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Category / Learning
25 October 2022

Story-telling is over-rated

by Michelle Howie
There sure is a lot of hype around story-telling these days. There has never been so much training and coaching available for people wanting to hone their public speaking, presenting or pitching skills. And we have the neuroscience behind it too, we know that our brains light up like the Eiffel tower at Christmas time when a good yarn is being spun. Story-telling is big business now – and undeniably it has a role to play in meaningful learning - so then why do I think it’s over-rated?...CONTINUE READING
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Category:Business, Conversation, Honesty, Leadership, Learning, Thought/thinking
25 January 2022

Will the real modern learner please stand up?

by Michelle Howie
Careers expos are interesting events. I attended one in 2021 and whilst I don’t think it was an optimal experience for all the teens milling around, I sure had a life-changing experience at the age of 41. As I browsed the stands, I ended up talking to a man from NZMA, a New Zealand vocational training provider, part of the Australasian UP Education group. He told me about a three-step model they use to onboard new students. He also said, which was the life-changing part, the model had radically altered the way their organisation talked internally about student support and connecting back to their core purpose. The model goes like this: 1. Learn to learn, 2. Learn to earn, 3. Learn more to earn more. Simple, well-worded, inarguable, timeless.CONTINUE READING
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Category:Business, Conversation, Learning, Relationships, Wisdom
9 September 2021

Virtual leadership – feasible or fantasy?

by Michelle Howie
In a week’s time I will be meeting a new group of leaders, ready to start another Next Gen leadership programme. Next Gen is available to members of TUANZ (the association for the users of digital technology and connectivity) and my role is to facilitate the learning and insights. Lucky me! It’s such an enjoyable contract role, one of my faves. I’ve been fortunate to work with TUANZ and the Next Gen programme since 2017. We’ve taken over 70 leaders through the programme – and we’ve always run it as an online offering. Yes, all the sessions are held via video.CONTINUE READING
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Category:Business, Conversation, Honesty, Leadership, Learning, Life, Wisdom
9 April 2021

Sugar Baby, short fiction published by Flash Frontier

by Michelle Howie
“Her outfit is so sweet!” Everyone always says so. It must be true. Some comfort to Jen that she is able to dress her baby well. So little else is going well. But clothes, headbands and tiny socks are sweet as. Sweet outfit. Can you taste the icing sugar on Jamie-Kay playsuits? Does the delicate ribbon disappear on the tongue like an edible garnish? Is the soft pink mitten just the colour of a sugared almond, or can you crack off one tiny finger and smash through to the nutty core? “Flat white?” Jen jumps. The waitress gives her an odd look, then turns to the prize in the pushchair after the cup hits the table. Jen is left staring at her bent back, stranded on the couch where mums sit, separated from her baby but not that worried.CONTINUE READING
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Category:Conversation, Learning, Relationships, Wisdom, Woman
13 October 2020

The Power of Rediscovery

by Michelle Howie
Few of us realise how smart we already are. As babies, we learnt to walk and talk. We did this naturally. We figured out balance, coordination, communication and relationships with very little formal teaching. Those that love us marvelled at this intelligence, we were cheered on and celebrated for the smart little beings that we were. At some stage in our development, adults inserted themselves into the process and suddenly our learning was handed over to teachers who claimed to know more than we did. The intelligence that had been developing quite naturally was now no longer to be trusted, it seemed. It’s a bizarre concept to see written in print.CONTINUE READING
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Category:Learning, Wisdom

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