1. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
Framing and Reframing Bread?
When thinking of Framing and Buttermilk, think of Jailhouse
biscuits. When thinking of Framing and Cookies, think of
Gingerbread Houses. When thinking of Framing and Lots of
Dough, think of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. When thinking of just
being Framed, “Roger Rabbit” comes to mind. Well, with that last
reference to a movie that was an animated spoof on the
paperback detective novels written by the pulp fiction “hacks,”
such as Mike Hammer and Mickey Spillane, I have just dated
myself to a time a number of years before many of you were
born. However, I think you get the idea. Framing is placing an object within a context to give it a sense of
definition. Reframing is placing something within one context from which another to make a
questionable new and improved Update!
As I See It: Frame and Reframe by Victor Rozek
The following is from an article entitled “Framing and Reframing” in the online magazine called The Four
Hundred – iSeries and AS/400, published Volume 14, Number 31 -- August 8, 2005
Wisdom is often a recycled thing; discovered and rediscovered, translated, expanded, and finally
adopted as one's own. The ancient Talmud tells us "We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as
we are." Cognitive science calls it "framing." Apparently, in several thousand years we have traded
eloquence for brevity. However, the meaning is essentially the same. A frame is a jumble of beliefs and
experiences that shape the way we see the world. We make meaning of what is through the cognitive
mechanism.
Absent an observer, all events are neutral. It is our interpretation of events and their impact on us that
gives them meaning. Frames act like a cheesecloth through which data is squeezed. Only the data that
supports the assumptions and beliefs of the frame gets through. Contradictory data never quite make it.
Once you have an established frame, you tend to accept only the facts that fit the frame.
The descriptors we use reveal the frame operating beneath the surface, thus language becomes
important. As CEOs, PR firms, lawyers, and politicians discovered long ago: words not only describe
reality, they create reality; control the language, and you control the message. When Coca-Cola says,
"It's the real thing," the implication is that competing products are not real, but artificial copies and
poor-tasting imitations of the original; a powerful frame for brown sugar water with bubbles.
In the workplace, frames are evident in the way in which people, issues, and projects are portrayed. Is
that female colleague assertive or bitchy? Does affirmative action lower standards or level the playing
field? Is the software implementation schedule aggressive or unrealistic? Each of these frames has
meaning beyond the specific terminology. Moreover, translating the frame is a means to understanding
Submitted by Gary Olson on November 8, 2012 for Creativity Class

2. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
the framer, because how we describe the world says a lot more about us than it does about the world.
Notice the presumptions in framing a female colleague as "assertive." Assertive people speak their mind
and ask for what they want. They are self-starters, actively pursuing their goals, and are unafraid to take
chances. They stand up for what they believe and will not hesitate to let you know when they do not like
something. When the term is used by men, there may also be a condescending (albeit complementary)
aspect to calling a woman "assertive." It implies that she is what men are expected to be, which is a
clumsy way of acknowledging gender equality.
Bitchy, on the other hand, is being assertive without cause. Bitchy people are annoying when they speak
their minds. They are passive complainers, angry, resentful, and prone to nastiness. There is a clear
villain (the bitch), and a victim (anyone within earshot). The very act of bitchiness challenges male power
and authority. When used to describe women, this frame is dismissive, intended as shorthand for all of
the irritating qualities men ascribe to women, such as being emotional, irrational, and chronically
discontented. The use of the word "bitch" in hip-hop is yet another level of disdain and disrespect that
contributes to a larger cultural context in which it is permissible--and in some quarters it is fashionable--
to treat women with contempt.
Curiously, in the context of the workplace, bitchy and assertive are almost mirror opposites. However,
how can one person be experienced so differently? Precisely because each observer views the world
through a frame that acts like a distorting lens which recognizes only the data that matches the
distortion. Thus, if I admire assertive women, I will look for evidence to support my beliefs. If I feel
threatened by them, the same behaviors will be interpreted as bitchy. That one man's terrorist is
another man's freedom fighter is largely a result of how the activities of that person are framed. His
bombs bad, my bombs good; my assertiveness admirable, her assertiveness repulsive.
