Category: creativity

creativity

Wonder: Bold leadership for Washington D.C.’s metro

Christa Avampato

Washington D.C.’s Metro has issues. Big issues. Fires, smoke, disabled trains, broken tracks, and the list goes on. And the city is growing and changing in terms of population and geography. It needs a modern transportation system that makes safety a priority, and that takes money, time, and leadership.

Paul Wiedenfeld was recently hired as the new GM after the top spot sat vacant for many months. He took on the near-impossible task of getting anything in Washington government to move quickly, efficiently, and effectively. Yesterday he released his plan of what it will take to fix Metro’s many problems. His plan is taking 3 years of urgent repair work and compressing it into 1 year. It’s going to take sacrifice. It’s going to be messy. It’s going to be inconvenient for tens of thousands of people. And it’s got to be done.

What Wiedenfeld is doing is the difficult work of leading. Leadership is gut-wrenching work, particularly in times of distress and change. But that’s when it’s needed most. Anyone can lead through good times. When the going gets tough, we learn who the real leaders are and what they’re made of.

To check out Wiedenfeld’s plan, click here.

creativity

Wonder: It’s time for leadership to be an art form

Christa Avampato

I spent this morning on Google Hangout with my Ethics professor, Ed Freeman, and it’s one of the very best work mornings I’ve spent in a long time. We had an introductory call about the book project we’re working on and it left me feeling hopefully, happy, and excited about the future.

This is how we should all feel about our work—glad and grateful to be a part of it. The second that our work lives start to take the turn of groaning as we hop (or begrudgingly roll) out of bed, we’re in trouble. That’s going to happen once in a while. I’m not under any kind of delusion that work is nothing but sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. Sometimes, it’s just challenging, difficult, and exhausting.

But is a tough day just a tough day or is it a repetitive pattern that makes us feel like we’re going nowhere fast? If it’s the latter, then it’s time to turn a door into a window and climb out of a bad situation by any means necessary. Once this kind of pattern gets entrenched in a workplace, it takes a massive amount of enlightened leadership to change it. And I’m sorry to say that leaders who have the courage, fortitude, creativity, and empathy to take on the Herculean effort of a culture shift are rare.

And that’s about to change. Ed and I are working on a project that makes enlightened and fearless leadership the norm, not the exception. We’re doing it through unconventional thinking and even more unconventional action. I can’t wait to get these ideas out into the world, and I hope you’ll all come along for the ride with us. More soon…

creativity

Wonder: No more fear

Christa Avampato

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” ~Marie Curie

I am tremendously excited about moving into my new condo. I also have many moments throughout the day when I’m scared out of my mind about buying real estate. There’s a twitchy part of me that every day wants to go running and screaming from this purchase. But I don’t. I do know in my gut that this is the right thing to do. So I sit down and I breathe. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I smile. When all else fails, I hug Phineas and eat a bowl of ice cream.

I am trying hard to understand what’s behind the fear. I’ve had housing insecurity for most of my life. I know deep down that what’s irking me is change, even though I happen to very good at change. Hell, I’ve been upsetting the apple cart for most of my life. But every time there’s a big shift, a small part of me worries that I have somehow made the absolute wrong choice. I imagine myself as that tiniest of birds way out there on the very edge of the branch. It’s teetering. I’m teetering. And somehow this time my wings won’t work. I won’t be able to fly. I won’t be able to deal with whatever comes my way, even though I’ve always been able to deal with even the worst circumstances.

I have to constantly remind myself that I’m enough, that I can do this, that I will be okay, or find a way to be okay. I might be scared, but I’m doing this anyway knowing that eventually understanding will arrive.

creativity

Wonder: Guard your time

Christa Avampato

The older I get, the more precious time becomes to me. I have always been painfully aware of the passage of time. I’m constantly evaluating and re-evaluating my efficiency, the value of my activities, and the good I’m doing with the time I have.

While this might sound like an exhausting way to live, it’s actually more exhausting for me to think that I’m not using my time to the fullest. Now, that’s not to say I don’t relax, unwind, and enjoy my life. I do. It’s a priority for me to be at my best, and my best requires rest. And even in the rest, I know my mind and spirit are doing the valuable work of recharging and evolving.

