(Picture: Rosi’s live illustrating of Marshall Ganz’s organizing class at Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge MA)

 

Have you ever wondered what tools and methods could better support your people to think outside the box and be more inclusive of visual thinkers and learners?

We’re excited to share with you the work and story of Rosi Greenberg who is taking these approaches out to the world as a leadership trainer and graphic facilitator.

Rosi’s work brings visual illustration and design into her coaching work to enable groups to experience their thoughts in new ways and become more creative in envisioning future possibilities.

Rosi believes that by visually capturing the essence of ideas, we can open new areas of thought and delve deeper into the heart of matters.

This passion and belief in looking at the world can be traced right back to her early years.

Originally from Philadelphia, Rosi is the daughter of a single mum and donor dad. It was her family experience and upbringing that taught her early on the many different ways to see the world.

At school Rosi experienced feelings of difference, where teachers and peers didn’t understand her family quite as she did:

I remember becoming small in the way that school made me feel small, and I remember choosing to quietly follow the rules, coloring within the lines of this tree that did not represent me. For the most part, school was a place to perfect my parroting of one perspective, and to try to excel only within the bounds of what was allowed.”

It was in the art room that Rosi found her voice and freedom to step outside the lines drawn by others:

In the art room I could create my own lines and be more than just one thing” Rosi says.

I splashed color on the walls of the stage crew room and told multiple stories through the sets we made. I made a mural, half painted and half projected, simultaneously in Haifa and Ramallah with Palestinian artists to express multiple narratives at once and connect across boundaries through art. I sat with coworkers in the schools I worked in post-college, trying to understand multiple perspectives and weave them together in new, creative ways.”

It was this perspective that Rosi took to the Harvard Kennedy School where she learned how to do this with even more skill.

“I fell in love with Public Narrative, Organizing, Adaptive Leadership, and Adult Development, and the ways they enable creative new paths towards change.”

Rosi is now a leadership trainer and graphic facilitator, bringing together leadership practice and creative design.

“I help people see more than they can currently see and find new creative ways forward, re-drawing the lines as we go.”

We think those trained or training in public narrative would appreciate and benefit from Rosie’s visualizations of public narrative pedagogy.

Below are examples of Rosi’s illustration of public narrative concepts. Members can download these from our member resource centre, and see more of Rosi’s inspiring work on her website!