Author Archive
Protecting Your Creative Brain
Posted by: | CommentsYour brain is an ever-evolving dynamic organ that is involved in every aspect of who you are and what you do. Caring for your brain so it looks out for you takes the shape of simple self-protection as well as the factors mentioned previously.
Protect your brain from physical trauma- by wearing helmets as appropriate, minimizing jarring contact sports, and keeping away from severe jolts to the head and neck. Brain scans of NFL athletes are showing nasty damage that will dramatically affect their future health, not to mention current pain and problems.
Protect your brain from emotional stress, as emotional trauma changes brain function. All your systems go on hyperalert, which in turn impinges on ability to sleep, degree of anxiety, inability to handle modern stress, and physical symptoms like headaches and muscle tension.
Protect your brain from toxic exposure, Read More→
Your Creative Brain- Who Cares?
Posted by: | Comments“The brain is an organ of learning, loving and behaving”, he says.
I just had the great pleasure of meeting Dr. Daniel Amen of the Amen Clinics. That man is a walking encyclopedia of cutting edge knowledge on optimizing our life by caring for our brain. So, who’s gonna care for your brain besides Dr Amen? You’d better step up to the plate on your own behalf. As the old commercial goes, you’ll be glad you did!
While there is sophistication galore in his methods, actual steps you can take to make sure your brain is ticking along in top form are simple. For starters, here are a few things you can do: Read More→
ABC’s of Creativity-Attitude to look for Alternatives
Posted by: | Comments‘A’ stands for the ‘attitude to look for alternatives’.
A creative orientation invites an exploration of multiple options or alternatives before choosing the best one, based on why you need the idea and what the context is. Sometimes the ‘best’ idea overall is simply too expensive or too time-consuming for practical implementation at this time, can’t be undertaken by the staff you have or isn’t supported by current market conditions. Then you move to try on other ideas for size and fit and take action.
By knowing how to generate multiple alternatives, you know you will never be forced to choose a bad option just because it’s the only one or because it is the easy way out.
Inviting alternatives from the group allows for ideas of many people to be heard, not just the loudest, most forceful or senior person’s suggestion.
Finally, for now, having an ever-refreshing pool of alternative ideas to work from means Read More→
ABC’s of Creativity:Belief there’s a Better Way
Posted by: | CommentsAmong creative mindsets, the B Mindset stands for: belief there’s a better way and how you behave based on your varying perceptions. This is a two-part Mindset.
The belief there’s a better way continues the search for alternatives, knowing that by making the effort to widen the idea pool you are likely to choose and develop better ideas than you would by settling for the first one that comes along. A powerful side benefit is that by having to explore, select and choose among ideas, you are more confident in the ones you do go with; it serves as a kind of validation. This becomes extremely useful both when reporting to senior management and when defending your choices to colleagues or clients. When you believe there may be a better way to do something, your antennas are always up in a sweep of the possibility horizon. You sniff out unrecognized opportunities, undervalued resources, shortcuts, upgraded new ways to do an old task or look at an issue. Sometimes the focus is on new and better ways to utilize an existing product or service, sometimes on new products or services you could create to meet an emerging need, cool new ways to tap and delight your market, alternative processes to get the job done more efficiently or effectively, or sensing that some person would be a great fit for some project.
As for behavior, Read More→
ABC’s of Creativity:C is for Challenge The Status Quo
Posted by: | Comments‘C’ mindset invites us to challenge the staus quo, ‘what is’, in the Spirit of ’search and discover’ rather than ’search and destroy’.
We know from science and life that it is easier to move an object that is already moving than one standing still. And it’s usually easier to move an object that is tipped on edge than one standing flat on the ground. Since creativity is about ‘mental movement’ one of the ways to get that is to escape the status quo by pushing against it. How we do that is to tip it on it’s edge, not in direct confrontation that would be like pushing it flat, but by nudging it out of balance by looking at it in a different way. Or gain movement by changing the surrounding circumstances that caused that thing to be the way it is. This happens to us all the time in the real world, like what’s happening now to print media and news coverage in the age of the internet and social networks. They are being forced to reinvent themselves, or die. Smart organizations would have seen this coming and used Mindset C to prepare in advance.
When we know how to take advantage of Creative Mindset C we can role play situations in advance- ask ‘what if’ questions and play a provocative ‘devil’s advocate’ role.
The trick is NOT to degenerate, especially under pressure, to what I refer to as ’search and destroy’- a kind of ‘out to getcha’ attitude that is rarely constructive. Rather, you choose a creative focus either because of perceived need or for advance planning purposes, and doggedly seek alternatives, new ways to deliver the same or similar products, hunt for new applications or markets, find gaps that R & D can help you fulfil over time and so on. This is more of a ’search and discover’ process, which should yield constructive, even if not yet fully developed, options for staying engaged in a changing marketplace. And it’s fun!
