We’re taking the April showers, knowing that blooms will follow. We’re being deliberately creative. We’re bridging the gap, and we’re booking a booth at Showcase. Enjoy these resources!
:: Image of the Week
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
Deliberate Creative Teams: How to Lead for Innovative Results
Do you struggle to inspire creativity within your team? Do you want to see your team excel in creativity and problem solving? Dr. Amy Climer has brought forth the comprehensive road map for leaders to drive their teams toward unparalleled creativity and innovation. She offers actionable insights to unlock your team’s potential. She gives you the tools to empower your team to consistently generate ground-breaking ideas.
A renowned innovation consultant, Dr. Amy Climer shatters the common belief that innovation happens by chance or magic. Through years of experience and research distilled into this essential guide, she demonstrates how innovation stems from a process. One that can be learned, practiced, and repeated. She offers her Deliberate Creative Team system as an intentional, structured process that yields innovative solutions. The book is packed with relatable stories, effective exercises, and productive tools designed to cultivate a culture of creativity within your team. She gives you the blueprint to inspire your team to hone their skills to be more creative⎯together.
If you want to lead a creative team that can innovate anytime it wants, Deliberate Creative Teams is the catalyst you need to leverage the power of collective creativity. This book empowers you to transform your team’s creative potential, translating into unmatched success.
Note: Amy Climer was the keynote speaker and a presenter at the 2019 Leadership and Management Development (LMD) conference at UW-Madison. https://hr.wisc.edu/leadership-and-management-development-conference/history/
:: Creativity
Carving Out Time for Creativity in Your Life
Whether it’s sitting in front of painting, drifting in a boat, riding in a taxi, playing the guitar in a dark bathroom, or floating in a pool, if you want to be more creative, carve out time each day for “free-floating periods of thought.” What’s that, you ask?
When the body is still and the mind is allowed to float freely, the brain engages in what she termed REST (“random episodic silent thinking”). And during REST, the brain “uses its most human and complex parts…areas known to gather information and link it all together.” This from neuroscientist Dr. Nancy Andreasen, who designed a brain-imaging study to explore the neural basis of this habit. Read more about her findings and some famous people who used REST to be more creative here:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
:: Mental Health and Self-Care
Microdecisions: Little Choices that Make a Huge Difference
Dr. Melissa Hughes has been thinking about how often we focus on the big, bold moves in life—the major career shifts, the big financial investments, the pivotal life decisions—compared to the small decisions we make every day. She realized how much mental energy we spend on the big things while we give little thought to many of the small decisions we make every day. So many of those decisions are kind of automatic.
So, she dug into this idea that these microdecisions—the seemingly insignificant choices like hitting snooze (or not), taking a beat before responding in frustration, or choosing water over soda— accumulate into habits, patterns, and ultimately, our outcomes.
It turns out, neuroscience backs this up! Every small decision strengthens certain neural pathways, making it easier to repeat that behavior in the future. So, the little choices? They’re not so little after all!
Every decision you make reveals how you value yourself. Check out the nugget below—what’s one microdecision you make daily that’s had a big impact over time?
https://www.melissahughes.rocks/post/microdecisions?cid=9d357a21-8c12-4875-9aae-89d0deaed78c
“There is no known defense against relentless compassion.” — Ari Cowan
:: Self-Leadership Development
Bridging the Gap Between Home and Work
What does it really mean to show up as a compassionate leader—not just in the workplace, but in every part of life?
In Heather Younger’s latest podcast episode, she sits down with Alex Allen, Senior Director of Inclusion and Collaboration at Cisco, for a deeply personal conversation about advocacy, leadership, and the power of proximity.
Alex shares a pivotal moment in his career—one that changed how he leads and how he stands up for those who may not always feel seen or valued. Together, they explore:
✔️ How personal experiences shape our leadership approach
✔️ The responsibility to advocate for others—even when it’s uncomfortable
✔️ Why true inclusion requires more than good intentions—it takes action
✔️ How leaders can challenge biases and create lasting change
This episode is a powerful reminder that leadership isn’t just about titles—it’s about choices. The choice to listen, support, and create space for others to thrive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=A3tqirbp_qYO5iKz&v=k5lCdnGwC1c&feature=youtu.be
“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” – Vince Lombardi
If You Want To Root Yourself, Learn From The Great Oak Of Boxerwood
A couple of weeks ago, a monstrous oak tree – estimated to have lived around 150 years – ripped free of the ground near where I live in Virginia and crashed down. My local paper, The News-Gazette, reported the reason it fell: “An enormous oak tree at Boxerwood Gardens toppled on Feb. 16 due to high winds and saturated soil.”
The oak was mighty and gnarled from age, but its roots weren’t capable of keeping it upright during a windstorm. The packed soil had turned to mud, and a fierce gale took care of the rest.
