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Associating is a weakness of mine. I tend to gravitate toward the familiar due to beliefs about efficiency, time, and relevance to the outcome. However, I realize without making associations I'm shorting creativity and innovation for myself and my clients. I would like to figure out a hybrid way to allow for this AND get results.

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I have been told I ask good questions. I use this often in facilitation. I tend to ask Why questions to evoke emotional response and Who, What, When, Where, How to evoke data.

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I tend to get in my own head about things and miss key observations. I must consistently remind myself to let someone else take the notes and maybe connect my questioning more to my observations so I don't miss important cues.

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Associating is my area of weakness. I can speak eloquently in regards to my field, however; at times I struggle to connect questions, problems or ideas from other fields to my expertise.

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I like to experiment, take massive imperfect action just to see what happens. My issue is I tend to stop experiments too soon and not give outcomes a chance to materialize.

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I am working on this, but often it feels like there isn't enough time to try new ideas or solutions. So I am working more on brainstorming to help with this.

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One of my favorite things to do is see and make connections. It is a good starting point for me and as an empathetic person it comes naturally

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I have social anxiety so networking is a weakness. I tend to be more comfortable getting introduced via people I already know. Or, I look for commonality, which limited the association part of networking. I have a big network but I don't know how to utilize them and I really need to learn. My network sticks when I add value for them but I often leave value for myself unsaid. I am learning how to ask for help or insight from my network.

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Observing is a strength of mine. Part of my role as an school leader is to conduct observations (formal and informal) often during the school year. During these observations, I script factual observations that could assist the teacher with classroom initiatives. Ie: I may tally how many questions are asked in a given time frame. During our meeting following the observation, we discuss my notes and collect useable data to push them further as an educator.

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Questioning is a strength of mine. I am a process thinker and I work to avoid being reactive. I often will pose big picture questions to my staff to guide them in finding their own solutions to the problem posed within their classroom.

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This is probably the area where I am the least knowledgeable and experienced. Time is typically the factor with experimenting. I tend to stick with "what works" for solutions in order to focus on bigger issues within the school day. The "messy period" stresses me out.

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Greta Nelson: Initial weakness/turned strength

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Greta Nelson: Initial weakness/turned strength

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I have slight social anxiety around people I do not know well. I am a very guarded person and tend to not open up easily. I will talk openly with someone who begins a conversation with me, however; I am not typically the conversation starter. Once I get to know you, I tend to network well with familiar faces. So if you see me sitting alone at immersion, come talk to me!

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I've actually taken a lot of steps towards building my network through attending different schools, social networks. But despite having a fairly expansive network, I find that I often fail to use my network. I tend to not think about it because I feel like I'm a burden on others when I ask them for help. So that's something I need to work on.

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I am huge on trying things out. Often at work, I find that others want to take things slow, try a pilot program, test things out, and slowly ramp up over time. I tend to always want to jump in and start running at 100% immediately. I remember a job interview where I had to take a personality test, and it said that I may be too quick to jump in and don't fully think things through. Strangely enough, at the same time, it also told me that I am an extremely detailed thinker and organized planner.

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When it comes to things that I've been doing and I am familiar with, I tend to be the voice of keeping things the way they are. But when I'm new to something, I tend to be more aggressive with trying new ideas. Why things are the way they are and trying to find ways to improve the system.

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I've got a fairly diverse professional background (bio, business, technology, music, education, non-profit), through my work as a college counselor I often help students make unique connections with their activities and college applications.

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As a college admissions officer, I spend a great deal of time trying to glean as much information as possible from what is presented. Attention to detail is key to success. I also work part time as a judge for marching band competitions, which again requires a high attention to detail and small nuanced differences.

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Associating is definitely one of my strengths! I enjoy finding and making connections that can benefit both my organization and the clients I serve. I have found that as I continue to grow personally and professionally, the more connections I am able to make.

