover of art that I am not an artist. This revelation was further confirmed when Al and Eric joined us at the back of the theater. Eric too had tears in his eyes, (artist,) Al stood dry eyed and as puzzled as I. Artists are amazing people and I count many amongst my closest friends, However they possess an innate ability to feel more deeply or on a different plain, it is not good or bad just different. I will always remember this story, so thank you to the Chorus Line for illuminating such an important distinction for me so early in my journey into the realm of the arts,.

I started at the Trust in the fall of 2011 after leaving a job and a town that I loved but, was beginning to outgrow. My last job had me advising students, event planning, facilitating leadership development, teaching, and working on holistic student development,. I entered into a role at the Cultural Trust, where there was a question to answer and an undefined path stretching ahead. I started with an internal charge to research who in the country was doing this accessibility and inclusion work the best. Once I found that, it was my belief that we could do this work. I read and I read and I planned and I read and then I asked a question, could we bring the national guru here to consult on our physical spaces? Could she help us to digest some pretty daunting plans and help to prioritize some pretty daunting work? The answer to all of this was yes. I already had some programmatic work under way. We had worked with marketing to print a large print program and were going to have some Broadway programs brailed in the fall. Theater Development Fund was going to caption our next Broadway season and we had even found an audio describer, we were on our way… So, then in May of 2012 I gave Betty Siegel a call. A little star struck, I called her at the Kennedy Center and invited her to Pittsburgh and told her of our concerns and of our reports. To my surprise, she was game for a visit. I sent her all of our material and we booked her a flight and like that she was here. In June of 2012 we picked her up from the airport in my coworkers car, took her out for pizza and had drinks with the, Betty Siegel. We took her to see a show that night and I planned a very busy day with four theater visits, a lunch with Kevin, Rona and a team from the Trust and some time to debrief at the end. You know that to this day, we are not perfect but, we have plans, we continue to improve and little by little we are making Pittsburgh a better and more inclusive place.

Yesterday, a little girl walked up to the bus stop with her Mom. Once standing about ten feet away from me, she turned to Bear and said to him, “I’m not afraid of you.” Really, I can’t make these things up. At least my trips home are entertaining.

The CLO’s Little Mermaid was fantastic! All who know me know that I have a love for both musicals and for Disney and am very open about these facets of my personality. All of my coworkers and now anyone who reads this blog will know that the parade of animals at the beginning of the Lion King makes me cry every time, in Toronto, in New York and the three times that I saw it in Pittsburgh. There is something so beautiful about how the music builds, about the homage payed to the new royal baby, and about the words, drawing attention to mortality and interconnectedness. This piece of Broadway perfection gets me every time. So, as it turns out, I am sappy. This is not new knowledge, to me, something that was brought out in college, I guess I went through one to many sorority initiations but, there you go… Anyway, the Lion King, amazing, Beauty and the Beast, fantastic, I will see Cinderella and Aladdin this year. But, back to the little mermaid, this was my second time seeing it. The shear staging of Under the Sea is worth buying a ticket just for that one song. It is so fast pace and while I can really only see flashes of color friends have described the action previously and I can see it in my head every time I see this fantastic story. The stage is alive with flying, skating, twirling, tapping, and Lion King-esk puppetry. It is beautiful and energetic and fun and everything a Broadway show should be. The Little Mermaid herself had an amazing voice that filled the Benedum center with powerful notes and enveloped the crowd, drawing us into the story. Then there were the King, Prince Eric and their strong voices and beautiful ballads, really the entire cast just fit. I was so glad I left my house on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Thank you to the #PittsburghCLO for a great night of theatrical fun!

I just read my blog posts from 2010. Keep in mind I started this blog in order to document guide dog school for the benefit of my students and others that I knew at Miami. In reading them now, seven years later, I see that my writing is similar, that I focus on one or two ideas in service of a larger idea and that I like to read my thoughts. Also, Bethany, while not exactly the best guide dog for me, retains her cute sweet demeanor and sometimes bratty disposition, I.e. ripping a toy from another dog’s mouth is so Bethany… She did it to Randall, she does it to Bear. She is just not a dog who likes to share. I am also a person who likes to accentuate the positive, glass half full or, perpetually positive, if you will? That well alliterated name still sticks. Thank you JS Bragg. Even today, I am happy to have those words attached to my name.

