Name that ___________________?

Barb and 15 flip chart post-its

Hilary Clinton? Your blog editor begs the mission team
to share THAT bit of brainstorming in your next blog

The stars lighting up Kigali

On Bpeace missions you spend a lot of time working in hotel lobbies. The energy keeps sleep deprived participants alert and focused while food is readily available. The local and international sightings are always of interest but none more so then when a familiar famous face is seen in what Bpeacers feel is their faraway place. Afghan mission participants felt this in December 2006 when they met the writer Jon Krakauer, (Into Thin Air among others )who became an excellent dinner companion).

Well the stars were out again in Rwanda. Barb and Alix were hard at work in the lobby. We realized “Scarlet Johannson was sitting next to us!” We were a bit star struck, but were amazed when Malyse (Jeanne’s 20-year old daughter) let out a yelp when later told of the our fellow hotel guest. Malyse can’t wait to camp out in the Serena lobby for a sighting. It is clear a global-youth culture is binding across the continents.

Back to work.

It was logo day. The idea of a brainstorming session and the concept of “thinking out-side-the-box” were new notions for Jeanne and Sylvie. They consider a well run business meeting to be logical, so we got some curious looks when we told them “be creative and let your inhibitions go”. Simple ground rules were set. “Take risks and don’t criticize”. Despite early reservations “got it” and before long we were cranking out ideas.

In five hours we went through at least 15 sheets of poster paper, generated 8 great strategic platforms, and narrowed it down to one favorite. Then we worked on the name and within an hour decided on concepts to bring back to the US branding and logo designers. It might be hard to shake what we now call . . .the beauty school.