Creative Streak

Either Or, Maybe Neither Nor

I spent the trip to-from my parent's farm reading the marvellous "Brain Rules" by John Medina, with a particular interest toward his points about the myths of multi-tasking.  Or to use his own words:  "There is no such thing as multi-tasking."  (After a seven-hour bus ride, I'll post more when I can stand to sit longer.)

During the same trip, I also read "Three Skills Every 21st Century Manager Needs" from the Jan-Feb 2012 issue of the Harvard Business Review.  Here, Cathy Davidson (professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University) says the exact opposite, literally "our brains are built to multi-task."

Who do you believe, a world renowned molecular biologist who masterfully makes the complexity of the human brain simple and easy to understand?  Or a distinguished educator at a leading university who has written frequently for a leading business journal, if not her new book on brain science?

Really, isn't that just like life?  It's healthy today but tomorrow it'll cause cancer.  You were told to do A in last week's training, but next month, you'll be told to do Z.  Stress is good.  Stress is bad.  Who do you listen to when two answers to the same question disagree?

The answer:  yourself.

This occurred to me - again - a few minutes ago while searching for a toasted muesli recipe. (Don't ask. Or do, if you want a good recipe.)  My poor typing skills at end of day accidentally led to an irrelevant website which presented a most relevant quote, courtesy of Walt Whitman.

Re-examine all that you have been told, dismiss whatever insults your soul.

Wise words indeed.

Be Generous With Your Ideas

Now that I’m back from four weeks on the road, I promise to get back to posting again. But in the meantime, did you see …?

From Saturday’s The New York Times (25 February 2012), an interview with Susan Credle, the chief creative officer of the advertising agency Leo Burnett USA entitled “Don’t Compete With Colleagues, Embrace Them.”

I won’t try to paraphrase her key point:  it speaks for itself.

“My first-day speech was: ‘Take out your business card and look at it. That business card will have more value if any one of you succeeds here, even if you’re not remotely a part of that success. You are not competing with each other in here. If you think you win when your idea wins out over your neighbor’s, that’s a pretty small gain. In fact, I would suggest that you help your neighbor’s ideas get better.

‘I would suggest that if you look at something and you have a better idea, that you generously give that idea to someone and make them better. Because if we all do that, we all win. The minute you’re the only good thing at this company, we’re done. So can you do it? Can you be that generous?’

I also said that generosity has a lot to do with confidence. If you’re confident in who you are, you will be generous.  If you’re scared, if you’re nervous, if you think you’re a fraud, you won’t be generous.”

#5: How to Break Your Presentation with Conversation

This is one in a series from my earlier post "10 Things You Can Do To Help Your Audience Listen Better."  It covers initial points on how to ask questions of the audience, how to lead exercises, and how to facilitate discussion and debate.

This post originates from an earlier one (“Want To Show How Intelligent You Are?”) although that purpose was slightly different.  There, my point was that presentations should be clear, succinct or prioritized – not an elaborate display of brain power, or an unending litany of details, facts and charts.

Related to that post, my point here is that lecture-based presentations – that is, when you do (nearly) all the talking – are often not effective at helping the audience listen.  You might be able to carry the burden of the speech for 10 minutes or so, but if your presentation stretches longer, say to an hour … well, even your mother wouldn’t find you that interesting.

There are several ways to break from the lecture and build rapport through discussion.

• Ask questions
• Conduct exercises, or
• Lead discussion and debate

Warm-Up with an Ice-Breaker

It’s 6 a.m. in Chicago.  It’s 6º Fahrenheit (that’s a balmy -14º for those in Celsius).  I’m looking at every car on our street under 8 inches of snow, even more now that the city snow plow has gone through upending even more white powder onto the cars.

The first two people out for the morning have different plans of action.  The first man – blue coat, blue car – comes out, pushes just enough snow off the windshield/windscreen to see, starts the car and drives off.  I can hear the car groaning as it drives down the street.  I can’t tell if the trail behind the car is exhaust in the frigid air or snow blowing off the car.   The interior must have been as cold as the exterior because he'd already fogged up his car.

The second man – red coat, red car – clears enough snow off the car to get in and start it.  Next, he works his way around the car to wipe off more snow on all four sides.  By the time he gets in a few minutes later, the car is warm, he can see in all directions, and his car easily glides out and down the street.

