NEWSLETTER

#6 Modalities + Podcast With Yarrow Kraner | July 2026

Welcome to the sixth newsletter from fireside.rs, ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’

This month, Te Uru Tāngata Centre for Workplace Inclusion, in Auckland, NZ, hosted the third ever fireside.rs workshop:

Timelapse from the third firesider.rs workshop

And less than a week later the fourth was hosted at Steelcase WorkLife Center, London, UK:

Timelapse from the fourth firesider.rs workshop

After four workshops in four cities some themes and lessons are emerging:

  • clever humans relish the rapid switching in gathering modalities as a way of sharpening direct knowledge acquisition;
  • using elements such as darkness, time, surprise, delight, emotional framing etc. elevate the understanding through novelty;
  • the participants evident laughs and smiles plus lightness and ease are outcomes of an effective learning experience.

Going back to the first point above and the different modalities of gathering shapes experienced in these workshop, I should add that the participants also move between groups / formats which means connections are accelerated along with social ties through shared space and practice.

In a little over two weeks I’ll be in Leeds delivering a closing keynote at the AMA Conference 2026: Together, in Leeds, UK—sharing for the first time my multi-year research findings, those insights from others via the podcast plus the direct lessons learned from the above workshops, in a presentation format. Will share what I learn in the next newsletter!

If you’re interested in bringing this unique offer to your community whilst it’s still a ‘no-fee’ workshop experience (just cover my expenses), please do get in touch and I look forward in collaborating with you in the future,

DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Where we feature, celebrate and learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be, introducing:
6 Yarrow Kraner fireside.rs podcast - episode image - small

SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES

4.21 : “Well, there are things that we say when we’re inviting people that are true, and then there are things that we don’t say. That they discover along the way. And I think that one of the things that we’ve noticed over the last couple of decades is that people sort of realize that hatch is a verb and that it’s happening to them. They’re cracking…”

5.09 : “So when you’re sitting between an astronaut and a Grammy-winning musician and a 17-year-old that’s got two patents on turning human waste and electricity, everyone is learning something new from each other and realizing that someone has solved for something in a completely different industry that would actually be relevant to their own work. So that’s a component of it is de-siloizing expertise from all these different perspectives.”

6.43 : “And so I would say that one of the things that Hatch is designed to solve for is bringing leaders, industries, perspectives together, but offering those people an elevated view of not only what they are capable of individually, but collectively.”

7.49 : “You know, it’s a problem that not really everyone is naming clearly, but there’s this missing infrastructure for large scale systems change or even small scale small scale change. And that’s human connection and the human connection as missing infrastructure. It’s not just a nice to have. It’s literally the wellness benefit of how teams and organizations will be productive and effective. And so we really, over the years, we’ve iterated and learned and tinkered and dialed on, you know, different levers and so on. And like trying to figure out, like, what is the top thing we’re trying to accomplish? And ultimately, the authentic connection is at the top of that and everything else sort of cascades down below that.”

16.00 : “…we’re not going to ever take over half of a venue where there’s others kind of roaming around. And nobody is leaving early or coming early. So that container: don’t break the yoke, we call it; becomes one more thing that you can build trust just knowing that you’re in this bubble and everyone there is with you and for you in that environment.”

16.15 : “…i think we’ve tried to scale too quickly at one point in time then i had the realization that bigger is not always better and scaling is not necessarily, even though that’s what we get hammered into with business school and startup world, that does necessarily mean that that is the case with everything. Especially when you’re talking about authentic interpersonal relationships and building trust amongst leaders. The scale is not going to help that. The intimacy is going to drive that.”

28.12 : “…I have this sort of visualization that when you find people that are working intentionally on making the world a better place, you know, beyond just themselves, but into a larger ecosystem, they, they, they hum at a different frequency or vibration. And when you put that kind of intention in the same place, it’s palpable.”

29.46 : “Well, after 22 years of watching various different leaders in rooms together, a few things have really become unmistakably clear. And the hunger for real connection has grown and not shrunk. And that’s why we have started to refer to the missing infrastructure as the relational aspects of humanity.”

Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0

Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:

“It offers a set of bold policy proposals, including hefty wealth taxes on billionaires, sharp reductions in working hours, a change in diets and a shift of investment from materially intense sectors like industry and mining to education and health. If these and other measures are taken, the report says 89% of the world population would see their incomes double by 2100 and global heating would be kept below 2C above the preindustrial average. The authors say their vision provides a positive alternative to the grim projections from far-right techno extractivists, nationalists and billionaires who claim the future will inevitably bring more fossil fuels, climate disruption and inequality.”
‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival | Environment | The Guardian

“I’ve been running my website Follow the Crypto since 2024, tracking the cryptocurrency industry’s influence on our democracy. The industry spent more than $130 million buying the 2024 elections, and the strategy worked. Pro-crypto politicians have proposed or passed industry-drafted legislation that threatens to open the floodgates to even more predatory crypto products, regulatory agencies were gutted, and crypto executives bought direct access to the President and positions in the White House. Now the artificial intelligence industry is following the same playbook.”
I’m launching Tech Influence Watch as AI follows crypto into politics

If you’re artistically inclined and like to travel, try a Vacation With an Artist | VAWAA (although no artists in Oceania yet).

A site to check ‘Is AI Profitable Yet?’.

Thank you again and please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions etc. plus encourage others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also:

Published

#5 Sketching + Podcast With Elena de Kan | June 2026

5 imagination einstein quote - fireside.rs - newsletter image

Welcome to the fifth newsletter from fireside.rs, ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’

This past month, I had the good fortune to facilitate the first ever fireside.rs workshops (in Wellington and Christchurch).

This is a learning experience designed to expose participants to a multitude of collaboration shapes / models of gathering in an attempt to ignite their imagination to the array of possible ways to work and create and be together.

For me as a facilitator it was also an attempt to ‘sketch with humans’ and observe how others interact with the curricula, to deconstruct how to improve, what to drop, where to add etc.:

Timelapse from the first ever firesider.rs workshop

As illustrated above, the first and last shape participants experience is the conceptual fireside, where darkness is used as a design element to engender safety, trust and reflection. What happens in between is a myriad of human forms which can be adapted / adopted into future cooperative ventures (beyond the simple ‘meeting’ shape).

Deep gratitude to those who entered the space(s) with curiosity and kindness, thank you for your presence and contribution.

Here’s what a bunch of people said about it:

“Thank YOU DK!! Such a treat of an evening – all the gathering experiments you did on us all sparked so much connection and insight. My data-driven-nerdy-gathering-mindset absolutely loved how your creative flair hosted and created the spaces for everyone to experiment widely. THANK YOU!”
Antonia Milkop, Leadership Coaching & Facilitation + author of Team Spirit: the power of purposeful gatherings
“Invigorating evening DK. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”
Ian (Harv) Harvey, Founder at Collective Intelligence
“This was a great evening. Was so different to anything I’ve done before and really brought me out of my comfort zone. Thank you DK.”
Cory Hay, LLB/BCom Student | Social Innovator

Big thanks to host partners Goodlife Collective (Wellington event held at two/fiftyseven) plus Unchatter (Christchurch event held at Mt Pleasant Community Centre).

If you’re interested in bringing this unique offer to your community whilst it’s still a ‘no-fee’ workshop experience (just cover my expenses), please do get in touch and I look forward in collaborating with you in the future,

DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Where we feature, celebrate and learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be, introducing:
5 Elena de Kan - fireside.rs podcast - episode image - small

SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES

00.55: “That means that we are trying to be a good, I would say, companion and guide through transformations in the space of professional work and education.”

05.23: “So I think here we went through a period of time that was actually quite long where sort of the extremes were tested and where this became a topic that was raised, I think, above the usual smaller crowd and maybe design, real estate, facility, strategic team to really a topic that CEOs were talking about, the press was talking about, the newspapers were talking about.”

06.11: “And now the most disruptive thing that is happening is certainly artificial intelligence and how that might shape and change further how we are working. That then I would say has quite an impact on things like attention, well-being, some fears have for sure sparked again both individually and collectively so I see a little bit of a parallality to what happened to the pandemic and again it raises questions around well-being and with that I come to the to I think the biggest topic and that is underlying of the other trends that we see around privacy, around working from home, around the collective coming together, everything that happens on a social sphere is that element of well-being and how much that aspect that we all rely on heavily, physically, emotionally, cognitively, being well is something that we all have an interest in, companies that we work for and we ourselves.”