The other day, on my way home, a kid got on the bus. Rounding the corner and walking a few paces ahead of his Mom, he saw Bear, who by the way was as tall as he was. The only words to escape him were, “what the…” My thoughts exactly, kid. #bigdog #busfun #lifeasabear

So, to blog or not to blog, that is the question,… Pros of blogging: I like it. It is creative. Cons of blogging: I am not consistent. I get board with updating it. I get to busy with other things. Why I am restarting: I was talking with one of the Trust’s fellow’s Lily about blogging and I realized that I kind of missed it. In addition, my friend Anne was writing her own blog post for a national organization. While my plans are not that grand I will send out some thoughts into the world and we will go from there. So, lets jump ahead, anyone who follows me on Facebook knows that A. I was not pleased about the results of last year’s election and B. I have been trying my best to shine light on the actions of our elected officials and others who reside in the public realm because I truly believe that knowledge is power and the more that we all know and read and question the better. After all, knowledge can combat falsehoods and dangerous group think. I truly believe in the goodness of people and try to do my part every day to include, reach out, remove barriers to participation and generally promote social justice in all that I do,. Some of you may be gagging on the syrupy sweet naivety of this statement but, I mean it. So, once again this blog is coming back, I will not make promises of it being a daily weekly or monthly read but, I do invite you to read on...

TSA Fail

Sadly, I recently had a less than pleasant TSA experience at JFK and while not usually one to cause a fuss when faced with many abhorrent  practices, Thursday morning’s screening passed by a regular threshold of what is acceptable.  Therefore, what you will read below is a first person account of our ordeal, with some quotes from my friend and colleague, who also happened to be my travel companion on this trip. 

I was on a return trip home from business related travel  in New York, with Pittsburgh, PA as a final destination and a  short layover in Boston.  I was travelling with a friend and colleague and my guide dog.  As we had done on the way out and as I have done numerous times before, in security lines, I  asked her to walk in front of me and when she had passed through the metal detector, I passed her my dog’s leash leaving his harness on.  While doing this I informed the agent that my dog  would set off the detector as his harness and leash both contain medal components.  My colleague took his leash and called him forward.  Without skipping a beat, he set off the alarm, as we knew that he would and the agent went to clear the alarm and then allow me to proceed through, when the agent  was stopped by his supervisor, who directed us into a holding area.  My colleague and I then waited. While we waited, dozens of people passed through the line, passing our purses, our bags and my colleague’s iPhone, on top of our belongings, out of mycolleague sight entirely.  No one  asked us what time our flight was; we were ignored entirely with no explanation but "wait here." A number of other passengers passed through with visible disabilities.  My colleague  reported that “a  woman using a wheelchair waited with us about three minutes and then went through after her young granddaughter did.  No problem.  We waited.”

She would say 13-14 minutes passed as one dog on leash, and two dogs carried in the arms of a passenger, went through without being pulled out to wait.

Finally after we had waited there for over fifteen minutes, my colleague caught someone’s eye and asked, "what is the protocol for a person with a visual impairment?"  "Someone is coming for you."  She and I then asked again,  "What is the protocol?  IS there a protocol?"  No answer.

A female agent then turned up.   She brought us back through the small door, back to the front of the line near the conveyor belt.  My Colleague stood in the x-ray scanner first.  While I was again  pulled to the Side.  The female agent asked if they could pat my dog and I down.  I consented, we did hope to make our flight to Boston and then home to Pittsburgh, after all.  Though, I must confess,  I believed this to be an over stepping of my rights.  Remember that my dog did set off the detector, while I had not.  The agent then asked me if I would like to step into a closed off area or be pat-down where I stood.  I opted to stay where I stood and then she proceeded to administer the most invasive pat-down I had ever received and I have traveled internationally, once entering back into the country in 2002, 9 months after 9-11.  She combed her fingers through my hair, ran the back of her hands over my chest and up and down each leg, invading what my elementary school health teachers would have called my bathing-suit area, and in the process made a lot of onlookers quite uncomfortable.  

Again my colleague stated, “People were staring and then looking away.  Some caught my eye and were wide-eyed, seeming uncomfortable and sympathetic to your situation.  Nobody said a word to TSA (including me biting my tongue so we didn't get further delayed). But people reacted unhappily, empathetically, or angrily due to facial expressions I saw.” 

When logging on to the TSA site, I found this; ”You and your service dog/animal will be screened by a walk-through metal detector. You may walk through together or you may lead the animal through separately on a leash. You will undergo a pat-down if you are not screened by the walk-through metal detector.

If the metal detector alarms, you and your service dog/animal will undergo additional screening, including a pat-down.”

Which is fine but, this is not what took place.  My dog did walk through, sporting his guide dog attire, harness and leash, both were constructed using metal and leather and of course, my dog set off the detector.  I did  not set off  alarms but was patted-down.  Most aggravating of all were the TSA  staff people.  I  would suggest that they go through extensive training with various service animals and their handlers.  They should all know protocols and most importantly , continue to communicate with their captives, as they wait, giving important information like expected wait time, reasons for extra screening measures, etc.  

