Blue Bonnets

Coming to you from Louisville, Kentucky, room 308 - currently posing as Highlowaha Headquarters. Treats and last minute packaging everywhere!

While I am talking treats... imagine our surprise when we entered our rooms to find four gift bags sitting on our desk! In true HLA form, these thoughtful random acts of kindness were left anonymously. Only a note was enclosed in each bag reading, "Thanks for sharing with us." So, whoever you are... thank you for sharing with US.

Now to the blue hat.

Turns out the blue hat is responsible for thinking about thinking. Perfect for me, as I am one of the "those" people who thinks about what I'm going to think about while doing things such as showering, driving to work, or falling asleep a night.

Here's what I think about thinking.

I think we've come a long way.

We started out the week sharing factual information (white hat) about blogs, about Highlowaha, and about our blog readers. Then we got emotional (red hat). Readers freely shared what they liked and didn't like about the five tag lines displayed in Tuesday's post. Wednesday it was cloudy with black skies. It was our day to share our concerns and cautions about each of the five tag lines (black hat). Three tag lines survived black hat thinking, along with the resurgence of two oldies but goodies ("We Saved You A Seat" and "Where Creativity and Community Meet"). The sun came out on Thursday and nothing but hope and possibilities were shared (yellow hat).

Friday we started off by declaring the concept of the neighborhood the overriding favorite. Yesterday's Green Hat question...

Neighborhood + "We Saved You A Seat"

+

"Where Creativity and Commu

nity Meet" = ???????????

Many of you were generous enough to share an idea or two.

Today I will coordinate our thinking by trying this Blue-Hat experiment. The first person to post must give us a White Hat (factual) thought. The second person of the day will share a red (emotional) thought about whatever was said. Third person... a black (cautious) thought about whatever the red hat said. The fourth person will counter the Black Hat with his/her Yellow Hat (positive) thinking. The fifth person will finish it off with Green Hat (creative/idea generating) thinking.

Once we get through the cycle, we'll start over again. White, red, black, yellow, and green.

How about we set a goal of getting through the cycle at least once? Twice makes me smile even bigger!

Signing off until Monday!

Rise and Shine

Who knew the Black Hat with all of its cautious thinking could get so many people to speak out? Let's hope today's yellow hat is as magical.

De Bono's Six Hat Thinking is proof that there is room in the world for a healthy amount of skepticism. Yesterday we went to the office dressed in our best black hat and quickly worked up a healthy amount of caution. So cautious were we that, by 10:00 a.m. we were back to questioning the need for a new tag line at all.

• Do we really need a new tag line? Some said, "no." The issue isn't tag lines it's lack of identity, lack of keyword optimization, and lack of patience.
• Others said," yes." They argued, visitors referred to our site by an acquaintance and people who only visit once or twice, complain that our site's concept is hard to get.
• Still, other black hat thinkers asked, "Do we really need to get rid of the current tag line, "Where Creativity and Community Meet" or can we not somehow integrate it into a suggested graphic, such as the neighborhood?
• Or what about, "We Saved You a Seat?" Where's that going? I like that caption and it feels as homey as the neighborhood.
• Still others played right along and gave us cautious thinking about the remaining three tag lines (Welcome to Neighborhood, Gather 'Round, and Villagers Wanted).

So you see, thinking is not quite as easy as we thought and it certainly isn't linear (dammit).

It seems that to treat our process with integrity, I must add two more tag lines into the mix ("Where Creativity and Community Meet" and "We Saved You a Seat". I would have loved to have visuals accompanying each phrase this morning, but Cheryl's the graphic artist behind the original five and there is a limit to how far I can push our friendship. Hold onto your hat (ha! ha!), we'll discuss graphics later in the week.

No more stinkin' thinkin'. Instead, up with the Yellow Hat!

The yellow hat is positive and constructive. It symbolizes sunshine, brightness, and optimism. Wearing the yellow hat allows us to generate positive assessment in the same way wearing the black hat generated negative assessment. Interestingly, yellow hat thinking is not associated with creativity (green hat, coming up tomorrow). Yellow hat thinking is concerned with the positive attitude of getting the job done. Effectiveness rather than novelty is what yellow hat thinking is all about.

Your yellow hat thinking might begin with phrases such as these:

1. The positive thing is that now...
2. Positive aspects of the tag lines are...
3. What I see now is...
4. An idea that has merit is...
5. The silver lining is...
6. We can be successful if...
7. It's very likely...
8. A possible benefit is...
9. To improve our site...
10. In the best possible scenario...
11. I have this vision of...

Below are the tag lines still alive, plus remember the addition of, "Where Creativity and Community Meet" and "We Saved You a Seat."

See you in the comment section...

Devil's Advocate

Busy day at work yesterday- literally and figuratively.

Welcome back for day three of Highlowaha's Bring-Your-Friend-to-Work-Day. You're joining us at work because Cheryl, Heather, Katie, and I are all tapped out. We've spent all of our money paying a professional to redo our website and now - in desperate need of a new tag line - we have no ideas and no money to spare.

We're making progress, though. Monday, Highlowaha readers put on white hats and generated a series of useful facts about our blog readers. Yesterday we invited you to join us in lots of red-hat-thinking. Many of you shared feelings, nothing more than feelings, about the five proposed tag lines. By end of day, a few stood out as clear favorites.

What next?

Today we eliminate two tag lines and then get busy subjecting the final three to some serious Black-Hat-Thinking.

What's beneath the black hat?

Caution.

Black hat thinking, according to De Bono (1999), is concerned with caution. It is the point at which we consider risks, dangers, obstacles, potential problems, and the downside of a suggestion. It would be foolish to proceed with any suggestion unless full consideration has been given to the caution aspect. The black hat is about being careful. The black hat points out matters that need attention because they may be weak or harmful.