08.40: “And if we think about modern workspaces, often we have, especially in open offices, we see rows and rows of desks. So here there’s a lot happening, of course, in front of you, behind you, next to you. And that also means that a part of your brain is always going to scan for danger from where you can’t see it. So that in return means we don’t have a lot of brain capacity left to actually, first of all, relax. Second of all, have our default mode network working well and then be able to actually form and articulate a thought and work well. So I think sometimes it comes down to those very basic aspects of what do we need physically to be safe.”

12.13: “I would say trust by default happens when vulnerability is possible. So only when people and systems at large are able and willing to be vulnerable to share something that feels a bit risky, maybe, to themselves, only then can you create trust, right?”

13.35: “So environment can never solve for everything that happens sort of on an emotional and cognitive level, but it can nudge you into different modes. It can nudge you to write something on the wall. It can allow you to actually see other people in the office. So if you have only built walls and all you see is a hallway and separate rooms, it’s hard to be, it’s hard to connect with what’s happening on the other side…”

16.49: “Now, we will always have some tensions because there will always be some people, some brains that really need impulse, that they need color, they need light, they need change, they need texture. And there will be other brains that really need the absence of all of this. So how do you decide, right? How do you design one space? I think there’s a few things, a few general principles that can help to not overcome this tension completely, but at least to mitigate that and make a lot of space. And one of them is biophilia.“

17.51: “Everybody feels good when you have a mix of texture, when you have biophilic elements. We need less medicine, less painkillers. When we look into nature, we learn better when we are in a biophilic or natural environment. So there’s lots of fascinating data, actually, how impactful this can really be. So when you design with nature as your role model, you cannot really go wrong.”

27.04: “Also, the representative aspect of a space is, I think, not to be forgotten. If you think about law firms, if you think about doctor’s offices, if you think about professor space, their office has a function that goes beyond the individual work that they do, that has a function also in shaping that identity and representing a certain role that is taken by them in the spaces that they operate in.”

30.42: “But think of an intern maybe or somebody who’s new in a role, sitting next to someone, they might have ideas, questions, wonders that they might just be able to ask in the space, like, “Hey, what are you doing here? Can I have another look at your screen, at your table at whatever you’re doing, they might never have the idea to even ask that question when they never share the same space.”

37.16: “I hope that as humans, we get strong in understanding where we actually need to defend space from AI. Where does it actually cost us more than we can gain from it?

Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0

Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:

“He once said that his aim was “to reach a level where I will never cease to make progress” and even in 2013, just before his retirement, he was arguing he still had much to do: “People say, ‘Sonny, take it easy, lean back. Your place is secure. You’re the great Sonny Rollins; you’ve got it made.’ I hear that and I think, ‘Well, screw Sonny Rollins. Where I want to go is beyond Sonny Rollins. Way beyond.’””
Sonny Rollins, colossus of jazz saxophone, dies aged 95 | Sonny Rollins | The Guardian

“Globally, the number one reason people say they go to the office isn’t to do their best work — it’s because they’re required to.”
Blueprint for a Better Office – Steelcase

If you’re a music artist check out Subvert as a cooperative-owned marketplace to sell directly to listeners (the platform itself is owned by the community who use it).

Some wicked Artemis II Mobile Wallpapers – NASA.

Thank you again and please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions etc. plus encourage others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also:

Published

#4 Interstitials + Podcast With Topaz Adizes | May 2026

4 uncover levin quote - fireside.rs - newsletter image

Welcome to the fourth newsletter from fireside.rs, ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’

There’s an uncomfortable tension in the world—scarcity blankets simple interactions and collaborative considerations.

And yet, the space(s) between any human encounter / interaction is always heavy with positive promise.

If ‘humanity moves at the speed of trust’ then a way to achieve this is to match or exceed the expectations of the communicated intentions between those involved. This needs a literacy-set which is wide-ranging, from creating and delivering clear, agreed approaches with forging the appropriate conditions that moves the potential into a ripening actual.

Which is why I’m ecstatic to announce the first fireside.rs evening workshop experiences:

“Through immersive activations and in an environment of kindness and curiosity, participants will experience a direct understanding of a variety of assembly forms and how they impact creative / productive outcomes.

Huge admiration and appreciation to our wonderful host partners Goodlife Collective and Unchatter:

WELLINGTON:
MAY 4th 2026

Hosted by Goodlife Collective at two/fiftyseven

REGISTER NOW

CHRISTCHURCH:
MAY 14th 2026

Hosted by Unchatter at Mt Pleasant Community Centre

REGISTER NOW

Am also in Queenstown and looking for an opportunity to collaborate on 17th, 18th or 19th May, so if you’re an organisation / company / community collective / human-focused entity and would like to host a no-fee workshop, then please get in touch via fireside.rs/contact.