Debriefing, after the fact, my colleague said, about our original approach and walk through, “This is exactly how we did it in Pittsburgh and it was much more professionally handled” and she was right. In the nearly 15 years that I have been flying through our nation’s airports, I, like most of us, have experienced various screening procedures, sometimes sailing through and sometimes under going further measures, that is the variability of travel.  This time, however, actions and lack of action, prompted this post.  I am asking nothing of the TSA except for some additional training of their staff and only write this account as an educational piece in the hopes that future screenings of service dogs and their handlers are done with a greater level of awareness.

Happy Travels,

Vanessa Braun

Writing: Lately I have been thinking about the art that is missing from my life. You may be perplexed by this. So, yes I work in the arts. Yes, I am planning a ticketed artistic event as we speak. Yes, my job allows me to be creative every day. What could I ever be talking about? I am talking about writing. I have always written for fun. I have many short stories and even a novel that someday I would love to publish. For the past five years or so I just have not felt like writing. Of course I am excluding blog posts, scant as they may be and my witty commentary on Facebook and twitter, neither of which satisfies an outlet for creativity… So here and now, I am announcing, I am back in the creating business. Will anything ever come of this, I hope so but, really, who can tell.

Lately I have been thinking about the art that is missing from my life.  You may be perplexed by this.  So, yes I work in the arts.  Yes, I am planning a ticketed artistic event as we speak.   Yes, my job allows me to be creative every day.  What could I ever be talking about?  I am talking about writing.  I have always written for fun.  I have many short stories and even a novel that someday I would love to publish.  For the past five years or so I just have not felt like writing.  Of course I am excluding blog posts, scant as they may be and my witty commentary on Facebook and twitter, neither of which satisfies an outlet for creativity…  So here and now, I am announcing, I am back in the creating business.  Will anything ever come of this, I hope so but, really, who can tell. 

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Lately I have been thinking about the art that is missing from my life.  You may be perplexed by this.  So, yes I work in the arts.  Yes, I am planning a ticketed artistic event as we speak.   Yes, my job allows me to be creative every day.  What could I ever be talking about?  I am talking about writing.  I have always written for fun.  I have many short stories and even a novel that someday I would love to publish.  For the past five years or so I just have not felt like writing.  Of course I am excluding blog posts, scant as they may be and my witty commentary on Facebook and twitter, neither of which satisfies an outlet for creativity…  So here and now, I am announcing, I am back in the creating business.  Will anything ever come of this, I hope so but, really, who can tell. 

Fantastic Friday- Some days begin with rain. Some days begin with late buses. Some days begin with head splitting construction noise. Today was not one of those days. This morning dawned partly cloudy with a little chill in the air. By the time that I stepped off of my front porch, ready for my three block walk to the bus stop, the humidity and temps had risen to the point where it was a relief to climb on to the air-conditioned bus. It was a large bus, coach style so, it was nice to stretch out over two seats. I was able to zone out for our half hour trip into the city and I have no recollection of the trip in until we hit Penn Station. Our stop was next and Bear had a seamless and sniffing free walk to my favorite coffee shop, where we were followed in by two coworkers, who ended up buying my coffee and pound cake. Tucking the cake into my bag I thanked them again and departed for the temporary entrance in the front of the Benedum. Bear targeted this unfamiliar door like a pro and we were in stopping to greet several coworkers as we followed the serpentine path to my office. Once here, my computer worked, just fine, my communications have gone out and come in without incident. My phone has not rung once and Yes it is true that nothing all that noteworthy has taken place today but, that is why this day is fantastic. Happy weekend!

Insperation: I was inspired today. You may be asking, what could inspire you? Perhaps the reverse could also be asked, why aren’t you inspired daily? Well friends, doing the work that i do, there is often inspiration, it may come from a project, a great interaction, a meeting, or just in something that I read… Today’s stroke of inspiration came from a combination of things. I set a meeting with myself to flesh out a new idea and during the course of reading and writing I needed a small brain break and turned my attention to my Facebook newsfeed. “Your Facebook?” Shouldn’t you be working? Yes, indeed, those are good questions and good points. Although, I am so glad that I took a hiatus from my project. As there on my screen was a post from a dear friend. A friend who I have not seen in 12 years and below her post was a link to her blog. I’m not sure why but, I’ve never read her blog before. I think that I have seen it and new from Facebook that she and her husband, also a former Gator, relocated their family from Boston to TN but, I’d never had the opportunity to click on her blog. Well, today was the day and it gave me a glimpse into their world. That they now had to kiddos, that she taught at a college, that they were still a great couple and right away I was transported back in time, back to Allegheny, to Brooks, to Baldwin, to the Campus Center, to my freshman sem and the amazing people who helped to make me the person that I am today,. All of this came from 15 minutes reading 5or 6 posts from an old friend and bam, inspiration. My brain needed a vitamin

