I was delighted to have my guest Steve Chapman, where we dive into “being in not knowing”. Steve is an artist, writer and speaker interested in creativity and the human condition and, from conversations to date, he has a certain comfort being in the space of not knowing. He speaks to organisations, over 80 to date, around the world on the subject of human creativity — he remits that he has been to help them nurture a culture of creative freedom. As an artist, he’s sold his work across five continents and exhibited alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso and David Shrigley. He’s also visiting faculty on a number of well-regarded organisational change and coaching MSc programmes where he teaches spontaneity, creativity and not knowing. 

Hello Steve, so it seems that you are at your best when you’re not quite sure what you’re doing – for many listeners that would be a very uncomfortable place to be.

“The way I love to work is to come alongside them, be curious with them and just to notice what are the subtle patterns of human interaction that if we experiment, disrupt and disturb something else might happen.”

We dive a little deeper into not knowing…

  • The fundamental subtle interactions that are keeping everything the way it has always been.
  • The bustle we have between creativity and the human condition.Not Knowing
  • Bringing awareness of our own unique patterns of stuckness and finding a way of disturbing them.
  • Everyone being in a messy space together.
  • An organisation doesn’t exist in the way we think about it. The organisation is a live patterning of human interaction.
  • Employees being 10% more mad, bad and wrong.
  • The rule of thirds:- A third of people are “Wow that’s really made me aware of something important.” A third are left in a state of “I really don’t know what that was and I am totally confused.” and a third are going “This is ridiculous.”
  • Steve’s mantra in work – “Leap then look.”
  • Launching the world’s first silent podcast.
  • The process of thinking through doing – not aiming to produce an outcome, but you have found a really rich thread that you will keep unravelling.

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Sehaam Cyrene PCC

About Sehaam Cyrene PCC

Business leader, entrepreneur and Executive Coach, Sehaam Cyrene PCC is the Founder of Better Conversations and the creator of a game-changing online course for leaders — Leaders Who Coach™. A regular speaker to digital communities, leaders, board directors, and teams, and producer of BC4Leaders events, she also hosts her own podcast series Better Conversations with Sehaam Cyrene.