I like talking to people here at the Fest because they're so open. Maybe it's because they see my Ask me about ISKME button, but they often give me their opinions about the Fest before I get a chance to ask. And what they say always makes me think. I heard that the Action Collabs seemed scattered and nebulous at moments, but that this is a good thing. Like any good innovation and design process, there are moments when the conversations can seem ambiguous. But overall, it seems that chaos and complexity are good for creativity.

During her rapid fire, Neeru Paharia showed us that the creation of Peer 2 Peer University worked like this. A handful of people, including a lawyer, a doctoral student, and a couple of nonprofit leaders all met each other at a conference in Croatia two years ago, and decided to do something about access to education and standard learning models. Neeru's story was about crossing boundaries, finding common intrerest, and brainstorming to come up with new ideas.

In a similar way, my aha moment in the Action Collab was when I stopped massaging my own ideas and really began to listen to others. It was interesting, because my mind literally shifted one moment from thinking about an idea I was starting to grow (and one that I was very fond of), to something  that another person in my group had said. Then I couldn't let go of her big idea and I began to flip that around in my head and frame my words based on that.

I'm curious to know if others at the Fest have experienced something similar today.