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Questioning is also one of my strengths. I have always been inquisitive and I encourage my clients and my staff to ask questions.... and to continue asking questions until they have been sufficiently satiated in their quest to broaden their knowledge base.

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I would like to think this is a strength, but testing that idea: what disjunctive ideas have I put together to create something new? What associations have I made that were not obvious to others? There are some I can think of, but honestly not that many.

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I like approach situations with curiosity and I do ask a lot of question (rather than assuming I know the answers). But do I ask the right questions -- ones that really reveal the heart of the problem, redefine the problem in such a way that allows for new creative solutions? I would like to improve this skill.

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From cognitive neuroscience, knowing how much of our lives is spent "sleepwalking," knowing how much we miss (the monkey business illusion) is hard to say observing is a skill, but am constantly challenging myself to think about what I am not seeing.

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I do have an experimental mindset. I could do much better framing experiments to really be able to deliver insightful results. My approach to experimentation is more "let's try that out" rather than how can we control variables so that the experiments can deliver clear results.

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Even with an expended view of what could be considered networking activities, I have to press myself. Doesn't come naturally to me. I find most of these things draining rather than invigorating. Would like to change that.

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I typically gather information from a number of different sources to inform decision making or my POV. Also, I work to find the limitations of different data sources and how that impacts the way each may be interpreted. Observing and Questioning are always in play. When done well that leads to Associating.

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Typically, time and budget constraints limit my ability to experiment. That is likely why I emphasize questioning, observing and associating so much up front. However, I do try to fail fast and course correct, if necessary. However, my bias is to make a decision without the intention of much iteration.

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I tend to work with a well-known (to me) and proven team. I certainly bring in other functional expertise as necessary but my core team is very stable.

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I ask "why?" a lot. Questioning data for its completeness, bias and other limitations is critical to understanding it. For me, Questioning and Observing are very much connected and ultimately lead to Associating.

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Finding links across different fields or problems is the best part of my job.  Throughout my career, I have take roles that provide exposure to new markets, organizations and challenges to develop a diverse experience set that allows for Associating.  This is also the approach I use when developing talent within an organization.

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This is a strength of mine that I’ve developed over my career as a product development engineer. In my experience, most innovations come from bringing multiple ideas and technologies together. The more experience you have the better, and I feel I have gotten better at this as a routine way of thinking.

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Although I naturally ask a lot of questions as a way to learn and understand, sometimes my introverted nature might hold me back even when I know it’s important to probe an issue. It’s something we need to be aware of and practice. I find I do this most successfully if I prepare a bit ahead of time to get a conversation started.

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I tend to be a natural thinker and observer. I often spend time watching customers in their environments with a view towards understanding how we can help solve their problems. I also take a lot of notes, reflect on them afterwards, and often circle back with new questions.

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I love to tinker, build stuff in labs, see what sticks, make prototypes, etc. It’s a true passion of mine and has served me well over the years. It’s so important to have this mindset in your organization and view failures as a positive thing! Too many organizations see experimental setbacks as failures, and often punish them, which creates a culture that is adverse to risk taking and trying new things. It’s a paradox I often observe in big companies where they preach innovation and create an environment that is exactly counter to what they say.

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Although I understand the importance, as an introvert, this takes a lot of energy for me and I have to push myself to proactively do it. I am more comfortable with close relationships in smaller groups, and pushing outside of that can sometimes be a challenge. I enjoyed the Act Like a Leader reading and will try some of those techniques.

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This is an area of strength in making connections across ideas and disciplines. In teaching, integrating across subject areas and making applications outside of the walls of the school has provided insight and motivation.

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This is an area I think I am continually growing in, and to approach things with more curiosity vs looking to learn what is the definitive clear answer. I like the practice of creating a daily question journal and have practices recording questions more than just notes.

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In the classroom and in schools I feel that taking the time to observe interactions between students and students and students and teachers and across the school to be helpful beyond reading about is taking place through reports and lesson plans. I have more of this intention in my work than I do when I am outside of work, and want to take the time to do so.