Will be reporting back next month on what we’ve learned together, until then, enjoy the rest of the newsletter below!

DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Where we feature, celebrate and learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be, introducing:

Topaz Adizes, Founder, The Skin Deep:

4 Topaz Adizes - fireside.rs podcast - episode image - small

SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES

1.37: “And the idea there is that by seeing both the speaker and the listener, you’re getting a deeper sense of what connects them. You’re getting a better sense of the threads that bind them. You’re getting a better sense of their relationship because you’re seeing both how they speak and listen to one another, how they interact with another.”

4.46: “…the long-term purpose is that we’re creating an archive of human conversation that illuminates the experience of what it means to be alive right now at this point in history. We’ve been going for 13 years and we’ll continue going. And in two or three generations, there’ll be an archive where they can go back and say, I wonder what it was like in the year of the great pandemic. What was happening in Black Lives Matter and how does that affect relationships while people are in quarantine and whatnot?”

13.18: “So we do a lot of things to implicitly, explicitly hand over the space to them, such as having them count from one to ten, from a whisper to a yell. At the end, I say it’s for sound, but also if you yell in a room, you start to own it. So even before recording, they yell and then they’re starting to own it.”

18.09: “…the great line I have that I like to use is, you know, you don’t sleep in the kitchen and you don’t cook in the bedroom. The space already tells you what is the action that’s expected and allowed and permissible and invited. How often do we do that in our conversations right so if we do that in our conversations…”

18.37: “…that’s part of the thing that people miss and what they also get confused with is the difference between safety and discomfort, just because you’re uncomfortable does not mean you’re not safe, matter of fact you want to be safe but you want to be uncomfortable because uncomfortable is where you don’t know, where you’re exploring, where you’re growing, where you’re stretching.”

21.03: “So there’s both the construction of the question, which is important. There’s a lot of things there. And then you get exponential or compounded synergies if you do the sequence in a certain way.”

23.31: “However, the nuanced ones, the ones that will deepen your relationship, that will give you a more fulfilling one, an even more resilient one, are the ones that have an intention, have a starting point, and not an outcome.”

29.38: “Even though I know the architecture of conversations and how to create the space and how to construct good questions, I’m even hesitant of like, oh, my God, I don’t even want to have these conversations because they’re uncomfortable. But I know, like emotionally, I don’t want to have them, but cognitively, I’m aware like, well, on the flip side of that discomfort is a lot of growth.”

31.54: “I think being seen is a fundamental desire that every one of us has, and a form of being seen is being heard and really fully listened to.”

32.12: “And there’s different forms of vulnerability which we can get into because it’s not just the one who’s sharing. It’s also we often overlook the vulnerability of the one who’s listening.”

40.29: “…because I feel that feeling is the closest thing I feel to humanity. Humanity is not within us. It’s what’s between us. And when I see an and conversation what I’m seeing is, I’m seeing the humanity between people illuminated.”

45.29: “…there’s an opportunity anytime you feel constrained because you’re feeling scared or fearful and uncomfortable breathe and lean into it because on the flip side of that is growth I know that for sure.”

Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0

Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:

“Beauty tells people: we believe this moment matters.
It shows that someone thought about how you would feel.
It tells staff that the small things are part of the big story.
It tells students: this place has standards, care and imagination.
Don’t tell me Creativity matters as a word on your values poster, and then not give a thought to the beauty of the everyday.”
Don’t just tell me you value creativity…

“What are people doing instead of shooting each other in this ravaged world? Many are teaming up to take down the robot monsters, which range from flying drones to spherical balls that blast fire. Others try to sneak quietly around them to scavenge rare resources. Grøndal says players also hold spontaneous rave parties, where people play music through their microphones. But often, players are just talking. A YouTube video called The Humans of Arc Raiders, inspired by the photographer who interviews strangers in New York City, includes conversations with randomly encountered players. They talk about family struggles, work lives, depression, autism and, in one case, a lung collapse. In one conversation, a heavily armed player in green armour named Poopy candidly asks another raider: “What’s it like having kids, dude?”
‘Seeking connection’: the video game where players stopped shooting and started talking | Games | The Guardian

Write Your Name in Landsat via NASA Science.

Simply, WOW, check out Every train, a note to listen / watch.

