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The Way of Nowhere: Eight Questions to Release Our Creative Potential
Nick Udall
Nic Turner
The Way of Nowhere is a business book by the UK’s hottest change management consultancy who have led transformations in some of Britain’s biggest and best known organisations. An invaluable resource for anyone who wants to make a creative difference in their lives and the lives of people around them.Inspired by the unique practice of 'nowhere', a community of companies that specialise in co-creation, this is an inspirational book that will help you break through to a more creative and strategic futureRenowned for their world-class approach to innovation, the nowhere group works with a wide range of businesses, government agencies and individuals to develop their creativity to its full potential. Now, their book maps out the groundbreaking ways that anyone can become more productive, playing a more creative role in your organisation while simultaneously nurturing your own growth along the way.It contains eight breakthrough questions designed to stimulate and enrich our creative capacity, both as an individual and as part of a team. Using examples and tools from their work with some of the UK’s largest and best known businesses, The Way of Nowhere shows us how to unlock the underlying and invisible forces at play within organisations, communities and cultures.With practice, you will discover how these questions and insights can release the latent creativity that exists within - a place where magic can happen - out of nowhere!
the Way of
8 questions to
release my creative potential
Copyright (#ulink_01896c81-347f-5b7c-ab73-b9f29ac8535c)
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2008
© Nick Udall and Nic Turner 2008
Nick Udall and Nic Turner assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007263578
Ebook Edition © 2008 ISBN: 9780007289011
Version: 2018-09-06
Welcome
Welcome to our quest.
It is a quest to unlock the creative potential of people and their organizations.
Over the last 12 years this quest has given us the opportunity to work all over the world with some amazing people and organizations. It has been a rollercoaster ride – and continues to be, as we tap into both ancient and modern wisdom traditions.
Along the way we have learned that it is not answers but questions that unlock our creative potential. Therefore the Way ofnowhere is a book of questions. Within and between these questions lie insights. When put together in inspiring and innovative ways, these questions, and the insights they hold, have the power to transform.
We invite you to hold these questions in your mind, to work with them, so you too can discover their magic.
making a choice
We reach choice points all the time in our lives. These can be relatively minor – tea or coffee? – or relatively major – marriage or divorce?
You have presumably made a choice in buying this book. You now need to make another: Where should I begin?
releasingmycreative potential
This half of the book works with questions that are designed to unlock the consciousness and creativity of individuals. It looks at ways in which we can catalyze breakthrough in ourselves and others, thereby becoming the inspiration and innovation we want to be in the world.
releasingourcreative potential
This half of the book works with questions that are designed to unlock the creative and collective potential of organizations. It looks at ways in which we can transcend our organizational limitations and inspire breakthrough innovations within our organizations and through our organizations into the world.
There is no right or wrong way of entering this book.
You are currently starting this book from a personal perspective. We offer you this page so you can pause for a moment and make a conscious choice as to the best way in for you.
Both ways lead to the Way ofnowhere.
contents
Title Page (#u274bc072-4074-5735-8db9-1c879c9204ca)
Copyright (#u0d01ee2c-50f7-59f9-ae55-9856ff548901)
releasing my creative potential
the practice wheel of inspiring-innovation (#u2d12b3c4-ce59-52da-a8c2-ee7ce15da740)
a beginning (#u6448cb40-617e-5c49-b916-5041d7da5c6b)
our quest (#u0fa25fad-1d49-53e0-89fc-589f5fc4ab9b)
a book of breakthrough questions (#u00246803-3ec0-5960-bfe6-e518d8a04cb5)
inspiring-innovation: a personal practice (#u67c35241-a875-5165-a094-ad5619222c9c)
wheels (#u49affcbd-c97a-5133-9ed4-91bb06cc9470)
how to use the wheel (#u76fb8de4-8c27-547b-a53b-2ad927a6544f)
the 8 questions (#u3d8e4f44-8ef0-5e22-87c0-146791f40f12)
ewhat is my unique purpose…? (#u302f2c36-61cc-56b2-9be1-0c0bf8b7d247)
se how am I releasing the magic of the moment…? (#u9d354013-c884-55c0-8c69-7ee9df5bb176)
show am I venturing into uncertainty…? (#uc8c0d840-54bf-59c6-ba2c-c7820c190998)
sw how am I focusing the power of my intent…? (#uf3591d58-4d83-5123-b110-d7c2e1bb91a6)
whow am I supporting growth…? (#ub5576407-27b7-57d8-8c44-ee8a76a5095d)
nw how am I learning to see the invisible…? (#ucdad7467-c723-5991-861b-21187d249d80)
nhow am I returning my gift…? (#ue88ca17a-5cd5-5e49-86b9-cb18a97f1ee5)
ne how am I keeping my energy clear and bright…? (#u62f4b22d-82b3-5bfd-9068-cc821c61af83)
living the practice (#u648ad91c-cf60-5d5d-88a2-df4e65263fe8)
standing at the centre of my circle (#ucdff21f2-a9db-5e32-9d76-d176ce759216)
the Way ofnowhere (#ud50413a1-5968-57bd-ad45-21477a28a2b4)
releasing our creative potential
the art wheel of inspiring-innovation (#u749ee67b-7365-5eab-9593-95ab7b8939d1)
a beginning (#u4ac714d4-6d67-5e1a-80f8-8ed76ebfcf96)
our quest (#u882b02f9-f91e-54cd-ba42-0b37da995092)
a book of breakthrough questions (#u192d1011-d143-5508-85a4-dc15a3bc6034)
inspiring-innovation: a personal practice (#u7e1d2d11-c79a-5b1a-ba55-4a7f55a11fb0)
wheels (#ud3ce4eb3-41f4-5eaa-b73e-7958d4942713)
how to use the wheel (#u413aa413-51ac-5c92-991d-511bbedf4f5f)
