Nik is the director of Curiosity Culture which focuses on cultivating curiosity and resilience in disruptive (VUCA) situations, and the co-founder of Toronto Change Days. He is a change consultant, professionally trained coach, presenter and workshop designer specialising in curiosity and disruption. Nik honed his skills in supporting, managing and delivering organizational and cultural change through two decades in the migratory and revolutionary world of Digital Communications and technology adoption. Through previous experience as a Hospital Chaplain/Spiritual Care Person (ICU, Neuro and Emergency wards), in Palliative and Hospice Care, and as a live-in staff person for people with mental illness, he has a deep understanding of disruptive change, transformation and wellness. He writes, and has presented workshops and talks, locally and internationally, on curiosity, change, culture and technology.
Nik composes and performs adventurous and exploratory music, writes prose and poetry, is an ever-curious practitioner of Yoga, mindfulness meditation and Contact Dance, and is the father of two marvellous teenagers.
Curiosity & Disruptive Change (Nik Beeson)
Courage, Curiosity, Disruption, Innovation, Leadership, Nik Beeson, Performance, Self-Improvement, WorkshopsReal disruption is a deep wound to the integrity of organisational identity, so real disruption requires radical adaptation, structural transformation… a transformation in identity. The question that disruption is asking is not ‘what is the problem?’ or ‘how do I survive?’ or ‘how do I make it go away’, the question that disruption is asking is ‘Who are you?’. How you navigate that question determines the path of your evolution. Will you react or respond? Or will you deflect, dismiss, resist, deny or hide? Will you be willing to wrestle with it and, more importantly, with yourself? Will you seek to understand it and, more importantly, seek to understand yourself?
‘Curiosity & Disruptive Change’ focuses on curiosity as the strongest motivation and most useful aptitude for navigating and instigating disruptive change. We will explore what it means to be disrupted, how we react to disruption, what curiosity is, and how to cultivate a curiosity towards disruption that enables us to discern the possibilities and realise the potentials in any challenge. Myth, fairy tales, problem solving, perceptual challenges, crafts & play, current affairs… any or all are possible approaches we might take. Prepare for a little disruption… We’ll create situations which will instigate your curiosity, and we’ll analyze and reflect on our experiences and how they apply to your current situation.
Percussion & Disruption (Nik Beeson)
Collaboration, Courage, Disruption, Human Resources, Innovation, Leadership, Nik Beeson, Performance, Power, Trust, WorkshopsPercussion & Disruption uses rhythmic disruption as a metaphor for organisational disruption. In the course of this workshop participants learn how to play three rhythmic patterns used in Afro-Cuban music. Afro-Cuban percussion is a rich and complex tradition which is played both in 4/4 time (typical of almost all western music) and in 12/8 time. Participants viscerally experience the disruption of trying to bring rhythmic patterns in different time signatures together. They then learn and experience how the third very simple rhythmic pattern, called the ‘clave’, is designed to be played in both time signatures and hence serves as a ‘hinge’ or ‘bridge’ across the disruptive forces from one pattern to the other.
‘Disruption & Percussion’ is a fully integrated hands-on workshop. Participants learn rhythmic structures by actually clapping them out, and are carried through a journey in which they viscerally experience rhythmic disruption and work to resolve it by learning new skills. The fundamental theme of disruption, and how it relates to organizational strategy and culture, are consistently returned to through ongoing conversation, questioning, reflection and analysis.