Insperation: I was inspired today. You may be asking, what could inspire you? Perhaps the reverse could also be asked, why aren’t you inspired daily? Well friends, doing the work that i do, there is often inspiration, it may come from a project, a great interaction, a meeting, or just in something that I read…

Over the winter I read a good book called Happier at Home, written by the same author who wrote the Happiness Project (on my to read list). In this tome were a lot of fresh ideas and honestly if the ideas were not fresh they were at least packaged differently and interestingly for me to continue to think about them months later. The first item that I would like to talk about is the idea of a shrine on a shelf. So, I recently moved into a small and rather impersonal little apartment; I am saving up for a house. This place has a lot of new amenities, new carpeting, new bathroom and kitchen flooring, and new paint on the walls, but, as I expect it to be a short time residence, I do not want to do too much with it. Of course this means that it does not exactly feel like home. Not home in the sense of my last two apartments. I do not have room for my electronic keyboard, there is no space for my guitar that I play once a week, on a good week, I do not have butterfly’s hanging around the place, or even my unpractical but defining DVD and CD book collection. So, what could make it feel like more than a hotel room? If any of you are familiar with Gretchen Rubin or, Happier at home, the answer becomes clear, a shrine. I should use a shelf to display some things I love, make it smell nice and there for make myself feel a little more in touch with my surroundings. It seems odd, or simple, but I think that this small step could make a big difference. More on the construction of this special area later.

I think that most of us like to think that we are deliberate, thoughtful decision makers. In fact, when asked, most people would say that the changes that they initiate in their own lives go something like this; analyze, think, change. When that does not compute with how we actually make change happen. It turns out that a great number of us actually make change happen in this way; see, feel, change. This means that for most of us, we notice something, we turn it over in our mind, we get a feeling about it and then we act. We do not read up, study, and survey before thinking and then finally after all of the deliberation has come to an end, make a change. We do not work this way at work. We do not work this way with our personal lives. We are a feeling culture. Why do we so love apple products? They are cool and pretty. Why do we have brand loyalty? We identify as a certain kind of person. I have an iPad in a black case, wear Levi’s and use Listerine, which is totally different from my friend who has a Samsung Galaxy in a blue case. Wears Seven’s and uses Scope. The decisions, choices and changes that we make are each a part of who we are and this is why advertisers, marketers, and analysts are always trying to track us, our buying history and even our likes on Facebook. We like to think that we are each individuals but, we can be grouped and sorted just as Easley and every time that we make a choice, we are further defining the person that we are. Do you own a motorcycle? Do you find motorcycles dangerous and scary? Are you a season ticket holder for an athletic team? Do you shop at the GAP, Kmart, North Face? Who is your internet provider? What kind of dog/cat do you have? Where do you eat out, get coffee, drink tea? All of this means something and it can even predict the place that you live, the people you hang out with and generally the person that you are.

Left Brain vs. Right Brain—Most of us have a propensity toward one of these forms of thinking. How do you see the world? If you are a left brain thinker, you tend to find facts, figures, and data compelling and in fact, vital to decision making. If you are a right brain thinker, you are more convinced by an extraordinary narrative, an inspiring vision/big picture, or an element that tugs on the heart strings. Again, isn’t this too simplistic? How can you group people into one of two boxes? Well, the truth is, that you can’t and right brain thinking and left brain thinking are not mutually exclusive. So, why am I writing about it? We can all pick out times where the facts and stats led to our decision and we can all point to times where the creative and art behind a concept led us in that direction but, people know themselves and we all know what kind of thinker we are most of the time. In one of Dan Pink’s books, he breaks down these points in much greater and elegant detail and actually argues that the right brain creative thinkers will be the visionaries who change the world. We are in a period of great change and we are seeing that programing, finance, and other traditionally left brain occupations are moving overseas so, today’s business leaders have to have more than an MBA in finance, they need a big picture visionary mind that is ready to solve the creative conundrums of a global world. The kind of thinking that cannot be mapped out on a spread sheet, or replicated in a computer program. The US now requires knowledge workers, professionals to see the beauty in design, in developing the product, construct or device that we do not even know that we need. It is an exciting and energizing time and we get to be a part of making it happen!