Roots hold a plant upright, absorb energy and water from the soil, and crucially provide that fuel to the rest of the plant’s topside. In that same vein, any of our achievements – whether that’s a bed of tulips or launching a new product – are anchored in strong routines, and months if not years of effort. Dreams are built starting with the foundation.
What’s the foundation for your current dream? Maybe you’re a chef working on a new dish. In terms of our root analogy, serving the final plated meal is when the flowers you’re growing finally bloom. The culmination of long work. But what are the roots that laid the groundwork for this moment? What ecosystem fuels and holds it upright?
Finish this article from Whitney Johnson at https://thedisruptionadvisors.com/if-you-want-to-root-yourself-learn-from-the-great-oak-of-boxerwood/
:: Change Management
Navigate Change: Lead Teams with Clarity in Uncertainty
“In a highly uncertain time like this, you want to be very clear about direction, but very flexible about execution.” – Dr. Bob Johansen
Think of your leadership of Marco Polo teams as if you’re sailing a ship across the ocean. The destination is fixed. However, the route constantly adjusts based on weather, currents, and other conditions. You control the destination direction. You remain flexible about how you reach it based on circumstances.
Today’s leaders face this challenge. The mission stays constant, but methods must adapt to changing circumstances. Leadership best focuses on navigation clarity in the midst of traveling uncertainties.
This balance between clarity and flexibility is essential for Marco Polo teams. Marco requires crystal-clear direction to stay aligned with Team Polo without physical proximity for guidance. Navigating Marco Polo teams further requires autonomy to execute in ways that work for their unique conditions.
Read the whole article from the Work Positive team.
“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.” – Lu Xun
:: Empathy
Empathy Questionnaire
Want to find out where you are on the empathy scale? Empathy, a fundamental aspect of human social interaction, involves the capacity to understand and share the feelings of others. This psychological construct is crucial for effective communication, maintaining relationships, and fostering cooperation. Given its importance in various domains of life, including education, healthcare, and community living, there is a clear need for a reliable tool to assess empathy in individuals.
The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) was developed to meet this need. It is a self-report measure designed to evaluate empathy as a primarily emotional process, distinguishing it from cognitive empathy or the more cognitive aspects of taking another’s perspective. The TEQ primarily focuses on the emotional reactions of individuals in response to the experiences of others, capturing the affective component of empathy through a series of brief, straightforward items.
https://psychology-tools.com/test/toronto-empathy-questionnaire
“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” — Mohsin Hamid
:: Work Culture & Team Development
Engaging with Others: A Simple Habit That Strengthens Leadership
In leadership, we often talk about grand strategies, mission statements, and high-level decision-making. But sometimes, the most impactful leadership practice is far simpler: engaging with people on a daily basis. Not just within your organization, but everywhere—at your local coffee shop, the grocery store, the front desk at your gym. Genuine engagement builds trust, strengthens connections, and builds on the leadership skill of active listening. See this short article from Randall Doizaki on engaging effectively.
:: Job Searching & Interviewing
Navigating Career Transitions With Authentic Purpose
As the founder of Briefcase Coach, Sarah Johnston was able to talk with Suzy Welch—renowned author, speaker, and television commentator—whose insights on careers and leadership have guided countless individuals through the complexities of the modern professional world. They had a video interview with a lot of great information on navigating career transitions by embracing self-discovery and understanding your core values, aptitudes, and interests. Suzy emphasizes the importance of intentionality in career growth and making strategic pivots, especially during uncertain times and encourages professionals to engage in meaningful connections and continuous learning, ultimately leading to a more authentic and fulfilling career path.
Below is a summary of their discussion, and at the end is the replay of their recording if you’d rather stream it than read it.
:: Networking
Tips for Sending a LinkedIn Connection Request
Are you expanding your network? Many people find interesting profiles online and try to connect without sending a personalized message. Most of those requests will be ignored. Andrea Stegman of WFAA shares some helpful information on how to interact with LinkedIn successfully.
“When you’re on the field, play as if nothing else matters. When you’re off the field, remember that the game doesn’t matter at all.” – James Clear
:: Upcoming Events
CSN will be at Showcase!
CSN will once again be at the Showcase poster show on April 17, 2025. Our poster focuses on CSN providing ten years of events to our community, and we’re gearing up for a season-long celebration. Stop by to talk with planning committee members, and register to win a selection from our collection of leadership books. For more information on Showcase 2025, go to https://showcase.wisc.edu/.
Date: April 17, 2025
Time: 10:00 am-12:00 pm for poster show — other events throughout the day; see website for full details
Location: Varsity Hall, Union South
2025 IT Recognition Awards Nominations Open
We work with excellent people who do awesome things. Help your colleagues get the recognition they deserve by nominating them for the 2025 IT Recognition Awards! Now in its 6th year, UW–Madison’s annual IT Recognition Awards honor our colleagues who excel at what they do and strengthen our IT community.
You can choose from 7 awards when making your nomination. All UW–Madison academic and university staff working in the information and technology fields are eligible. Nominations are due by Sunday, April 27.