Beware of the Boob

A few years ago, I flew to California to facilitate a training session, and the luggage with my props was lost in transit. Being a MacGyver facilitator in a pinch, I gathered several magazines from the hotel where I was staying at and cut out some pictures that I could use as metaphors for processing. One of my cut-outs was a photo of a police officer standing in front of a barbed wire fence. I thought it might be a good metaphor if someone felt trapped or guarded. Unbeknownst to me on the other side of this picture was a painting of a naked woman! Needless to say, our debrief went a little differently than I had planned! It was quite a memorable moment to be sure, and I laminated the page to put in my personal collection just for fun. Reflecting on my own "teachable moment," I keep it to remind myself that it's OK to make mistakes from time to time.

~Michelle Cummings