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1,1 Color Code 1,2 Color Tools 1,3 Color Stories
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Lesson 1,2 · Communication · Focus — Color Tools

How to find each other?

Real encounters create real emotions that give birth to new life and new creativity.

  • Describe your story in blue fact language.
  • Create engagement and active listening in red heart language.
  • Respond to your followers in yellow gut language.
Symbol / bilde til leksjon 1,2
Color Tools — the icebreaker of Secret 1.
Paintbrushes loaded with unmixed red, blue, yellow and green paint
Four colours, kept apart. Mixing them is the mistake the page below is about.

Lesson 1,2

You are you, and I am I

A few years ago, I was invited to Norway’s west coast to facilitate a prestigious leadership conference. Participants arrived in luxury cars, dressed in fine suits, and were welcomed with champagne as the sun set over one of Norway’s most breathtaking fjords. While some attendees knew each other, most came to be inspired by prominent figures in technology and finance.

Despite the conference’s excellent reputation, feedback on networking and social engagement had been declining annually. To address this, the organisers decided to bring me in as a facilitator and speaker on the importance of workplace culture. Given free rein over my sessions, I employed the SGL method to foster genuine connections among participants.

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The icebreaker technique, read aloud while you follow the lesson.

An “icebreaker” technique

I kicked off the session with a 90-minute workshop, introducing the SGL colours and the importance of using the right “colour” for the right message. The audience listened politely, though I could sense some were waiting for academic references or expert citations to validate my bold claims. They weren’t going to get them.

Instead, I gave them a challenge. I asked everyone to walk around the room with their eyes closed until they bumped into — or found — two people they had never spoken to before. After about ten minutes, most had formed small groups, sitting knee to knee, ready for the next step.

Standing on a podium, I explained the task:

  1. Introduce yourself with some blue basic, factual information to your two group colleagues.
  2. Share in red language what gives you energy in life.
  3. Reveal in yellow language what your soul or life cannot live without.

To set an example, I went first. The room fell silent as all eyes turned to me. I touched my head and said:

“Let me start with some blue facts. I’m 61 years old. My name is Jan Petrus. I studied theology at the University of Oslo and have worked as a journalist, editor, pastor and author. At 48, I became a government fellow in leadership, later moving into leadership development for oil companies and various high-tech firms. And that’s become the tour that brings me here today.”

I paused, then crossed my hands on my chest to signal a shift into red, personal heart language, and said:

“What gives me energy is love. Without a hand to hold or someone to embrace, I feel lost. I’ve been divorced and remarried. I have four children from my first marriage. I also love creating — building something new, making something better. And most of all, I find joy in doing good for others.”

The room fell silent. People listened.

Then I pointed to my stomach and said, “What my soul cannot live without is hard to describe. But it’s about gut feeling, silence and deep reflection, and a longing for something greater than ourselves.” Something shifted. I noticed. Many were already preparing their own presentations in their minds.

A circle of conference participants seated on chairs, listening during a facilitated session

To solidify the lesson, I grabbed a marker and drew a small symbol on a flip chart — a double cross, representing both the version of myself I had shared and the part of me they could sense between the lines. “This icon represents me,” I said. “Remember my drawing, and you’ll remember me.” Then the room came alive. Conversations exploded. The informal atmosphere dissolved into laughter, animated discussions, and sketches on paper. A rigid, polite networking event had transformed into a dynamic, engaged community. I felt pure joy.

Portrett

Before coming to SGL, I had participated in two different American intensive one-week programmed management training courses. My experience with SGL was very different, and directly relatable to working group dynamics, communication, and balancing group participants for optimum performance in the specific requirements of the tasks at hand. I recommend SGL concepts for development in every type of organisation.

SGL-Ambassador: Bård Sørbye

Dobbeltkorset

Your turn

Home lesson 1,2

Stop for a moment, and let your imagination take you to a meeting or conference you are about to attend. Imagine that the meeting started with an icebreaker as described above.

  • Prepare your own post, with some blue facts about yourself.
  • Then tell about activities and red relationships that give you energy.
  • End by sharing something yellow and emotionally valuable, that you would not want to be without.

Did you enjoy the exercise? Feel free to share it with your partner or best friend.

Bildet til hjemmeleksen

Next lesson

Lesson 1,3: Word as Storyteller

Continue to 1,3 →