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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Fred Mandell

 

Thursday, April 14, 2011, 10 am Pacific, 11 am Mountain, Noon Central, 1 pm EST, 2 pm Atlantic, 7 pm Zurich, 8 pm Istanbul

 

What the Great Masters of Art Can Teach Us About Career Development and Change

 

The creative process and skills of the great artists are directly relevant to the career development process and coaching relationship. Learn how to enhance your creativity and develop a client’s creative skills, while generating co-creating moments that catapult the relationship to new levels of exploration, discovery, and authenticity. The presentation is an outgrowth of over 100 in-depth interviews with people at midlife and beyond and a deep reading of the working process and lives of many great masters.


Session Objectives

 

  • Understand a new process model for navigating personal and career change.
  • Understand connection between creativity and career pathing
  • Understand and apply specific creative skills to your personal/professional situation
  • Learn about new tools and resources for facilitating creative life change

 

Bio

 

Fred Mandell transitioned from University Professor to Senior Business Executive in a Fortune 100 company, became an artist, then a writer. He also was instrumental in starting the Life Planning Network in the Boston area.  He has a Masters in Counseling Psychology from Boston University and PhD in history from University of Chicago. Fred coaches individuals who are navigating personal change and senior executives who want to become more effective and humane leaders. He has been featured in the PBS Series "Boomers: Redefining Life After 50," and quoted in the Wall St. Journal, Boston Globe, Money and Money Magazine.

 

Contact

Fred Mandell Ph.D.
fred@fredmandell.com
781-444-4554
www.fredmandell.com

 

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Two-Part Exercise on Blind Contour Drawings


The exercise is in two parts:

  • A blind contour drawing of your hand
  • A blind contour drawing 

The instructions are attached.  Please do the blind contour drawing of your hand first.  The whole exercise should not take more than 15 minutes.


Part I: Blind Contour Drawing of Your Hand

2 examples of blind contour hand drawing

 

What you need:
Pen or pencil and a piece of unlined paper no smaller than 8 and ½ by 11 inches.  Larger sized paper is even better.

What it is: 
Blind contour drawing means drawing the outline of the subject without looking at the paper.  The end result doesn’t matter—what matters is carefully observing the subject. The purpose of the exercise is to heighten your observational powers.
 
What to do:
Place your hand on the table next to the piece of paper palm side facing up.  Using your hand as the subject, place the pencil near the bottom of the page, then looking at the edge of the wrist, begin to follow the line, going VERY slowly and steadily.  Try to make your pencil follow every slight curve and bump.  When you get to a crease, follow it in then back out to the side and carry on.  Don’t rush.  SLOW and steady.  Don’t worry what it might look like.  Keep your eyes on the lines and creases of your hand, NOT on the paper.  Concentrate on observing every little detail.


Avoid lifting the pencil from the paper so that the line is as continuous as possible, and most importantly, DON'T PEEK! If drawing on loose paper, you may need to tape it in place.


Review:

When you've gone all around the hand, stop and look at the end results. Appear funny?  Some of it recognizable?  Some of it not recognizable?  What were you feeling as you were doing this exercise?  What has this exercise done in relation to understanding your hand?


Part II: Blind Contour Life Drawing and Reflection


example of blind contour life drawing

 

What to do:
Taking the pen or pencil in hand, close your eyes.  Now consider the major contours of your life—family and friends, relationships, work, community, spirituality, self, forks in the road.  These are the subject of your contour drawing.  With these major elements of your life in mind and your eyes still closed, slowly begin to outline the contours with your pen or pencil.  Let the pen or pencil roam freely. This exercise is not about having your drawing look like anything in particular.  Allow your emotions as well as your thoughts to guide your pen or pencil as you follow the contours of your life.  Feel free to allow your pen or pencil to spend more or less  time within a particular contour.  Feel free to use symbols.  Don’t be afraid to press harder or let up easier for particular contours.  Take your time.  Do not worry about what it might look like.  

When you feel ready, put your pen or pencil down.  Open your eyes and look at your drawing.  

Review and reflection:  
What do you see?  What does this drawing suggest about the contours of your life?  Consider what this says about the current state of your life.  Jot down your thoughts.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

The Artist’s Way meets What Color Is Your Parachute.  Fred Mandell  Ph.D. offers a provocative session based on Becoming a Life Change Artist: 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life, (Penguin/Avery Books), a new book he co-authored with Kathleen Jordan, PhD. Click HERE to read book review by Elizabeth Craig.

