,
Cultivating your creative potential [SPECIAL FEATURE]

Join AWiB for its annual personal and professional development forum with a major theme of “Unlocking potential! Driving effectiveness!” on May 23, 2013.

In the morning, after the plenary, three parallel sessions will be conducted:  Addressing the Critical Skills Gap in the Workforce, Cultivating Your Creative Potential and Developing Effective Interpersonal Relationships.  In this blog, I am focusing on the second parallel session “Cultivating Your Creative Potential.”

‘The sky is the limit’ is one of the expressions I love that demonstrates human potential.  I love it ‘cause it throws away all inhibitions to heave ourselves into the realm of freedom and explore our potential, only to find our destination to be the sky.  The other reason I love the expression is that no pretext is good enough to bind us to our misery or stagnation.  No sound and logical explanation is weighty to justify our blocked status.  At times, we are our own worst enemies for we bind ourselves with internal fears, lack of confidence, unbelief, and external blocks that sees only scarcity and impossibility, to limit our creative potential. Are you feeling you have a lot of unused and underdeveloped potentials, or clogged in any way?

This second session will be presented by Ahadu G/Amlak, Country Director of Cherokee Consulting PLC; and Owner and Leadership Development Consultant Center for African Leadership development.  Ahadu will address how we can unblock our creativity by expanding our vision, broaden the search for solutions and cultivate a sense of confidence and completeness, toward achieving the goals of our dreams.

Human beings have different potentials that can be used creatively when they feel the freedom to be themselves, to expand their horizon and have vision for a better tomorrow.  Most people do not improve or grow.  They rather remain stuck in the same old routines year after year. Some do this for the whole of their lives, sit back and just take whatever comes on their way. Others believe that accepting their lot in life is the only option.  Let me share what I read, “Two entrepreneurs want to sell shoe in Africa.  They came to Africa to explore the options.  Both saw that some Africans would not wear shoes.  One of them felt excited because he perceived it Africa is a place to invest for there are many people who need shoes and he can sell to them – the right place to sell shoes because of the need.  He saw the absence of shoes as possibilities for his market.  The second man was disappointed that some people would not even wear shoes.  He concluded that since they don’t wear shoes, Africa is not a good market place.  This guy could not see possibilities – he saw blockades.  Which one are you?

AWiB believes that we all have potentials that we need to unlock, unleash and expand for our personal and professional growth and development.  This session will help us examine our core attitudes and beliefs that prevent us from fully tapping into our creative potential.   Few people actualize themselves, access resources or enjoy lives when the vast majority lives on near the breadline, with millions more living in abject poverty.  This is not a destiny.  Of course, some of us are more innovative than others; however, for many it requires the discipline of following a pattern which gives way to know what works, what does not work and investigating why and why not.  We all have the ability to make things happen.  It all starts with having the right attitude of believing in ourselves, have vision to change obstacles to opportunities for creativity is a skill anyone can learn and foster.

Come on May 23, 2013 and you will discover more on how to cultivate your creative potential and drive effectiveness in your personal and career life.