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I did this a lot more when I was a classroom teacher. I feel like I have ideas about things to try at work in my role now but feel much more hesitant about taking risks.

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This is a definite area of push for me. I like the framing of it in Innovator's DNA and would like to explore ways to get over the barriers of time constraints and use this for creativity rather than only transactional ways I have thought about networking.

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Associating is a strength of mine that has really grown in my leadership experiences. I trust it more now than I did when I was younger. I tend to always look for the linkages and what can be learned from them. In my experience I have gained more insight when I look at the intersectionality of things, this is where the truth lives.

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I do feel that questioning is essential, I am comfortable asking questions and feel it is a strength. I tend to observe first, respect the space, learn from others, and then question.

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Observing is a strength. But historically as a nonprofit leader I have been extremely busy and do not always have the time to do enough observing. I could definitely have allotted more time to observing and its importance.

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I enjoy experimenting and have created many pilot programs and experiments in the nonprofit sector. But at the same time, I do not think I used the knowledge that could have been gained from those experiments as effectively as I could have. I think if I had been more mindful of that fact at the beginning of these ventures I could have built in the necessary time to learn from and catalyze on those pilots for the long term.

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I have had to do a lot of networking in my career but can get frustrated with it. I really liked what we discussed in last class about the difference with networking to learn vs. networking to empire build. I enjoy networking with those that truly want to learn from one another.

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Associating is my strength! Understanding core foundations and connections help me operate more effectively. This depth of understanding also helps me in finding forgiveness. It allows me to move on by accepting the truth of the matter at hand -- albeit good or bad. Moreover, being a creative who is task/solution-oriented by nature, causes association to be a strong "mental muscle" that I have built and can easily draw upon, while discerning and decision making.

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Questioning is my strength! By nature, I am an idealist. Questioning reality and what "could be" is in my DNA. I see social, political, economic, etc., realities as questions in themselves, and once I recognize the source -- or answer to my question -- I immediately dream of ways to improve the "reality" in a way that is morally and ideologically consistent with the people/group in question.

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Networking is my strength! I am an empath by nature. My husband and children call me a sponge -- i.e., I absorb my surroundings. I enjoy meeting new people, from diverse backgrounds and identities, and gaining new perspectives through understanding their worldview and experiences.

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This has always been an aspect of my life where I have felt the most comfortable. Trying new things whether it be in my personal life or working life has always been a part of my identity. There have been times where my boss has given me the freedom to explore different types of teaching with our students and figuring out which one is best. I continue to use experimenting in my life as a way to figure out things that I like and don't like as that is the mystery of life itself. You truly don't know what you don't know.

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This was an area where I struggled with mightily early in my personal life and professional career. However, it has become a strength as I have gotten older. I have found that questioning and the listening that accompanies it can definitely open other areas of topics. I used to be uncomfortable with long pauses or deep silences in conversation, but as I have embraced them it has allowed me to dive deeper into conversations that I have in my personal life and even interacting with my coworkers. It is such an important skill to possess and can lead to so many different opportunities.

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This is an area that I never gave much thought until doing last week's readings. Being able to make connections between unlikely sources is something that seemed foreign to me. For example, how does learning to play the guitar relate to cooking ham and eggs. Looking at this example before, I might have completely ignored this potential connection, but when you think about the time committed to learning to play the guitar, you might realize a pattern the same way you might realize a pattern in cooking. After finding out that having many experiences can widen your association. It is definitely an area that I would love to improve on.

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Observing my surroundings is an area that I need to work on. I like to be an "in the moment" type of person who needs to be completing a task or planning what my next move is. I have always seen observing as being passive, when it can actually be an effective tool for figuring out patterns in a professional environment or striking up conversations with others.