In the case of affirmative action, both arguments are true. Affirmative action does lower standards and
it levels the playing field. Which of those outcomes is championed depends on the frame through which
it is viewed. The Redress Past Inequities frame argues that minorities have been economically and
educationally disenfranchised by policy and prejudice. It further argues that the essence of the American
dream is equal opportunity for all, and that the nation has an obligation to ensure all of its citizens can
participate in that dream. In this frame, compassion is valued more than competition and fairness
means more than individual advantage. If standards have to be adjusted, it is a temporary measure
owed to people who have been wronged for the sole purpose of equalizing opportunity.
Viewed through the Pull Yourself Up by Your Own Bootstraps frame, affirmative action is punitive to
people who had nothing to do with past inequities. If equality is the goal, then one group of people
should not be penalized for the benefit of another. In this frame, competition is valued more than
compassion, and individual achievement is more celebrated than fairness. The belief is that hard work
and discipline should be rewarded, and advantage should not be legislated. The fact that immigrants
from all nations and ethnic backgrounds have succeeded proves success is possible without favoritism.
Those who are not successful must not be working hard enough.
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3. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
If you don't think any of this discussion is relevant to your workplace, you must work alone or in Heaven.
A primary reason for tension in the workplace is that people tend to be judged through pre-existing
frames. Escaping such judgment is one of the reasons why African Americans have re-created their
identity over the years. From Negroes to Blacks to African Americans; each of these descriptors has a
very different frame, which evokes different mental images and judgments. The degree to which others
were annoyed by the changing descriptors is an indication that they preferred an old frame with its
incumbent baggage, and could not accept the possibility that people could reinvent themselves.
The important point is that frames can and should be changed when they no longer serve us. New
frames create new meanings, and as meaning changes, behavior follows. A storied example from
American history is the meaning of "all men are created equal," which has been reframed a number of
times to include people previously left out. Moreover, as the frame changed, our collective behavior
adjusted. In the workplace, anything that is not as we would like it to be is a candidate for reframing.
Relationships to managers and coworkers, attitudes about job assignments and even beliefs about
ourselves can be transformed. (What if manipulative people are simply good at getting what they want;
how would I behave differently if I saw my dull job as a daily reminder to recommit to my values and my
dreams?)
As for the third example, software implementation schedules are usually presented as being aggressive.
Using aggression as a frame in the workplace is consistent with the use of sports metaphors and the
belief that the business environment is win/lose and fundamentally hostile. Framing the target dates for
a project as aggressive implies that those responsible for its implementation (both men and women) are
rife with testosterone; a no-nonsense, nose-to-the-grindstone group, willing to do whatever it takes to
complete the project on--or ahead of--schedule. Note the presupposition that in a successful
implementation, aggression is more valuable then attention or accuracy. The belief is that business is
war, and we have to be aggressive in order to win.
No manger could possibly be expected to announce a lackadaisical schedule. If the manager were male,
anything less than aggression would mark him as a milksop. If the manager were female, lacking
aggression would render her unfit for management. The aggressive frame requires that work be hard. If
it were pleasant and spacious, it would diminish in value and so would the people doing it. Being
aggressive, in this context, means determining the direction in which the current is flowing, and then
swimming upstream.
Conversely, framing an implementation schedule as unrealistic implies that the speaker is a realist while
those favoring an aggressive schedule are disconnected from reality. While perhaps accurate, to the
gung-ho set it indicates a lack of commitment and an unwillingness to work hard and do whatever it
takes. To people whom hold an aggressive frame, "unrealistic" is defeatist. It implies that there is an
objective reality over which we do not have control; that there are some things we cannot do, and that
we cannot simply bend reality to our will. It is also a way of saying, "I told you so" before the outcome
has been decided.
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4. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
"Unrealistic" is a low risk frame. The people that hold it value what is doable over what might be doable.
They favor reason over enthusiasm and results over predictions. Work only becomes hard, they believe,
when people are unrealistic about what can be accomplished; and those who are constantly aggressive
are exhausting themselves and making life harder than it need be. The realists do not see business as
war, but as an endless stream of doable tasks requiring sufficient time and the right resources. Work can
be challenging, but also pleasant. Realistic employees value life outside the office and seldom have their
first heart attack at age 50.
