Celebrating Innovation!

Community guests asked questions

There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions. ~ Charles Proteus Steinmetz

What difference does it make for MBA's to celebrate findings from solution strategies they tried at work?  Plenty. When  St. John Fisher MBA students exhibited innovative solutions for community guests, it stretched their skills.  Guests' questions and insights surprised and pleased young MBA leaders throughout the evening.

Targeted possibilities with community leader, Jim Murphy

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.  ~ Dr. Wayne Dwyer.  

Students targeted an improvement they wanted to make for a problem in their workplace. These young MBA's  picked local leaders' brains for solution ideas.  They designed and implemented a strategy at work to overcome the issue. 

Quality Outcomes Expected

The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution ~ Anonymous

MBA  student leaders expected quality outcomes.  They worked as teams to design exhibit materials to share findings with  community visitors.

Move all resources available

Accomplish things never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used at work. ~ Ellen F. Weber

Guests visited colorful booth exhibits, which included games, video demos, healthy snacks, poster displays and music.  Conversations between community visitors and vibrant young leaders filled the room.  They shared experiences and learned from each others' wisdom.

Reflect to adjust and change

Change starts when someone sees the next step. ~ William Drayton

From the beginning, these young leaders made changes and adjustments as they reflected with classmates throughout the course. They asked, "What is the next step?" and, "Where to from here?"

Dr. Jason Berman celebrates Fisher MBA

Dr. Jason Berman added to the celebratory atmosphere by bringing a decorated cookie
to share with all.

Related articles

• MBAs Lead Innovation with Brain in Mind (blogs.forbes.com)
• MBAs Lead Innovative Brainpower

Two-footed Questions Spark Surprise

Ever noticed some questions have ready made answers? If I ask, "Who was the first man on the moon?" there's an expected answer. Questions with expected answers bore people, unless you're in the hot seat on The Millionaire. Here's why...

Questions that deal with facts and information, have little affect on the person asking or the person questioned. People's minds fly a million miles away, because their interest is simply not captured. Did you experience that at school?

On the other hand, some questions are all about people, their ideas, feelings, opinions... If I asked, "How are you feeling today?" the question is very subjective and can change between morning and evening or from day to day. And, even worse, you run the risk of hearing an organ recital. Since it's one person's experience, it does not necessarily involve me or anyone else but that person. When we don't connect, we tend to lose interest, too. So what kind of questions really spark peoples' juices?

A two-footed question bridges facts and folks' interests, and sparks surprise as folks respond thoughtfully...

Here're some starters that begin with you directly...

How might I adjust my day to do ... differently?

In what ways could I assist my manager with ...?

What strategies might work for me to engage my children in ... following school?

Note how your interests link directly to a topic... and if you ask the question just before you go to sleep your brain works on it while you get your zzzz's... Or, ask it in the morning and mull it over during the day. You'll be amazed that a great answer comes when you least expect it...

Consider two-footed questions that draw out others' thoughts and experiences...

Who has influenced you most at work, and in what key way did he or she help boost your leadership?

What contribution could you make to... and how might it impress the boss?

How do you get your teens interested in ...?

Or, maybe you'd like to try two-footed question strategies to draw from others' smarts.

When you use this strategy to inquire of another person, you show respect for their knowledge and experience. Your respect inspires, and folks jump to the challenge of providing you a very thoughtful answer.

When you ask two-footed questions of folks on your work team, with clients or with family, you'll be amazed at unexpected answers and deeper conversations that develop.

Dr.Ellen Weber, CEO of the MITA International Brain Based Center developed two feet for questioning as a way to spark deeper ideas, thoughtful discussion and interactions, based on many years of research. For additional insights, check Ellen's posts:

Two Footed Questions for a Flat World

Questions without Watertight Answers Increase Wonder

A Cat Covers Its Material, but Humans Question

Recapture the Power of a Question

And for your upcoming Thanksgiving table, Ellen advises...

Start your dinner by inviting each person to give thanks for one thing in the last week. Such a two-footed questions keeps the tone fresh. People tend to piggy back off one other’s insights from thanks, so cortisol diminishes, that horrid hormone for stress and negativity.

Ready for surprises and depth of thought as you communicate? Try asking a two-footed question at one of your next meals. Figure out a great question in advance... Come back and share results...

Hospitality Stirs Serotonin!

Ho‘okipa is the hospitality of complete giving. Welcome guests and strangers with your spirit of Aloha. Dr. George Hu‘eu Sanford Kanahele

Hospitality's a great way to be good to other business leaders. Most leaders say they're on a treadmill and time's precious. So to treat them to a really fine meal and uplifting conversation stirs more serotonin, a chemical of well-being in their brains. Blessing other leaders through hospitality is one of the best stress busters I know.

Ellen Weber, Director of the MITA International Brain Based Center, and I often invite other leaders to the Center to share a meal and conversation. Amazingly, every time we do, we find ourselves full of well being, too. Seems like in giving to others we are blessed, too!


Here're strategies we use to make hospitality at the MITA Center extra special...

Welcome new folks to your table -- How about inviting folks from other cultures at times? A meal opens a window like no other for you to deepen new friendships

Ambiance -- Provide an environment as if you were entertaining the Queen. Couldn't think of a better way to bring serotonin to your guests...

Plan well ahead -- Purchase items and prepare foods well in advance. When you are prepared you can truly enjoy the experience as if you were a guest as well. Ask yourself what you would need to do for that to happen. By preparing well in advance and not "winging it" at the last minute, you keep yourself in serotonin, too. Helps you really enjoy the event.

Ask Two Footed Questions -- Find out about guests' interests... People love to talk about themselves.

Listen More than You Talk -- Follow up with questions that require guests to go a little deeper.

Be Vulnerable -- Share what you really think and feel. Others appreciate transparency and humility.

Don't Expect Paybacks -- Hospitality's a time of giving... No expectations or debts from guests!

Hope a steak roast might be as fun for you as it was for us...


I was inspired to share hospitality as Dr. Ellen Weber and I enjoy it at the MITA Center in response to Rosa Say's Hospitality Talking Story. I learned about Rosa's carnivale when reading Maria Palma's post, and her entry to Rosa's Hospitality Carnivale

Rosa says...

What I have learned in my practice of what I was taught, is that in sharing Ho‘okipa with others, we gain our own joy and we invest in our own well-being. “One of life’s greatest laws is that you cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening your own as well.”

Ho‘okipa, the complete giving of hospitality

Aloha, Rosa and Maria, and thanks for the fine work you do. May you find a lot more serotonin for yourselves!