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Networking has recently become a strength for me. Early in my professional career, it was difficult for me to make networking a priority as I simply didn't know how to effectively network. As I have gained more experience, I am becoming much better at networking and am continuing to grow my networking skills.

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I believe this part comes to me rather naturally. I can definitely improve here by being more intentional or applying some the best practices and techniques though.

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Kaveh Houshmand Azad: Middle of the road

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Kaveh Houshmand Azad: Middle of the road

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I want to be respectful in the expertise that has gone into establishing and maintaining existing processes (humble inquiry) , and this rather conservative approach to questioning doesn’t always allow for challenging the status quo.

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As a practitioner in the filed of process improvement, this has been one of my core learnings and tools and skills.

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Taking risk and putting ideas into action can be an area for improvement for me. One of the key reasons may be the idea of building “consensus” among all stakeholders and making sure that everyone’s on board with moving forward, which rarely happens!

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Kaveh Houshmand Azad: Middle of the road, Need improvement

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Kaveh Houshmand Azad: Middle of the road, Need improvement

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I believe it is primarily a prioritization (or perhaps bandwidth) issue. I recognize several significant innovative opportunities which remained unexplored because of no/low networking.

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A lot of ideas come to me in this spontaneous way and they have served me very well, but I didn't really house this power until I employed the framework of Edge Effect on all my output. I continue to desire to improve upon this.

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weakness; though I ask lots of questions, I don't think they are probing. I have read two books on questioning (by Warren Berger) and I often wonder whether we are asking the right questions in various circumstances.

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would love to be more disciplined in this -- as I have often been surprised at how important it is to exercise deep-field observation, to get into the space where one is working on a solution. But even here, I would like more structure and discipline to make sure I'm not having anything whizz by without having a framework as a fishing net to capture value.

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'm pretty good at jumping in to see what I feel about something -- I feel ideas and insights come from fully immersing in the idea, so experimentation is something where I have a good deal of comfort. Comfort is essential, I have found. And so much of this comes from my hopes to crystallize what has come from my imagination.

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Both as a student and educator, I've always been drawn to interdisciplinary studies. From my time as a human development major to creating new interdisciplinary curriculum units across time and genre. Finding connections across seemingly unlike things is fun and a strength for me, intellectually and professionally.

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I love to dive into possibilities with people and have a diverse and often surprisingly variety of contacts in various fields. I have found this especially powerful in fighting my own thinking and specific echo chambers where my primary circles reside.

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I’d like to get better at asking great questions. I think I sometimes jump to an opinion or solution too quickly and would love to do more exploratory, curious questioning first.

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By nature and also by training and fieldnotes in undergrad and grad school, I do observe and try to understand others and situations.

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I love experimenting, creating, building, and making. Whether trying new recipes, creating art, designing new curricular units, creating new programs, experimenting is something that I need so that I can thrive personally and professionally.

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I am strong in identifying entry points for change and building relationships that can help can facilitate mutual interests for change. I am not as strong in building a vast, wide network or networking.

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I actually love ideas and one of the ways I spend my downtime is to sort of combine weird bits of information to try and solve problems. I was amazed to discover that this was considered "creative" in this class.

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I love to ask questions but I can see this as an impediment to progress as well. I could question something endlessly just because I love the thought experiment. There is a point at which you need to actually come to a decision.

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Most of my role is in pulling data, interpreting data, and evaluating the policies that lead to that data. There is some question as to whether I actually use this information well, but I certainly gather plenty of information as a general practice.

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I wish I were better at this. I love to ask questions and theorize about better policy but I am much less well-versed in actually trying things out and letting them explode in failure. I thoroughly dislike losing, or failing a project, and I think this inhibits how well I experiment with new policy.

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Hands down my weakest skill. As an introvert I much prefer thoughts and ideas to actually seeking out social settings. It is not so much that I dislike people (I like them!), it is just that I find the whole experience draining and thus there is a real case of diminishing returns for me after a short while.