So, is your boss intimidating or intense? Is the sales clerk pushy or excited about his product? Is your
coworker backstabbing or competitive?
The power of reframing is that it changes the meaning of what we perceive, and when the meaning
changes, our responses change giving us more behavioral options. When Columbus reframed what
others believed about the world, he responded by sailing forth into the unknown and opened previously
unimaginable possibilities. The behemoth that is FedEx was a reframe of the Postal Service, and new
ways of handling mail and packages evolved from it. The PC was a reframe of the mainframe.
Framing and reframing give rise to new meanings, which inspire new beliefs that generate new
behaviors that in turn create new possibilities. It is an ancient and enduring alchemy with the power to
turn ugly ducklings into swans.
Six steps Framing and Reframing
Understanding the remodeling of behavior
Here is an article from Wikipedia that list the six steps Framing and Reframing that give a different
perspective to the assignment. After all, our assignment was to add value and told to take this
perception in any direction wished, so I did!
The Six Steps Reframe NLP Technique
Bandler and Grinder developed the six step reframe technique from their study of (ideomotor
signals) and 's work with parts. They included it in their book Frogs into Princes.
When we are young, we try out different behaviors and some of them work. We keep the ones that
work, even when times change and those responses may not be the most useful ones. Throwing a
tantrum at four might get us what we want, at 44 it probably will not work so well. Behind every
behavior is a positive intention - this is one of the basic NLP presuppositions. Motives drive behavior.
Our brains do nothing without some (usually unconscious) purpose.
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5. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
To Bandler and Grinder the six steps reframe is a powerful and underestimated NLP technique Process.
1. Identify a troubling behavior or response, something you would rather not do or feel.
2. Establish communication with the part creating the unwanted behavior or response. Ask if it would be
willing to communicate consciously. This communication might be a sensation somewhere in their/your
body, a picture, voice, or sound. When you get a signal, first thank the part for responding. When we
have fought against particular behaviors, they can feel alienated, so it is useful to be polite.
3. Find the positive intention. Ask the part "What do you want? What positive thing are you trying to do
for me? The key here is to recognize the difference between the parts intention and the way it is going
about getting it. Have you ever tried to be helpful and the person misunderstood your intention and
became annoyed with you? How does it make you feel? Are you likely to help a second time? Our
unconscious parts feel the same. Here they are doing the best they can to achieve something for you. Is
there thanks or even appreciation? We might have a long history of fighting and shaming this response.
If a neighbor repeatedly told you what a worthless lazy bum you were for not mowing your lawn more
often, would it inspire you to mow? I have no idea why many of us think shaming works to change
behavior. It doesn't work for me. Assuming that this aspect of self has a positive intention can create
rapport and therefore makes it more willing to cooperate.
4. Ask for help from their/your creative part to create three alternative ways to get the intended
outcome.
5. Have the part evaluate these new choices. Are they acceptable? Will they be as good as or better than
the previous behavior? It needs to be willing to try them out for the next month or longer if appropriate.
The key here is negotiation. If the part with the unwanted behavior is not happy with these alternatives,
it is unlikely to give them a go. If you have ever agreed to something because you were bullied into it,
you will know how important willing commitment is. If the alternatives are not acceptable, go back to
step four for better choices.
6. Check for objections with other parts for future pacing. When we change behaviors, we can affect
other people and aspects of ourselves. Even changes we think are fabulous have unintended
consequences. We get our new car, but our camping gear does not fit in the boot. If there are
objections, put them through the same process from step 2 - what is the positive intention etc?
Submitted by Gary Olson on November 8, 2012 for Creativity Class

6. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
Unusual, Uncommon, and Different Uses for Bread
Line a greased cake tin with fine breadcrumbs before adding the cake mixture.
The cooked cake will turn easily out of the tin, with a delicious crust around the
edges.
Cut off the top of a round, crusty loaf and scoop out the centre. Fill the 'bowl'
with a thick chowder or stew. Use the inside of the loaf to make fresh breadcrumbs or to eat with butter
or jam.