Thank you again and please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions etc. plus encourage others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also:

Published

#3 Unfold + Podcast With Boyuan Gao | April 2026

unfold rilke quote - fireside.rs - newsletter image
Image attribution: Yevhenii Dubrovskyi via Unsplash

Welcome to the third newsletter from fireside.rs, ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’

There’s an uncomfortable tension in the world—scarcity blankets simple interactions as well as bold intentions.

The layers of the poly/meta-crisis impede delighting in the exploration of the possible. Criticism and negative opinion is rife, fueling the default divisiveness in so many aspects of work, play, discourse, the commons, the internal etc.

The hardest thing to do is to aspire in these conditions. And to remember, it’s just a ride:

I invite you to unfold into the creative abundance of your abilities and keep reaching beyond your grasp.

Gather with others who are endeavoring.

Champion those who are doing.

Provide support to those who are trying.

Invite hope into your being.

Embrace the constraints which liberate your imagination.

And remember to move slow and fix things!

DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Where we feature, celebrate and learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be, introducing:

Boyuan Gao, Cofounder, Joyous Rebellion

3 Boyuan Gao - fireside.rs podcast - episode image - small

SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES

1.26: “…people really yearn for, desire and i think are maybe even desperate for, is a reprieve, and so that’s really what our experiences are designed to do, is to provide the most high impact leaders in our world today, a place to actually pause.”

9.12: “It’s like, holy crap, like so much of these things that we put on the veneer of our professional identities, the things that we’re performing, right? All of these things just fundamentally fall away and people can hear themselves again for even just a moment. And that is not a small thing.”

23.25: “Like that’s what we get to see when we do these experiences with people, because they just cut through the surface so, so quickly and they get to a place that they otherwise would never get to.”

29.04: “That’s one of my markers of success for a Joyous Rebellion is that it doesn’t matter who is in the room, what their titles are. Every single time we’ve had people just boisterously belly laughing and then crying together. And those two things, if you have both of those things, I’m like, this was a freaking success.”

44.11: “…what people grieve a lot these days is having novel experiences, that is what really produces memories for us, right? And gives our lives meaning.”

Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0

Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:

“The problem was never how many things you own. The problem is that owning means something it never used to. Everything you buy is the beginning of a relationship you’ll be maintaining until one of you dies or gets discontinued.”
The Last Quiet Thing | Terry Godier

“The Beatles wrote 227 songs, but only 34 hit the Top 10. Do you think they would put out a song that they didn’t believe could be a hit? Mozart wrote over 600 songs, but only about 50 of them are widely played. Do you think he purposefully wrote duds? Of course not. Both the Beatles and Mozart made work that interested them, and occasionally those works resonated with other people.”
How to Make a Living as an Artist (and a creative)

Check out a wonderful array of visual frameworks – A language of patterns from the mind / pen of Dave Gray.

Check out the Trustbuilding Awards from IofC International, aiming “to recognize, encourage and raise the profile of the outstanding individuals/ organizations, promote youth efforts in building trust and thus raise the standards of ‘trustbuilders’ around the world”—deadline 12 April 2026.

Thank you again and please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions etc. plus encourage others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also:

Published

#2 The Little Things + Podcast With Ignacio Packer | March 2026

vastness sagan quote - fireside.rs - newsletter image
Image attribution: Zequan Tang via Unsplash

Welcome to the second fireside.rs newsletter where we focus on ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’

1,437 years ago Dewi Sant, patron saint of Wales said, apparently on his death bed, “gwnewch y pethau bychain” (do the little things).

It’s in the small stuff where caring is demonstrated.

Caring to embed playfulness and joy into activations as part of a larger learning experience (such as having kittens at a TEDxWellington I produced to offset a heavy speaker session).

Caring to understand the elements needed in creative facilitation beyond just booking the room and sending round a meeting invite (see Creative Ideation Workshop | Facilitating Inspiration (aka Herding Cats).

Caring to design avenues and mediums to enable all voices are heard when holding a stakeholder engagement experience (so not just the loud Henry’s speak the most and why I prompt clients to think about other layers of engagement like movement—see me facilitating an activation at CLNZ19 to get attendees into the interactive and exploration mindset for upcoming the masterclasses).

