Max Kaizen : culturesmithmindsnack | Max Kaizen : culturesmith http://maxkaizen.com smart is the new sexy Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:30:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 stories trump stats for secret santas http://maxkaizen.com/2010/10/14/stories-trump-stats-for-secret-santas/ http://maxkaizen.com/2010/10/14/stories-trump-stats-for-secret-santas/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:15:54 +0000 Maximillian Kaizen http://maxkaizen.com/?p=2152 Operation ShoeboxOperation Shoebox (South Africa not the US troops version) has me sold – because they’ve understood that if you’re going to give to a good cause for reasons other than tax benefit or corporate responsibility, some of us like a little story. There’s a little more excitement in making a difference in one person’s life, than the usual guilt/sympathy donations filling up a big blobby charity fund unsure of where your money really goes.. especially when you read hairraising bits from Green, Inc.
World Vision got it right decades ago, instead of throwing out staggering stats that human minds have difficulty conceiving, they took pictures and told the stories of individual children caught up in a big complex mess, and asked not for you to donate, but to sponsor one child, whose story & pics could be shared with friends. You got reports and pictures of their progress and you could send stories and pics of your own back. It is still rolls on as a massive success even through the recession. Never underestimate the compound interest of social currency. Or our interest in heroic tales, particularly if we get to play the hero.

Animal rescue groups like African Tails or DARG know the conversion power of painstakingly telling each animal’s story. Habitat for Humanity is so moreish for volunteers because they’re on a mission to build one house at a time for families they’ll meet and can follow up on. [More on trackable giving with the stroke-of-genius Broccoli Project to come].

Unwieldy stats that aren’t contextualized into real-life promote monomyths and unfathomable problems that we have no human-scale connection to. Colouring in the context makes a world of difference. Single stories though can open doorways for surprise and engagement that crunch prejudice faster than any factsheet could ever do.
If you have the time for a little worthwhile distraction (18mins) Chimamanda Adichie’s TEDtalk is beautiful & potent on mythbusting through storytelling:

Click here to view the embedded video.

PS. the Heath Brothers (of Made to Stick) on skilling up to create gripping statistics, data takes on new life and utility when it’s nested in stuff regular human brains can make sense of. If you haven’t read the book at least read this. It’s well worth learning to wrap scary numbers in compelling tales to help others tap a little of their heroic alter-egos occasionally too.

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]]> http://maxkaizen.com/2010/10/14/stories-trump-stats-for-secret-santas/feed/ 0 couch marathoners : gamers gone good http://maxkaizen.com/2010/07/03/couch-marathons-gamers-gone-good/ http://maxkaizen.com/2010/07/03/couch-marathons-gamers-gone-good/#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:38:06 +0000 Maximillian Kaizen http://maxkaizen.com/?p=1911 From the collection of “people making the world suck less” check these guys: Mario Marathon
  “..Princess Peach of Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers, that is. Shattering the violent, negative, good-for-nothing stereotype of video gamers, Brian “Shirt Guy” Brinegar, John “Couch Guy” Groth and Chris “Slouch Guy” Deckard dreamed up the Super Mario Marathon in which they play the cult classic game for hours on end.
 
They’re not just playing for fun: they are raising money for Child’s Play, a gamer-created, gamer-supported charity that fulfills the wish lists of over 60 hospital’s children’s units worldwide. Each donation buys the games, the consoles and the movies that bring a little bit of fun into an otherwise gruelling hospital experience.”
[extract from http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/06/gamers-gone-good.html read more here & have your assumptions about gamers refreshed briefly.]  
Maybe even dive in and supprt the gamer’s charity? Child’s Play << worthwhile

]]> http://maxkaizen.com/2010/07/03/couch-marathons-gamers-gone-good/feed/ 0 Wild wordshaped worlds : words make flesh http://maxkaizen.com/2007/02/01/wild-wordshaped-worlds-words-make-flesh/ http://maxkaizen.com/2007/02/01/wild-wordshaped-worlds-words-make-flesh/#comments Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:10:16 +0000 Maximillian Kaizen http://maxkaizen.com/2007/02/01/wild-wordshaped-worlds-words-make-flesh/ >   Perhaps it’s something in the DNA strings still resonating (there’s a poet laureate somewhere in my chemical coding) but I have a passion for potent poets (& songwriters) who can sling words with masterful ease & style. Their words lie like time bombs: patient, dormant until cast over & activated by human eyes or ears, delivering their intended visceral impact. Booom! Uncoiled power & real immortality.   From the deep & wide frenzy of imaginative fertility online, (thanks to the ease of online publishing and social media) I’m constantly being blown away by powerful gems of genius that lie scattered around the web. It seems we’re unleashing our wildness & defining who we are as individuals en masse. Styles diverse, delicious, disturbingly real and distortedly delusioned ..Who are you, really?   Try this: grab a quick 10 minutes & go write/share/make something today that speaks of the unbounded [...]]]> whitman-walt.jpgA little homage to a wordsmith & wildman, a genius for those who were born with fire in their bellies >> “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world” – care of the blazing Walt Whitman >>
 
Perhaps it’s something in the DNA strings still resonating (there’s a poet laureate somewhere in my chemical coding) but I have a passion for potent poets (& songwriters) who can sling words with masterful ease & style. Their words lie like time bombs: patient, dormant until cast over & activated by human eyes or ears, delivering their intended visceral impact. Booom! Uncoiled power & real immortality.
 
From the deep & wide frenzy of imaginative fertility online, (thanks to the ease of online publishing and social media) I’m constantly being blown away by powerful gems of genius that lie scattered around the web. It seems we’re unleashing our wildness & defining who we are as individuals en masse. Styles diverse, delicious, disturbingly real and distortedly delusioned ..Who are you, really?
 
Try this: grab a quick 10 minutes & go write/share/make something today that speaks of the unbounded & unique you.. print it, scrawl it or go leave it somewhere online in sheer celebration of your unruly & wildloving creative self. The more outrageous the better, particularly if you haven’t done it in a loooong time..(anonymous may make it safer to be real the first few times) In the words of yet another delicious wildman Oscar Wilde:

Give a man a mask & he’ll tell you the truth

 
If it makes you laugh uproariously/ get a lump in your throat/ bursts a massive adrenaline rush into your blood/ floods you with relief when you’ve put it out in the world >> you’ll know you’ve hit the mark.

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