A good way to clean artificial flowers made of velvet is to brush them with a shaving brush and then rub
them lightly with fresh bread. Finally, rebrush.
Pick up slivers of broken glass with a piece of bread and then wrap it all in newspaper.
Bread will make a good substitute for a pencil rubber in an emergency, and works particularly well on
wallpaper (try those grubby marks around the light switch) and on old books and prints. Roll the soft
part of a slice of fresh bread into a ball and use as you would a rubber.
Check whether your microwave is defrosting or heating your food evenly with a few slices of bread.
Cover the floor of the microwave with white bread slices and then heat on High for 3 minutes, watching
through the glass door. The bread should brown evenly, not in patches.
Before using an old hand grinder or meat mincer, run a piece of bread through the mincer to clear out
any dust. Do the same when you have finished. It will pick up any fat left inside the machine, making it
easier to clean.
A slice of bread kept in a storage container of soft light or dark brown sugar will prevent the sugar from
drying out and becoming hard.
Write the names of your guests on slips of paper and attach them to toothpicks like miniature flags.
Then stand each one in a bread roll.
Germans swapping bread for circus tickets Artist Painted Bread for Charity Auction
These nine tips are from www.tipking.co.uk/tip and are a mere representative of the many different
reframes of bread that can be found. I considered entering more examples with pictures into this
Submitted by Gary Olson on November 8, 2012 for Creativity Class

7. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
section but a small voice within me said not to do this. My literary Muse leaned in close and whispered
in my ear, as the others looked on, and said, “All you are doing is adding fluff to the assignment.
However, continue if you must, but you are merely creating a light, flaky French Croissant.” As a final
comment, she added this little zinger to my sense of accomplishment, “What is the added value beyond
the addition of more mundane words?” Nodding my head in agreement with what she said to me, I
looked within for inspired direction, only to find that I now wanted some sweet honey on that croissant!
Accidental Reframing
This next to last last example is a memory from my younger sister Tammy’s first (and last) try to bake
rolls and bread when she was a pre-teen. We teased her and called them Tam-a- Rocks. She discovered
a new form of building material that would have rivaled Roman Concrete. They were so hard, from
being over-baked without yeast, that, when thrown against a creosote telephone pole, the unleavened
dough placed a very visible depression in the hardwood pole!
Highlighting the Intrinsic Need to Frame Our Existence:
The last example used in this assignment is a play on the word Bread. Leave out the “a” and there is a
new meaning for the sound of bread. This is something humans have done as a vehicle to continue their
existence along the path of evolution. To prove the point, I am going to finish with an illustration of what
I believe might have been one of the toughest assignments a person has ever accepted as a challenge to
satisfy the craving urges to create.
Have you hear of the major cathedral in Florence, Italy, which stood unfinished for many years because
no one could figure how to be successful at placing a dome on top of what was, at the time of the
beginning of the Italian Renaissance, the largest planned doomed building since the Pantheon of ancient
Rome. Who should come onto the scene to be discovered by Cosimo Medici, but Fillipo Brunelleschi? A
man who’s mind saw the world in such a way that he was ridiculed by the “minds” of the time. The
following article is from PBS series I found through Net Flicks on Demand:
Few men have left a legacy as monumental as Filippo Brunelleschi. He was the first modern
engineer and a problem-solver with unorthodox methods. He solved one of the greatest architectural
puzzles and invented his way to success. Only now is he receiving deserved recognition as the greatest
architect and engineer of the Renaissance.
Submitted by Gary Olson on November 8, 2012 for Creativity Class

8. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
Born in Florence in 1377, Brunelleschi, like his peers Ghiberti
andDonatello, was apprenticed to a goldsmith, Benincasa Lotti. They
worked amidst the slums of the Santa Croce quarter. It was there
that young Brunelleschi learned the skills of mounting, engraving
and embossing. He also studied the science of motion, using
wheels, gears, cogs, and weights. In 1401, the young craftsman
entered a competition to design new bronze doors for the city's
baptistry. Already paranoid, Brunelleschi hid his work away, and
watched as his rival, Ghiberti, the lesser technician, wooed the
judges and won the commission. Legend has it that Brunelleschi stormed out of the competition
when he was refused complete control, and quit the city of Florence.