the 8 questions (#ucf042ceb-102e-5aee-b2f8-82029c6f9ec7)
ewhat is our unique purpose…? (#ue073407d-a0ff-56da-8cfb-15a5b5ed6709)
se how are we releasing the magic of the moment…? (#u95190da7-2c0e-5ab6-b827-57270e8e1bb6)
show are we venturing into uncertainty…? (#ua363312c-8d89-56ec-9f4d-45968fdd3dd2)
sw how are we focusing the power of our intent…? (#u914cbdac-78fb-5d9c-afed-36d47d0d1a48)
whow are we supporting growth…? (#uce538032-a4cf-5b81-8154-ac0e9b83b051)
nw how are we learning to see the invisible…? (#u08483ba2-6ae0-5696-a367-9d4cbe1a7076)
nhow are we returning our gift…? (#u9b5c4481-6083-5ba6-9eeb-68dc9ceedf4f)
ne how are we keeping our energy clear and bright…? (#u8f6258a7-8466-5a47-b962-924ebe0a27b4)
living the practice (#ub130ce3f-5d61-5670-902b-c95f7589ceaf)
standing at the centre of our circle (#uf8a47851-f60e-525a-a7cd-55a469789d88)
the Way ofnowhere (#u3a655e52-bcdf-5613-b452-b24bdbb0a0f8)
About the Publisher (#ud891d6bd-79f1-5f8a-b0c1-058ff1042d0b)
the practice wheel of inspiring-innovation (#ulink_da788f32-1adc-584b-b48b-2571280d7457)
a beginning (#ulink_7f13682a-f945-5169-9a6e-2935af53440d)
There must have been more than 60 of us sitting in a circle on a patio overlooking a beach on the south coast of Crete. The group was made up of people from all over the world, and we were there to explore ways of transforming organizations.
We were reviewing some of the workshops we had attended earlier in the day and were beginning to propose sessions for the evening ahead. I was feeling nervous, as I wanted to propose a session on a subject about which I was passionate but knew little. Finally I said to the group:
‘I am really interested in how I can stand back and take stock. How I move from one stage of my life to the next. How I can find greater meaning in my life. And I am interested in how I can help other people find answers to these questions too.
I have wanted to do a Vision Quest for a while. I don't really know that much about them but was hoping there were some people in this circle who might, and who would be prepared to share their experience and knowledge … and I would really like to do a Vision Quest while I am here.
So if anyone would like to join me in trying to organize a Vision Quest, meet me in the cave next to the white church on the hillside at 8.30 this evening.’
I had put it out there and all I could now do was see what would happen. I was about to be amazed, and that process of amazement has continued ever since.
I walked up to the cave as the last rays of sun were disappearing. I caught a glimpse of a light flickering inside, and my heart sank as I imagined someone else was using the space. All I could do was to go up to the cave and wait for other people to arrive – hopefully – and then find somewhere else to go. But when I peeked into the entrance, I was delighted to see that an old friend had thoughtfully cleaned out the cave and lit a small welcoming fire.
We were soon joined by a group of eight or so people who could not have been better suited to the task if we had spent months trying to assemble them. Among them were a well-known Austrian Gestalt therapist, a director of organizational development from a global oil company, a German lady who had been studying with the Deer Tribe for many years and an impressive young Swiss man who had recently completed a Vision Quest in the Lokata tradition.
In the 90 minutes or so that we sat round that fire a beautiful design began to emerge of how we might run a Vision Quest. I was delighted. I was also curious about a dark shadow that had remained outside the cave leaning on a rock throughout the meeting. I waited until everyone had gone and then went outside. A young man was leaning against the rock.
‘Why didn't you join us?’ I asked.
There was a moment's silence, then a small sigh and slight chuckle.
‘I am completing a doctorate on creative breakthrough using a Zen process equivalent to that of a Vision Quest. I have run 20 or so of them in the last two years and I came to Crete to get away from it. ’
We spoke further as we walked back down the hill and along the beach and he eventually agreed to help me design and run the process.
We spent the following day preparing and at dawn the next morning the Vision Quest began. Twenty people spent 24 hours alone in the wilderness searching for a vision of their future. As the sun rose the following day, they emerged from the deep gorges of the island, sat on a rock overlooking the coastline and revealed their insights.
At a personal level, I saw how the diverse life experiences of my then 42 years had a theme running through that I had never seen before. And I saw how my job as head of organizational development for a leading UK retailer was in service of this vision.
A few months later, Nick the younger, the shadowy rock leaner, and I were sitting in my garden in Oxfordshire reflecting on our experiences.
‘What if we could get the board of directors of a business to go on a communal VisionQuest, so they could have a collective breakthrough into their future and how to pull that future into the present?’
This time it was my turn to sigh and chuckle.
‘You just don't understand the pressures that the boards of big businesses are under. Nice idea, but it's never going to happen. Anyway, the process is an individual experience, not a collective one.’
A year later we had taken our first board of directors on a ‘PurposeQuest’ to help them break through their preconceptions and orthodoxies and see the uniqueness of their organization. They caught a glimpse of how they could more powerfully return that uniqueness to the world.
In the years that have followed we have deepened and extended our practice. We have been joined along the way by some wonderful people and worked with some of the world's biggest businesses, as well as numerous government agencies and schools, families and individuals.
