AboutRJJohnson

Hi, I’m Richard “RJ” Johnson and I’m deeply passionate about combining collaborative methods like appreciative inquiry and web 2.0 technology for greater synergy and long-term impact. But, it has been a long journey from high school to here. =Traveling from Blue Collar to College= When I was in high school, I became disenchanted with formal education. So, in my infinite teenage wisdom, I decided to turn down my scholarship to Rollins College and for nine years, I got greasy, sweaty, and dirty running machinery and repairing boats in the Central Florida heat and humidity. Then I finally got fed up enough to return to school. When I started college, my goal was to get a two-year degree in computer science and become a computer programmer. I fell in love with learning and reading. I made plans to continue and got a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida. I then went on to get an M.B.A. from UCF and in the process, fell in love with strategic planning. I stayed with the technical side of things and combined my interest in computers and strategy and attained a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona. Then something amazing and life-changing happened. =Arriving Home at My True Self= While defending my dissertation on a computerized, graphical model of strategic planning to capture competitive intelligence knowledge, an advisor mentioned Peter Senge’s book, //[|The Fifth Discipline].// I read the book and found my true calling. I fell madly in love with systems thinking, visioning, strategic planning, collaboration, the new science and later on, appreciative inquiry. I began going to conferences like Systems Thinking in Action, attended dialogue sessions with Sue Miller Hurst from Senge’s group and attended two appreciative inquiry trainings with [|Jane Magruder Watkins]. These appreciative inquiry and web 2.0 tools have become my passion and my life-long pursuit; a great example of a little bit of information making a huge impact. =Working Along the Way= While I was going to college, I taught at a local vocational-technical school and did database development. In 1999, a project developed for Sprint received one of four national awards for excellence. On the wilder and creative side of things, in 2005, I received one of //Florida Leader// magazines “Best of Florida Schools” awards. I have been blessed to work with a Fortune 50 company, various CEOs, as well as high school students. I believe that experiential methods, combined with strengths-based approaches such as appreciative inquiry and the [|VIA Survey of Character] along with a healthy dose of enthusiasm and innovative approaches create an atmosphere of fun, comfort, and trust that allows people to stretch themselves to new heights. My mission is to catalyze a trusting, adventurous, learning environment for extraordinary transformation in our perceptions of self, each other, and the environment that we co-create. This helps people bring out the best in themselves, their teams, and their organizations. For a sample of an appreciative approach to conflict resolution, check out, //[|How to Conquer Conflict with Appreciative Conversation].// This was written about five years ago about a facilitation I created to address a religious schism in a teambuilding class. =Next Steps on the Journey= Now, everything has come full circle. With the advent of collaborative Web 2.0 technologies, e.g., wikis, I now have a great opportunity to combine my two passions and to help others in new and even more exciting ways. On a more personal note, I still live in Central Florida. My wife and I are learning organic gardening and creating great facilitations together. I love to play competitive tennis. My current learning includes: Web 2.0 collaboration ideas, how to better facilitate learning, HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, and just started reading [|The 3 Colors of Ministry] which is about discovering my spiritual gifts as a Christian. I am glad I enjoy reading! If the topics of visioning, planning, collaboration, Web 2.0, appreciative inquiry, and so forth also excite you, if you would just like to make a comment or ask a question, feel free to Contact me I would love to hear from you.