Caring about variety and quality not just quantity as you lead a city-wide activation project which delivered over 200 events in 14 months (see Collidering On | Refocussing On The Creative Purpose)

Caring about devoting to a decade-long volunteering endeavour which amplifies others as a generator of hope which reverberates beyond the event in question:

Full reflections of the event here: TEDxWellington 2019 Review | A Chance Which Paid Off

Caring to make intimacy a factor in bringing 100 people together to participate in a totally unique conversational experience (see Wrapping Up Creative Welly | A Study In Human Intimacy, a three year journey in creating something beautiful).

Caring to hold space for people to meet before opinions harden (taken from this months podcast—listen below).

It’s in these little things where saintly outcomes occur—Happy St David’s Day / Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant!

Thanks for your time / attention / curiosity,

DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Where we feature, celebrate and learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be, introducing:

Ignacio Packer, Executive Director of the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation (IofC)

2 Igancio Packers - fireside.rs podcast - episode image - small

*apologies for my sound in this one, there was a raging storm going on during the time of the recording.

SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES

1.18: “And the goal is and has always been the same, to help humans meet before positions harden.”

2.20: “…crises are rarely caused only by lack of resources, they’re really caused by lack of trust.”

10.30: “Because brick and mortar doesn’t change life. You have to put light in it. And it’s the combination of the two that offers the space to work on trust, to work on dialogue. One of the fundamental elements, and it’s not new.”

20.52: “Because transformation, and that transformation for deep hope, without hope being something naive, it happens when identity becomes safe. And people would not open their minds until they feel their dignity is safe.”

21.49: “…well, the dialogue is cognitive, but the encounter becomes emotional and reconciliation is relational. Working in the humanitarian field and on resolution of conflicts, I have not had much success in working by Zoom. It is once you sit around a table and share a meal. It is once you manage to look at the other in the eyes or just look at and discover the humanity and recognize the humanity of the other, that the connections can be made.”

Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0

CURATED

Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:

“Created by the Inner Development Goals Foundation, this updated Guide draws on insights from over 21,000 people in 165 countries, and was curated by 25 research teams around the world. We offer it as a companion on the journey — a guide to collective human wisdom, ancient and emerging, that empowers us to shape a more compassionate, sustainable, and thriving future. We are a global community promoting the human capacity for wisdom, compassion, and collective action for a better world.”
Check out the new Inner Development Goals in this pdf – Google Drive

“Think of storytelling as peeling back layers to reveal what’s most meaningful:
– Layer One: The Raw Experience. This is where we start—unfiltered truth, a messy, personal experience we feel compelled to share;
– Layer Two: The Crafted Narrative. Here, we refine. We curate, find meaning, and decide what stays. We elevate the story beyond personal catharsis to something valuable for others;
– Layer Three: The Universal Theme. The final layer is the essence—the emotion, lesson, or truth that resonates with anyone who hears it.”
How to Tell Stories That Move Mountains | Psychology Today

““A factor of 10 is an enormous difference, and this is what happens when you look at a reproduction compared to a real work,” said Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis, on Wednesday. “You become [mentally] richer when you see things, whether you are conscious of it or not, because you make connections in your brain.” Gosselink said she had been convinced of the power of the real before the study but had wanted her hunch to be formally investigated. “We all feel the difference – but is it measurable, is it real?” she said she had asked her colleagues a year ago. “Now, today we can really say that it is true.””
Real art in museums stimulates brain much more than reprints, study finds | Neuroscience | The Guardian

30 minutes with a stranger is a wonderful visual essay illustrating the results of a research project in which they brought two people who didn’t know each other together for a conversation.

✱ dori the giant ✱: 13 Animals Made From 13 Circles—delightful and super-imaginative.

Thank you again and please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions etc. plus encourage others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also:

Published

#1 Beginnings + Podcast With Natasha Zimmerman | February 2026

atoms rukeseyer quote - fireside.rs - newsletter image
By Brian de Ford – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Welcome to the fireside.rs newsletter and to a new endeavor, all about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’.

In 1176, the Prince of Wales, Rhys ap Gruffudd hosted the first ever Eisteddfod at Cardigan Castle—a festival to celebrate song and literature.

The name itself comes from two Welsh words which uncovers the deeper intention behind the event: eistedd, meaning ‘sit’, and fod, meaning ‘be’.

To congregate and join with other humans is a gift—ingrained in all of us as sentient and conscious bearers of souls is the impulse to hold space together.