Excuse the pun, but that’s pretty much the point of an ice-breaker. In short: get your brain warmed up before it brainstorms.

The Attributes of the Creative Individual

In his 1996 book, Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, said that “Of all human activities, creativity comes closest to providing the fulfillment we all hope to get in our lives.”

He reasons that creativity is one of the central tenets of our lives. “Most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the result of creativity,” he writes.

But what of the person who doesn’t believe they’re creative? I think of Allen, a friend of mine, who has never considered himself creative – even when you explain there are two types of creativity: 1) aesthetic/artistic, or 2) solution finding/problem solving. In his mind, Allen is a master implementer, not a creator. He is brilliant at doing what someone else tells him to do, but he doesn't believe he could ever be able to create the idea to implement.

His belief matches what many people think, that a person’s creativity is a natural extension of their personality, a talent they’ve  unconsciously nurtured since birth. My friend Greg is the opposite of Allen. Greg is one of the most creative people I know, who once told me that “(Creativity) is like breathing to me.”

So can a person really improve their creativity? For every Allen and Greg, I think of Marilyn. I believe she’s an extraordinary artist, but she only believes she’s become an artist through intense hard work, discipline and consistency. Her opinion is that some of the world’s greatest artists had to learn how to hold a brush, mix paints, apply it with different strokes to a canvas. They’ve taught themselves the relevant skills, and only through practice and diligence have they improved and excelled at their creativity.

Two Articles on Creativity from Psychology Today

One of the nice things about the holidays have been the chance to catch-up on my reading. Among many, here's two of the best, both written by leading experts on creative thinking, and both published in Psychology Today.

Appearing last month (December 2011), the first is Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking, by Michael Michalko.

1. You are creative.
2. Creative thinking is work.
3. You must go through the motions of being creative.
4. Your brain is not a computer.
5. There is no one right answer.
6. Never stop with your first good idea.
7. Expect the experts to be negative.
8. Trust your instincts.
9. There is no such thing as failure.
10. You do not see things as they are; you see them as you are.
11. Always approach a problem on its own terms.
12. Learn to think unconventionally.

Metaphors and Creative Thinking

Three years ago today, I started this blog with the question “Which of these two ‘coat hangers’ is more creative?”  Referring to John Bradfield’s iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Albert Parkhouse’s equally iconic wire coat hanger, I also pointed out in the article the comparison was also a metaphor.

Metaphors are a creative approach which directly compares an existing problem with another, unrelated or dissimilar problem, object or situation. The discovery of common attributes or elements between items improve our understanding and help us solve problems.

Metaphors work primarily in three ways:

By identifying similarities between the two disparate problems, new insights emerge from the unrelated field, translating into new ideas to solve the original problem.

By examining something in a new context, a new or different perspective reveal a different approach or potential alternatives to solve the original problem.

By looking elsewhere for answers – particularly outside our existing body of knowledge, as well as our comfort zone, we distance ourselves from the original problem, allowing us more freedom and clarity to question the assumptions and stereotypes.  Breaking these biases often leads to new ideas.

As no less than Aristotle recognized the value of metaphor some 2,500 years ago. In Poetics, he wrote:  “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblance.” Later on, he paraphrased himself: “The successful use of metaphor is a matter of perceiving similarities.”

The poet Robert Frost also spoke of the value of finding something in common between two very different domains. He said: “An idea is a feat of association, and the height of it is a good metaphor.”

Let me use another poet – the German writer Novalis – to explain how metaphors work.

1. Metaphors make the strange familiar.

Metaphors help make sense of the unfamiliar by comparing it to something understandable. Think about a time when you were explaining something complex to a novice. You probably used something common to both of you to make the intangible item or thought process simple to understand and apply.

Or perhaps you once faced a difficult situation. You drew a diagram or told a story to make the problem comprehensible. Visual imagery, storytelling and icons are effective ways to restate or reposition abstract thoughts into reality. Consider the technology industry: what value did it create to name its products a mouse, the desktop, Windows, or Facebook? These are all brilliant and effective metaphors.

Before I leave this section, let me also point out something which may be obvious. Metaphors are often the foundation for storytelling. Consider the words of Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, who said: "While a picture might be worth a thousand words, a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures."

