Tag: experience

#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

#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