I’m lucky and grateful beyond measure. I wake up with a purpose and I go to bed counting my blessings – the big and the small, the expected and the unexpected, the wanted and yes, the unwanted. And I wouldn’t want to use my time any other way.

creativity

Wonder: Night at the Newseum – Virtual reality is real

Christa Avampato

Last week, I went to an event about mixed-, virtual-, and augmented-reality at DC’s Newseum. My dear friend, F.J., told me about it and being the technology fiends that we are, we went over there together with our friend, Anisha. We tried on some new gear to get a sense of what’s happening in this new and rapidly emerging field. I drove down the streets of Cuba, Anisha took a flight with the Blue Angels, and F.J. explored a shipwreck. The degrees of quality varied, but the fun of seeing the future was equally palpable in all of it. We then sat together to hear a talented panel of journalists and media makers talk about how these technologies are altering the very real world of human experience in a broad sense, and the field of journalism and storytelling more specifically.

An intense amount of capital is pouring into MR, AR, and VR. Competitors in hardware and software are firing on all cylinders. Storytellers are undergoing a massive mind shift and stretching their imaginations to the nth degree. The future of this technology isn’t even clear enough to be called hazy. We are all, admittedly, fumbling in the dark trying figure out how, if, when, where, and why to take this new avenue.
I’m thinking about how to use it for Project Rubeus. Prestigious outlets such as The New York Times and the Washington Post are experimenting with mobile, immersive stories. The fields of healthcare, education, media, nonprofit, and travel are bending this new channel to their will to literally take students, customers, and consumers to places they never even imagined they could go.
I am intensely excited about this possibility and opportunity, as a business woman, technology lover, and writer with a passion for learning, teaching, and sharing. At the Newseum that night, a portal to a new, strange, and wild world opened and I happily walked through, virtually and literally.
creativity

Wonder: Where to place your time

Christa Avampato

The tug of war between what you need to do and what you want to do can be a challenging battle. I know lots of people working a day job to support themselves financially while working on a passion project during their evenings, weekends, and free time. I also know people who have quit a lucrative day job to pursue their passions full-time. I have done both, and both are challenging. Neither scenario is easy. Neither scenario is as dreamy as it appears to be on the surface. Neither is a one and done solution to anything. Each has its own flavor of stress and anxiety, as well as peace and joy. And it shifts day-to-day, sometimes hour to hour.

Here’s what I know to be true: you are in control of your mind, emotions, and time. Your thoughts and energy are yours and yours alone. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, ever owns them except you. And where your mind, energy, and time goes, your life goes.

Some of you will find a day job and side passions work for you. Some will find that pursuing your passions full-time is the best life. And there isn’t a point-of-no-return on either of these. I quit my day job in 2012 and ran my own business for 3 years. They were wonderful and trying years. In 2015, I took a full-time job again, closed my business, and have have continued to work on a variety of creative projects. This has also been a wonderful and trying year. Yes, there was a huge amount of variation between these two experiences, and yes, they were the right choices for me for those times. Once I made those decisions, I never looked back. I don’t regret either of those choices, and I never will. My life is unfolding one page at a time, and like a good book, I’m savoring all of the words.

If you are in the process of wrestling through these weighty decisions about life and career now, a lot of people are probably giving you their two cents, even if you didn’t ask them for their opinions. The only opinion I have for you is to do what you need to do for you. Right now. Always. Your story isn’t the same as someone else’s story. Your goals and talents are yours. Treasure them. Protect them. Go in the direction that feels right to you. There will be bumps in the road. There will be off-ramps, flat tires, and wrong turns. But there will also be some smooth sailing and many fellow travelers along the route who will help and guide you. You will experience all of it no matter what choice you make.

The only yardstick I use is this: if it all ends tomorrow, am I glad and grateful for the way I spent today? Did I wake up with a purpose and do my best to take one step along that purposeful path? That’s all we can do, and that is enough.
creativity

Wonder: The resilience of children

Christa Avampato
“Kids will grow like weeds on a fence. She says, they look for the light, they try to make sense. They come up through the cracks, like grass on the tracks.” -Suzanne Vega
Never underestimate what a child can do. Through the toughest circumstances, they rise up. They deserve our support and celebration. They are grappling with new perspectives that we cannot even begin to understand. Their lens on the world is different from ours and they have so much to teach us. Pay attention to them because they are whispering of the world that has yet to be.
(Many thanks to my friend, Carolyn, for sending me this quote.)
creativity

Wonder: I’m going to be a homeowner

Christa Avampato

2016 has been a year of realized dreams so far, and here’s another one: I bought a condo! For the first time in my life, I’m going to own the home I live in. After so many years of moving, and not being sure from one year to the next where I’ll be, I’ll be settled in a place that will be my home. I close on Saturday, May 28th. It’s a one-bedroom in exactly the neighborhood I wanted. It has beautiful light, is newly renovated with a separately deeded and reserved off-street parking space, and a half block from a sweet community garden.

