The Power of a Napkin at 30,000 ft.

After September 11, 2001 tension was high everywhere, especially in the sky. I recently discovered an amazing story of one flight attendant whose simple idea created an unique outlet for travelers on her flights to release traveling anxieties and create a sense of connectivity with fellow passengers in the months that followed 9/11. 


Delta flight attendant Jewel Van Valin got the idea when Delta made the switch from using linens tray table covers to the inevitable (my favorite) paper. Jewel began passing out crayons to each passenger on board her flights and told them to simply, draw. She found that there was a significant change in passenger’s moods as they began to relax and draw anything that came to mind while gliding 30,000 ft in the sky. After passengers finished drawing she would hang the pictures up for fellow passengers to see.

                                    Photograph by: Ricky Mia

For the past 6 years Jewel has collected over 32,000 napkins from her flights that followed one of our nations greatest tragedies. The artwork called "Plane Art" was on display at the Palm Springs Air Museum in 2009. The air museums Director Sharon Maguire commented on Van Valin's idea stating it proved that "one resourceful, caring person can connect people, start conversations and build relationships."

 

                          Photograph by: (left) Ricky Mia, (right) "Plane Art"

Jewel found a way to use a simple napkin as a tool to ease her customers minds during the most tense time in airline history. What ideas could you come up with if you sat back and relaxed on one of Jewel's flights? 

More Plane Art:

Photographs from: The Daily Planet

The Power of Youth in Business Today

I really hate posting long videos, but this video hit home.... hard.

Today's corporate America has a very negative connotation of Gen-Y (Millennials). I have experienced this first hand. Over the past few years I have developed a love/hate relationship with articles on my generation. Most of the articles are written by people from Gen-X implying negative connotations which pertain to every move we make in the workplace. However, in the end I have learned to love these because I know the people of my generation well, and I know something Gen-X doesn't know about us - their words are used as a motivational tool, to prove them wrong. 

 

Pam Slim gets it too. If you care about your future career, attracting good young talent, or running a successful company, I urge you to watch at least 1 minute of this video... you will thank me, (and of course Pam) later.

Motivation Monday's

It's Monday, meaning I need a little extra motivation to make it through my week. I decided to do a search to see what other "napkin worthy" ideas were out there. It's quite astonishing how quickly a single napkin from 1876, and the innovative mind behind it can turn around your Monday mindset.

Initial design of the telephone as shown in Alexander Graham Bell's preliminary sketch.

(Courtesy of thoughtformdesign.com)

It wasn't the just the sketch alone that got me, but what I read after that made me really stop and think: 

"Alexander Graham Bell might easily have been content with the success of his telephone invention. His many laboratory notebooks demonstrate, however, that he was driven by a genuine and rare intellectual curiosity that kept him regularly searching, striving, and wanting always to learn and to create." -inventors.about.com 

Women + Humor = Change

I knew my first post would need to be something unique in order to simply communicate my blog initiative and the passion behind it. Then I thought about Liza Donnelly, and I knew I was set.

Liza Donnelly is one of my favorite artist/cartoonist from the New Yorker. She is mainly known for the sarcastic nature in which she portrays the cultural rules and life messages targeted towards the traditional woman. Here's an example...

During a recent TED conference Liza explained the inspiration behind her most recent work. She has teamed up with other female cartoonist around the world for one mission: use humor to spark initiative and empower women to change rules.

Here is her short TED video which sums it up quite nicely:

Liza's statement may be no secret but the incentive behind it is unique: 

"Fear... is a great motivator." ...when initiating change.  

Thank you Liza, for enabling us to welcome fear and initiate change through your art.