Note: Black hat thinking always has a logical basis for the criticism. If the comment is purely emotional, then it comes under the red hat, not the black hat.

Black hat thinking poses questions such as:

1. Should we proceed with any of the three tag lines?
2. What are the weaknesses we need to overcome?
3. What may go wrong if we implement any one of the three suggestions?
4. Do any of the tag lines fit our current strategy? values? resources?
5. Are they practical?
6. Why should we think it will successfully draw in new readers?
7. Who does it exclude?

Another note: Black hat thinking might point out procedural or factual errors posed by another reader, but black hat thinking is NOT argument. I have no worries that we will keep to the spirit of the activity.

Be constructive, but be cautious!

The three tag lines for which we will share our black hat thinking today are as follows:

See you in the comment section...

Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

Welcome back for a second day of work. If you're just punching in then you should know Highlowaha is having a creative work week. We are in the process of redoing our website and we want YOU to weigh in. Many readers have suggested that our current tag line ("Where Creativity and Community Meet") does not satisfactorily explain the essence of our Highlowaha community. We're contracting with you to help us.

Added bonus... join us all week and you will discover an interesting approach to problem solving and creative thinking - Six Hat Thinking, (De Bono, 1999).

Yesterday the white hat. Facts, figures, neutral, and objective. Information generated during yesterday's white hat thinking will serve as the backdrop to ideas shared and bantered about the remainder of this week. Here is some of what we came up with....

Word of mouth is important; the word, "overwhelmed" was used more than once in talking about Highlowaha; One suggested "vulnerability" and "commitment" as qualities associated with readers most apt to engage; blog readers look for creative and practical ideas; the word "connected" was used multiple times; mothers and/or women between 22-60 represent our largest population; people don't post when the don't connect or cannot relate,

Today we wear the opposite hat. Today, the red hat.

Think of fire. Think of warmth. Think of feelings. Using the red hat gives you an opportunity to express feelings, emotions, and intuition without any need to explain or justify. Today's comments might start with phrases such as these:

• I feel...
• My intuition tells me...
• I have a hunch..
• My gut feeling tells me...
• I sense...
• I don't think...

Remember, no need to justify or explain why.

About what specifically will you be sharing your red-hat-thinking?

Share your feelings, intuition, or hunches, about the five tag lines displayed below (the short descriptor listed above each is for your benefit. It will not appear on the tag line). Pick one tag line you want to vie for all week long or share some of your red-hat-thinking about all five. The choice is yours.

Highlowaha is like a Tribe

Highlowaha is like camp

Highlowaha is like membership in a Greek organization

Highlowaha is like a fun college campus

Highlowaha is like living in a neighborhood

Two things to bear in mind as you make your red-hat-comments.

1. The goal of this week's activity is to make our blog more accessible to prospective readers, by developing a tag line/identity that better describes who we are.
2. The facts generated during yesterday's white hat thinking exercise might provide some important backdrop. Consider that information while sharing your red-hat-feelings.

See you in the comment section...

***P.S. Special thanks to Peggy who submitted one of the ideas.

Facts, Just The Facts

Monday morning. Welcome to work. If tuning in for the first time, you missed our request to have you to join each day this week for a couple minutes of Highlowaha work. Each day wear a different "hat" while evaluating the same five blog tag lines.

Why evaluate tag lines?

You will learn a creative brainstorming process you can use in a number of personal and professional settings and...

We are in the process of giving our blog a face lift and we want the changes to be more than purely cosmetic. Loyal readers have suggested our current tag line ("Where Creativity and Community Meet") does not work in helping explain the essence of our unique blog community.

A cooking blog? Easy to understand and to know what to do. Craft and DIY blogs? Same thing. Go, peruse, take what you want and leave. Sports, travel, and parenting blogs... same thing. Visit. Leave. And, maybe - on occasion - leave a comment for the blog's author to see

But, a blog built on the premise of community? That's harder to explain.

At Highlowaha, the exchange between readers is every bit as important as the topic of the day. In fact, sometimes the topic is simply the segue into a lively exchange between readers. Because communities are multi-dimensional, so are we. One day creative gift ideas, another day personal development, some days baking or cooking, other days parenting tips. And, despite the busy lives of our community members, we still leave plenty of time for Random Acts of Kindness and plenty of fun and games (virtual games, that is).

Why the white hat?

The process we're engaging in this week is called Six Hat Thinking (De Bono, 1999). The point is to look at an issue (our five tag lines) from six distinct perspectives (hats) - everyone sharing the same perspective at the same time, while never mixing and matching hats.

What does the white hat represent?

Information! Imagine a computer that gives the facts and figures for which it is asked. The computer is neutral and objective. It does not offer interpretations or opinions. Today, that is you!

No opinions. No interpretations. Just cold, hard, neutral facts.

Stick with me. I know you are confused.

Today's White Hat Question? What neutral, fact-based information can you provide as background to the thinking we'll be doing for the next five days? What information is missing but needed for us to get this tag-line-thing right?

Your responses might begin with one of the statements below:

1. What we don't know about our lurkers is...
2. We get traffic to our blog because...
3. We don't get more traffic to our blog because...
4. Something we know about our current blog readers is...
5. Blogs succeed when they are based on...
6. Frequent blog readers say the following about their favorite sites...
7. By and large people who seem to enjoy our blog most are...
8. More often that not, people who visit blogs...
9. I think I am right in saying...
10. I once read that...

Today you provide us with neutral information we can use in creating a backdrop for the five tag lines we will begin looking at tomorrow. Here's a sneak peak at one... just to get you going.

See you in the comment section...

P.S. This would be a GREAT week to invite a friend or new reader to join us! We could benefit from what insiders AND outsiders might have to say.