2. Metaphors make the familiar strange.

In reverse, metaphors can help break from perceived assumptions about a specific situation or environment by forcing you into “multiplicity” – to look at something from many points of view (not just one other),  another), to encourage multiple options or hypotheses (not just Plan B).

Remember when you saw something you’ve taken for granted in ‘a new light’? It was probably a bit of a surprise. It may even have been confusing or improbable at first. But by changing the prism of your viewpoint, you gained a new appreciation. This opens eyes to new uses, to new solutions, to new audiences.

That’s the beauty of metaphors. By examining and experiencing today in a new way, by comparing it to something unlike itself, you find new ideas.

If you took a problem facing you, right now – a New Year’s Resolution, a client impasse, the lack of a better solution to marketing problem – how would you describe it in a metaphor? Come up with several, brainstorm as many as possible with your colleagues.Next, select one which resonates with you. Examine the secondary statement or question, look for insights, where are commonalities and similarities which might be used to solve your original problem?

http://www.andyeklund.com/creativestreak/2009/01/which-of-these-two-coat-hangers-is-more-creative.html

How Do You Handle An Ogre?

At some point in your career, you meet a person who stands in the way of your idea. They are menace defined. The 'ogre' comes in many forms. I remember one man who was easy to spot. He made sure of it. I've met other people who hide behind smiles and pleasantries, but they ultimately are no less destructive to the creative process.

Yes, ogres may exist but they aren't insurmountable. In fact, being insurmountable is part of their purpose, defence or weakness, and often rolled into one. The way to deal with people like this – almost always, a person senior to you – is to understand them. You may not like or agree with their behaviour, attitude or reasoning – but that’s not the point. The point is to look at the situation through their eyes, as uncomfortable or as difficult as that may be. Once you do, you can decide the best course of action.

It’s their responsibility. They’re in charge. It's their reputation and credibility on the line. Shareholders, board of directors, influential colleagues, their boss – all look to this senior person for the success of the organization, not to you. It may seem egomaniacal to you, but to others it’s the sign of a leader. It once killed me to watch a senior person take 101% credit for an idea of mine, but it's their prerogative. And in the end, did it really matter as long as the idea was implemented?  This leads me to ...

What Good Listeners Do

Funny how some advice from the stone ages – say, 1971 – can remain relevant. This morning I found an article using the anagram SAFE, from What Good Listeners Do, by Karen Middleton at the American Management Association. Similar to Peter Drucker's SMART objectives, it has many forms and renderings. Here's my own variation, broadening it slightly from its original area of client service.

The best listeners are "SAFE." They ...

Support the speaker, encouraging he or she to tell their story, using their own words, from their own perspective.

Ask open-ended questions, to keep the speaking talking, to elict more information to add depth and detail, and to understand what the speaker is truly trying to say.

Focus completely on the speaker. They don't allow any distractions – especially their own opinions, positions, agendas or egos – to prevent them from hearing the speaker.

Empathize with the speaker, their feelings and their concerns.

Empathize is the most vital aspect of listening. In his book The Lost Art of Listening (perhaps the best overall book on the subject), Michael Nichols says: "Listening is the art by which we use empathy to reach across the space between us. Passive attention does not work."  Elsewhere, Nichols paraphrases himself when he found himself not listening to a client: "I wasn't interested in them, I was more interested in me."

If you were listen more closely to one key person in your life – personally or professionally – how might your relationship with that person change?

Life Without a Back-Space Key

December 7 (Pearl Harbour Day in the U.S.) made me stop and think about milestones. Some days of importance are tragic, others historic, But the profound ones changed how we live.

For hundreds of thousands of years, man's life was dictated by two key factors: the rise and fall of the sun, and his own cycadian rhythms. That ended on 4 September 1882 when Thomas Edison threw the switch on the first electrical power distribution system. It changed everything – from our waking and working hours, to our at-home entertainment, to the general organization of the home. Another one: on 18 October 1952, music became portable with the launch of the first transistor radio – the Regency TR-1. We now were controlling our music, taking it with us wherever we wanted.

I believe human creativity changed – for better, for worse – on an unnamed day in April 1973 when IBM unveiled its Correcting Selectric II typewriter. An improvement from the original IBM Selectric launched in the early 1960s, this advanced machine had a new and ground-breaking key, one which allowed the typist to back-space and then overstrike the previous character, thereby erasing it.

This is a milestone?