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Intrviewer: Elizabeth Craig

 

Elizabeth is a Master Career Development Professional, Internationally Certified Career & Job Search Strategist.  She is trained by and affiliated with the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality & Healing and the Inventure Group. An Award Winning Charter Member, Elizabeth is a member of the University of Minnesota Purpose Project Facilitator's Guild. She is a Global Career Development Facilitator & Instructor, NCDA CDF eLearning Instructor, and Master Career Development Professional. She is one of just 96 in the nation and the only Minnesota career professional to hold this prestigious international designation from the National Career Development Association.

 

 

Interview Questions


  1. What is the basic premise of your work?
  2. How did you make this connection between the artists and life change, between the artists and coaching, between the artists and career development and change?  I mean, it’s really unique.  But it strikes me that the great artists have been out there all along but you and Kathy are the first ones to show us the connection.  How did it come about? SLIDE 3
  3. You have a number of slides at the beginning of your power point that show works by some of the great artists.  Can you tell us what they have to do with life and career change?  SLIDES 4-6
  4. Fred, I know you have a view of how the current social and economic trends make a creative mind set more important than ever when it comes to career development.  Can you explain that?
  5. What is the implication for career coach professionals?
  6. Describe the key elements of the creative process.  SLIDES 7-11
  7. You make the case that the process is the process and understanding where you are in the process has value, but you also emphasize that what differentiates successful transitions—whether it is related to career or life—has to do with what you call the 7 creative skills.  Tell us what you mean by that. What are the 7 Creative Skills?  SLIDE 14
  8. Is there one skill that is more important than the others?  And if so, why?  SLIDE 15
  9. Tell us more about the Seeing skill and, specifically what the great artists have to teach us coaches about career development and change.  SLIDES 16-29
  10. Did you come across any surprises in your research?
  11. You've said that modern research science is just now catching up with the great masters of art.  What do you mean by that?
  12. This might sound strange but do you have a favorite creative skill?
  13. What in your mind is a big take away from this rich material?  Perhaps something you did not expect.
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Opening Instructions for Listeners

Before we begin, here are a few instructions for listeners:

  •  If you have a question, press 5* on your phone.
  • Directly after the interview, be sure to fill out the evaluation linked to your call-in instructions, especially if you want to earn CEUs. 
  • Please register at least 24 - 48 hours before the interview so we have time to send out the call-in information.
  • If you'd like to listen to more of these tele-interviews, and your organization is not currently a subscriber, contact me with someone I can talk with about subscribing your organization so you can listen for free (except for the cost of your distance provider). Email info@ careerwell.org or call 415.312.4294.

Introduction

 

Fred Mandell "walks his talk." He is a model of making effective transitions. He moved from University Professor to Senior Business Executive in a Fortune 100 company, became an artist, then a writer. He also was instrumental in starting the Life Planning Network in the Boston area.  He earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology from Boston University and a PhD in history from University of Chicago. Fred coaches individuals who are navigating personal change and senior executives who want to become more effective and humane leaders. He has been featured in the PBS Series "Boomers: Redefining Life After 50," and quoted in the Wall St. Journal, Boston Globe, Money and Money Magazine

 

Fred will be interviewed by Elizabeth Craig.  Elizabeth is one of our frequent and active Careerwell listeners (she asks lots of questions and gives me good feedback). Elizabeth is a Master Career Development Professional, Internationally Certified Career & Job Search Strategist. and CDF Instructor.

 

A couple years ago, Elizabeth interviewed Richard Leider for Careerwell. Richard will be keynoting the upcoming April 28 conference of the Minnesota Career Development Association.  I posted details on Careewell's home page, www.carerwell.org,  and would like to remind listeners that if your subscribing organization features a past or future Careerwell speaker at a live conference, I shall announce your event on Careerwell. After listening to this interview, I expect you will be as excited as I am to want to feature Fred at your live events to learn more about what famous artists can teach us about career development and change. 

 

Welcome Fred and Elizabeth. Listeners, if you are at your computer, for this interview, please download Fred's powerpoint presentation, posted on careerwell.org, so you can follow along.  Now, I'd like to turn the interview over to Elizabeth.

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Upcoming April Interviews

 

Thank you Fred and Elizabeth, for opening our minds to such a creative way of approaching career change.

 

For those of you who have burnt-out clients, and who may be on overload, yourselves, I invite you to listen next week to:

On April 28,  we shall hear about family influences on career development when

4/28/11 Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey & Amy Critchett discuss Mother-Daughter Influences on Lifework Success, in prep for Mother's Day.

 

This is Dr. Sally Gelardin with Careerwell Tele-Interviews.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.