My First Thoughtstudio

Two weeks ago I participated in a so-called Thoughtstudio weekend. A group of AIESEC (www.aiesec.org) alumni started those meetings 2 years ago in order to reflect together every 2-3 months. This meeting was my first Thoughtstudio and one of the main topics was “Collaboration vs. Competition?”.

Talking in pairs and switching your dialogue partner every 20-30min we had an interesting Advent walk through Cologne along the Rhine river. During those conversations more questions came up for me: how do I integrate collaboration into competitive environments? What happens to brands in a networked society? And I concluded that I want to read more about the networked society and the book that I picked is Wikinomics (http://www.wikinomics.com/).

I also realised that I have just done a tiny first step towards my goal of becoming an “Initiator and Facilitator of Change Networks”. And in order to get there, I have to go through the stage of creating confusion. I have realised since I came back to Germany in June that when I facilitate dialogue with Germans the initial reaction is confusion which I have accepted as a precondition to create change.

The next day, we shared time and personal management practices. A few months back, I had decided that I wanted to plan less and now after some prototyping asking me the same question again “How much planning do I need?” And now the answer to that question is that I want more strategic planning for my current projects. Let’s see, where I can find room for that during the upcoming holidays….

Interested in founding your own Thoughtstudio? Just get together 5-10 people and meet every 2-3 months around questions that matter to you!