Brunelleschi spent the next 10-years living rough in Rome with his good friend, the sculptor
Donatello, studying the ruins of the great city. He was especially interested in Roman engineering
and the use of fixed proportion and Roman vaults. The construction of the Pantheon - especially the
dome - fascinated him. Brunelleschi dedicated himself to understanding how it stayed up, which
included pouring Roman concrete over a massive timber frame.
When Brunelleschi returned to Florence, a new prize was on offer, the magnificent Cathedral
desperately needed a dome. Whilst no one had ever made a self-supporting dome before,
Brunelleschi was confident that he could solve the problem. First, he had to showcase his talents.
In 1419, the Silk Merchants Guild - which included the Medici - commissioned the construction of a
state orphanage. Brunelleschi worked hard to win the tender. He had already worked for the Medici,
redesigning their parish church, San Lorenzo, along classical lines. Now, with these new buildings, a
revolution began. Soon enormous Roman capitals and pillars, monumental windows and carved
stones appeared, making this the first time true pillars were used for structural support since Ancient
Roman times.
Brunelleschi was not satisfied. He hungered for the greatest prize of all, the Cathedral. The
authorities demanded a demonstration. The temperamental architect displayed his strategy by
standing an egg upright, breaking its bottom. The Cathedral authorities were unsure but had little
choice but to trust him. To succeed, Brunelleschi needed to rewrite the rules of Western architecture
and there was no guarantee of success.
Brunelleschi knew that there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build a scaffold inside the
Cathedral, and the recipe for concrete had been lost since the fall of Rome. Brunelleschi instead
came up with an ingenious and completely original theory. His plans showed an inner hemispherical
Submitted by Gary Olson on November 8, 2012 for Creativity Class

9. Assignment 3: Final Framing and Reframing Bread
dome within Florence cathedral's octagonal drum. A second, ovoid brick dome was to be placed on
top, and nine sandstone rings would then hold the structure together, like a barrel. To raise the
bricks and sandstone beams several hundred feet in the air, Brunelleschi invented an efficient hoist
with the world's first reverse gear, allowing an ox to raise or lower a load at the flick of a switch.
Brunelleschi had no formal training. The ideas he brought to building sites were completely new.
Every day, he ensured workers remained sober by providing their lunch and watering down the
wine. A safety net prevented workers from falling to their deaths, a chiming clock regulated their
working hours, and Brunelleschi had a canteen half way up the dome. His methods seemed to work.
Only three deaths were recorded during a 16-year construction period.
As the magnificent dome neared completion, Brunelleschi indulged in
other interests. In 1434, he held a public display, sketching the outline of
the nearby baptistery. Using a novel technique, involving reflective
material and pinholes, Brunelleschi produced an exact isometric simulation
of the octagonal building. Brunelleschi had reproduced a three-dimensional
object in two dimensions. He had invented perspective.
With the dome complete, Cosimo de'Medici invited the Pope himself to
consecrate the finished Cathedral on Easter Sunday, 1436. The dome
towered majestically over the city of Florence, a triumph for the Florentine
people and the city's most powerful family.
Weighing 37,000 tons and using more than 4,000,000 bricks, Brunelleschi's dome was the greatest
architectural feat in the Western world.
One man alone had realized his ambition. When Brunelleschi died in 1446, he was buried beneath
his towering achievement, where he remains to this day. He was the first engineer of the
Renaissance.
A Comment: This assignment was difficult from the onset. It seemed too easy. This became apparent
when it morphed into a cute picture-filled and bullet point Power Point Presentation. I picked up the
challenge to create differing values and, from that point on, there was no turning back from feeling the
inspiration take hold without the red-suited editor demon sitting in front of me and shaking a finger,
while saying, “No, Do Not Do That”.
Thanks to Paula, Fran, and Rafael for your contributions to make this 3rd assignment a success!
Submitted by Gary Olson on November 8, 2012 for Creativity Class