Jun 15 2010
May 31 2010
Creative Capacity
What are you doing to capitalize on the creativity around you? Creativity is the natural birthright of every person. And depending on whom you talk to (or read), it is considered the number one competitive advantage for success in business and life today. So what are you doing to unleash its potential? Buddhist teachings refer to something called Crazy Wisdom. It is
“an innocent state of mind that has the quality of early morning—fresh, sparkling, and completely awake.” (Chögyam Trungpa)
I am saddened by the dull, stale thinking that goes on in most of our organizations and institutions. People seem really bored and most brilliant ideas remain dormant due to the fact that no conditions exist to nurture people’s natural creative talents. To unleash even a little of that crazy wisdom in your organization, try the following:
- Assume responsibility for building your creative capacity.
- Be willing to set aside assumptions about your or other people’s lack of creativity.
- Ask people about how they think they could bring more creativity to their work.
- Create an environment that is conducive to good conversation, experimentation and idea sharing across departments and industries.
- Take a different approach when it comes to process and planning.
- Challenge people with good questions and stimulating opportunities.
- See mistakes as part of the necessary learning and feedback process.
- Provide a formal means for idea generation.
- Decide how you will capture good ideas.
- Don’t rush to evaluate.
- Utilize creativity building tools whenever you can.
- Develop your appreciation for and understanding of creativity.
- Get dirty, messy and a little crazy.
- Be willing to have fun and learn with others.
I invite you to leave a reply regarding your efforts to build the creative capacity in your life and work…Thank you. Yael
Apr 16 2010
Designing Dialogue
There is a quote that goes something like this: the quality of your conversations is the quality of your life. Few of us wake up in the morning with a clear sense of who we might end up having a conversation with. At least not the agenda free variety. Sure you might be leading a meeting, or gearing up for “that conversation” you wish you didn’t have to have, but beyond that we rarely set out to have rich and meaningful conversations about anything. This, I think, is a real shame and a missed opportunity to add value to our own lives and the lives of others. Statistics tell us that parents spend on average no more than 10 minutes per week-in conversation with their children. And in the work force conversation is being reduced e-mails, text messages and tweets. An unhurried conversations leads to unpredictable discoveries; it facilitates social bonding, and puts people in touch with their own and other peoples’ values, assumptions, ideas and strategies. The fact is we all know when we have had a good conversation because we leave bigger and better for having had it. Perhaps it’s time to take inventory of the quality of your conversations. Are you providing openings for dialogue? Are you giving people your attention? Are you using conversation strategically to boost creativity and innovation? Are you deepening your relationships through sharing and listening?
Jun 28 2009
Six Billion Others
I stumbled upon the most astonishing and ambitious web site i have ever seen. Called Six Billion Others it is the grand work of photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand. In an effort to help the world understand itself he dispatched 5 photographers around the globe to conduct interviews with all sorts of people about big life questions and the result is this interactive website. You can create an account and share your own perspective, you can assist with translation and site maintenance, you can share it with your friends. He also completed a movie that was released for free download called Home that he hopes people will share and use to inspire our collective imagination and commitment to save the planet before its too late. This man is a true champion and should be celebrated for his visionary approach!