850 years since the inception of the Eisteddfod, another Welshman (me), gives voice to a multi-year research project tracking the different ways in which people congregate—the resulting database of frameworks / shapes when analysed and categorised illustrate over a hundred ways to bring folks together to collaborate, share ideas freely and be productive.

Here’s how you can assist:

  1. Reach out to book an opportunity to discuss the service offerings.
  2. Share this newsletter on to other like-minded souls (am presuming you’re already subscribed *emoji wink*);
  3. Host a fireside.rs workshop (a no-fee chance to experience and participate in the evolving nature of this work);

In closing, this is also an attempt to meet the divisive time we find ourselves in, to shake lose from those clinging to negative power through the positive agitation of the human conditioning for connecting to others. I’m taking this opportunity to also curate and celebrate those who do the same through the podcast conversations whilst inviting you dear reader / listener to join me in this adventure in gathering humans effectively!

Thanks for your time / attention / curiosity,

DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

We feature, celebrate plus learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong:

Natasha Zimmerman, Founder of Unchatter and Leadership Consultant

1 Natasha Zimmerman - fireside.rs podcast - episode image - small

SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES

1.30: “we are very intentional in setting up the space so that people feel like they can really sink into vulnerability and maybe go a bit deeper than they might be accustomed to in everyday life.

2.07: “…when you’re clear about what a space or a gathering is for, that it allows people to feel that sense of psychological safety.”

7.37: “And, yeah, people stayed until the wee hours. But there was just that, you know, that singular moment where I was like, wow, this is really what it’s all about is just sinking into the good stuff with these, you know, humans that we barely even know and seeing a part of a part of them that, you know, maybe they don’t reveal all that often.”

10.46: “…here’s the responsibility that I have as the facilitator, the creator of this space, and also the agency and the responsibility that you have as the participant. And that feels like, you know, an important part of the process is establishing that relationship at the beginning that, hey, we’re both bringing something to this.”

14.14: “So the same, you know, centers in our brain that would respond to a physical threat like, you know, a tiger chasing us, for example, those same areas of the brain light up when we feel a sense of rejection or being excluded. So it cultivates that same degree of pain, whether it’s a physical threat or whether it’s that psychological threat of being in the out group.”

Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0

CURATED GOODIES TO READ / WATCH / EXPLORE

Some creative, productive and gathering related content for the brain / heart:

“When a Leader restores civility and fair play, eliminating dysfunction, it is not unusual for the Community Builders to join the good guys as they discover the personal empowerment inherent in authentic belonging. No longer able to manipulate circumstance and sully reputations, Dragons and Shapeshifters willingly leave, are dismissed, or they change their behavior to adjust to the new culture. Figureheads follow, or they are transferred out of leadership roles, opening up a space for the Creatives to get to work.”
Surviving Work: A Creative’s Guide to Dysfunctional Cultures | Psychology Today

“Creativity is made, not generated. Generative AI is ripping the humanity out of things. Built on a foundation of theft, the technology is steering us toward a barren future. We think machine learning is a compelling technology with a lot of merit, but the path generative AI is on is wrong for us. We’re here for the humans. We’re not chasing a technology that is a moral threat to our greatest jewel: human creativity. In this technological rush, this might make us an exception or seem at risk of being left behind. But we see this road less traveled as the more exciting and fruitful one for our community.”
Creativity is made, not generated — Procreate®

“The best definition for culture I’ve seen is: culture = values + behaviour.” Simon Sinek
“…at the bottom of all of it the question really to ask is: what is the thing that makes people most happy? And it’s having connections and having time.” Blaine Merker

This website which presents a new icebreaker question every time you refresh.

A collection of manifestos from activists and creatives (to inspire you create your own).

Thank you for your attention, please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions / service inquiries etc. and please consider encouraging others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also:

Published

#0 Pre-launch | January 2026

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In preparation for sharing with the world.

Been busy tidying up the site, recording / editing the podcasts, continuing to shape up the service offerings and the research whilst embracing the wonderful emotions that go with releasing something to the wild…

…fireside.rs is a multi-year research project which is ready to exist beyond my brain.

The hope is to offer to communities a way to:

  • explore meaningful, diverse and impact-measurable approaches to solving creative problems; and
  • accelerate building trust and collaboration with individuals and within organisations / companies.

The world needs more reasons to come together, share space, uncover intentions with understanding and safety as frameworks, through raising the literacy of how / why to put people in places of positive interactions.

Until then, subscribe to the monthly newsletter & podcast:

Published