I’ve got a list of people a mile long to thank, and I will thank them with a housewarming party this summer. Here are some standouts:

I’m supremely grateful to my dear friends, Matt and Alex, for renting me an apartment here last February that enabled me to move to D.C., conduct a full-time job search, and save for a down payment. I wouldn’t have the life I have here without them and I don’t know how I will ever thank them enough for their generosity, kindness, and friendship.

Josh told me about DC Open Doors, an incredible program here in D.C. that provides an economic incentive for people to purchase a home in the District. Once he told me about that program, I had the courage to see myself buying sooner rather than later.

Sharif Ibrahim, my real estate agent, and Mark Eigenbrode, my loan officer and DC Open Doors representative, are a powerhouse team. I couldn’t have done this without them. I emailed Sharif on April 9th and I’m closing on a perfect place less than 2 months later.

It’s still hard to believe that this is actually happening. I have to keep pinching myself. Instead, I’m taking to Pinterest and scouring vintage shops, furniture stores, and antique shops. I’ve got a home, a real home, to furnish and decorate!

creativity

Wonder: A wrong righted 10 years later

Christa Avampato

 

10 years ago, I interviewed at a large retail company for a summer internship while I was an MBA student at Darden. It was my top pick for an internship and I was proceeding well in the process. The final step was a psychological evaluation that was supposed to be a formality. Instead, the psychologist dug into my family history for over an hour. She asked me a lot of very painful questions and was very judgmental about my childhood. I stood my ground, told the truth, didn’t crack, and stated how I did the best I could in the circumstances I was born into. I didn’t get the internship, and I was heartbroken. I thought the story was over, but it wasn’t.

A few months ago I received a letter from a law firm. A class action lawsuit was filed against this retail company for discriminatory hiring practices. The HR records had been subpoenaed and unsealed, and it was deemed that I may be due a payment for damages. I confirmed that I interviewed with the company during the time period in question, sent the letter back, and never gave it another thought.

When I arrived home yesterday, I had a letter from the law firm.The retailer confessed to its discriminatory practices, and settled out of court. The letter contained a check for damages. Not a huge check, but one that I can put to good use. I was shocked. I’m still shocked. I actually cried a little. And then I cried a lot. Not out of sadness, but out of relief.

I didn’t realize how badly I’d felt about this incident all these years. When you grow up without enough, you think you aren’t enough. It is a painful fact of growing up poor. And as much as I have grown into a strong, resilient, and confident woman, there is a small part of me who still carries around this slightest feeling of shame. I’ve learned to use it to go further, try harder, and reach higher.

That incident 10 years ago with the retailer brought all of those feelings into clear focus. I wasn’t mad that I didn’t get that internship. I was ashamed and deeply embarrassed because I knew that my family history made them turn me down. I was told I wasn’t good enough because I hadn’t grown up with enough. How hard I had worked for so many years to lift myself up didn’t matter to this company. And in fact it was a black mark against me.

So getting that check yesterday was a nice thing financially, but that is such a small benefit compared to what it means to me on a much more profound level. That is karma. That is the universe righting a wrong. That is the reward of standing tall, and not letting small-minded people get you down. That is proof to me that our authenticity, work ethic, and determination to making meaning of our past does get rewarded. It can take time. It can often take too much time. But it happens. It happens.

creativity

Wonder: My podcast interview on yoga, creativity, and business

Christa Avampato

I am so honored to have been interviewed for the podcast, RelatE, a project from The Relational Economy. I talk about creativity, the imagination, writing, art, business, theater, education, my education at Penn and Darden (especially the work I’m doing with Ed Freeman), my travels, service, family, yoga, and meditation. Listen, share, repeat! I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and questions. My virtual door is always open to all of you, and I look forward to the conversation. Click here: http://therelationaleconomy.com/podcast/interview-with-creative-business-professional-christa-avampato/

Screen Shot 2016-04-25 at 7.57.14 PM
http://therelationaleconomy.com/podcast/interview-with-creative-business-professional-christa-avampato/