Do you know where it is?
I’m pretty sure I’ve found mine. It has to do with my right people: clients and partners. A situation where I get to use my superpower which is helping individuals, businesses and organizations see where they want to go in all its juicy Technicolor as well as the simple steps needed to get there. And my passion about positive change processes.
A few examples of my Sweetspot (which may give you some ideas about how we can work together)
I love strategic visioning and planning. Yes, I’m a freak of nature. I take comfort in knowing I’m not alone in this.
I was part of a facilitation team that guided 60 brilliant stake holders from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), an organization of earth and space scientists (did I mention they were brilliant?), through a three day strategic planning retreat.
We used Future Search methodology which works beautifully with large-scale visualization. We filled an enormous room with group timelines, a mindmap, common ground wall and also my murals (see the Portfolio page), creating a huge amount of tangible evidence of the brilliant brainwork that took place. Sweetspot.
One of my passions: sustainability
Because of my background in environmental politics and policy (hello, strategic thinking side of my brain), I love working with companies and organizations that are focused on sustainability, like InterfaceFLOR, a carpet floor tile manufacturing company that is almost 100% sustainable.
I worked with the Canadian sales division to help visualize a new story about their direction following the loss of their manufacturing division. They have a new story to tell and it’s a good one. Sweetspot.
Another passion: storytelling
I spent a day at a storytelling workshop with the beloved Southern author and naturalist Janisse Ray and Vermonter Steve Glazer from Poetics of Place, where they taught riverkeepers about how protect and preserve special places thru stories. Sweetspot.
I also visually mapped a talk that Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food—a movement dedicated to the pleasure of good, healthy, local food—when he talked to a room full of scientists and policy makers at the CDC. Sweetspot.
Plus they love me at the CDC. My murals are everywhere. Extra sweetspot.
Where I really use my superpower
I’ve recently done some business visioning and mapping for creative entrepreneurs where I help them see where they want to go with their business and we plot the immediate next steps for them to take to make exciting things happen.
Like Cranky Fibro Girl (see the Portfolio page under Personal Mapping), who I guided toward a bunch of potential products she could create to help people who are living with chronic pain. Sweetspot. Here’s what she had to say:
Julie helped me see that, even though I am sick, I still matter. And I still contribute. Because when she was done, all that was in my mind turned out to be very good. And WAY way cooler than I thought. And valuable.
I visioned and mapped for my new friends at Harvest, an Atlanta-based eco-community, farm, Montessori school and urban trail system. Sweetspot.
A roadmap for your business or your life
Back in January I taught a teleclass with my brilliant friend and systems coach, Cairene at ThirdHandWorks, on visioning and mindmapping for your business and your life.
I talked about the iconography and visual imagery that animates your business—both internally and externally. Hint: there’s a reason why I use the word “world” in my tagline and I draw globes for my own business plan maps– I want to work all over the world.
I led a meditation that helped people tap into their vision and visual landscape of their business. Then showed them how to put all these pieces together in a beautiful visual map so they could clearly see where to go and be able to take those steps forward. The a-ha’s and breakthroughs happened all over the place. Totally a sweetspot.
The class is still available if you are interested.
A few more recent sweetspots
I provided my visual mapping magic at conference with Accenture’s International Energy and Utilities team where Colin Powell gave the keynote. Visually mapping his talk: sweetspot!
I attended the IAF conference (a bunch of facilitators—hello, my people!) in Chicago and participated in a workshop with the fabulous Meg Wheatley. And got to hang out with a handful of my fellow visual facilitators. Sweetspot.
I’m focusing this year on adding to my visual mapping other facilitation skills, like meeting design, so I can offer my clients and fellow facilitators a suite of expertise. And so that more of what I’m great at—my ability to hold the container for transformative experiences—can be put in service of my clients.