Think of 3 issues you are facing in your enterprise: maybe technical gadgetry, methods of marketing, hiring trusted virtual staff, etc. Poke and probe like a cat playing with a mouse, looking for weak spots, areas of strength to leverage, placing the issue in a new circumstance to generate a stronger position and whatever else comes up. As a result, you may decide to make some changes to abandon or shore up your position, or not…but at least you’ll have a deeper knowledge of factors involved for when you must make a move.
iSmart Revolution- Creative Talent Development
Posted by: | CommentsAt the Florida Job Summit last week my colleague & I introduced the iSmart Revolution as a way to leverage brain-power of the workforce, referred to as ‘Talent’. This applies for unemployed-those who have lost jobs; underemployed- for those who are in jobs that do not use their full skill and capacity; those redesigning their existing jobs or transferring to new jobs; and for students not yet in paid employment. 21st century workers need to change their paradigm, or model, of how it is to get and keep employment. The newer model is to be entrepreneurial and be prepared to work in teams for relatively short-term contracts.
We are suggesting updated ways to learn Read More→
Democracy is Creativity in Action
Posted by: | CommentsI just had the experience of spending a day in Orlando with top movers and shakers in Florida at the Florida Job Summit, hosted by Sen. Mark Haridopolous and Rep. Dean Cannon. This was a follow-on event after Pres. Obama’s Job Summit in December 2009, for which my colleague & I were on the visitor waiting list…(behind the Salahis, perhaps?)
We sat next to and held discussions with Gov. Crist, state legislators, university chancellors, presidents and professors, thought leaders and idea-mongers in arenas across the board who have an active interest in generating viable solutions to our current economic woes and joblessness. It was amazing how accessible these high level people were, and how willing and eager they were to learn from the public, consider practical creative suggestions and make effective changes. That is democracy in action- engagement and informed action!
My colleague and I represented Retraining America Now, putting forward ideas on the iBrain Revolution and developing intellectual capital, ( or TALENT, as it’s referred to), through learning thinking and creativity skills in brain-friendly ways and by applying them to effective and efficient value creation. By instigating entrepreneurial thinking in our youth as well as existing job holders and seekers, we up our chances of keeping up with change and creating cool new ways to forge a better future. It also makes learning way more fun and relevant!
I’ll follow up next week with some of the trends observed from the range of discussions. Meanwhile ask yourself, if you lost everything- as many of the people in Haiti have with the recent earthquake, how would you make a comeback? What would your newly designed llife look like and how would you create it?
Step put and step up to being a creative force in your own life!
Creative Connections of Care for Haiti
Posted by: | CommentsPeople care, and given a chance to help out in need, will band together and pull off amazing feats to meet practical and human needs. They just need to know, and to feel included to offer their skills, resources and TLC. The recent horrific quake in Haiti is no different, except that the medium of inclusion this time was and is social media.
Toby Smith, director of Internet communications at CARE, says, “Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are great ways for people to get the latest information on emergencies. CARE has been giving updates that have been reposted or retweeted by celebrities.. . . We’ve also used these channels to solicit donations. The total audience is huge.”
“This is an important tool for the new generation of philanthropists, and we pay just as much attention to those media as we do to normal channels of support,” said Foley, of the American Red Cross.
Can social media mobilize as much money, blood, blankets and food for Haiti as older means? Too soon to tell. But there’s no doubt: They’re how we connect now when catastrophe hits.” The full article follows: http://bit.ly/5uF0dd
Even if we can’t be there physically or don’t know Haitionas personally, there are many ways to be of service, both materially, emotionally and spiritually. Just tune in. Please bring your unique talents, skills and human caring to assist in creating a planetary resonance of hope, sustainability and kindness to a people and a piece of land in dire need of it all.
May God bless us all, that we remember the power of our creative connections and make the world a better place as a result.
Creative Paradox
Posted by: | CommentsCreativity causes a paradox for most humans.
On one hand, the human brain is designed as a pattern recognition mechanism and is supremely good at reacting to what is familiar or repetitive in our environment. This is its strength, and we feel comfortable here. On the other hand, humans have been endowed with an innate desire to create- and creation by definition involves bringing something new into being. We are enlivened by that spark and the energy generated in the creative act.
So, many of us vacillate between the urge to be creative and the pull of inertia to stick with what we already know. This manifests in several behaviors that become obstacles to our creativity at work. These occur both in our creativity applied to life issues as well as the more complex dynamics of creativity in the workplace.
Seven of the biggest problems with people being creative are:
1) A general belief that they are simply not creative
2) Willlingness to go along with the status quo and along the path of least resistance (i.e. don’t rock the boat, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, etc.)
3) Failure to focus on a clear object needing creative attention
4) Not knowing HOW to get new ideas- tools and techniques
5) Lack of boldness to ‘go where no one has gone before’
6) Fear of the unknown and looking stupid on the part of oneself or one’s colleagues
7) Lack of structural underpinnings to facilitate and maintain the creative flow once it is started
Addressing any or all of these obstacles will pave the way for a harmonious experience of creative expression as you put into play your creativity at work.
Imagine Your New Year’s Resolutions Already Achieved!
Posted by: | CommentsImagination is the ability to create mental pictures- to see in your mind’s eye what is not physically present in front of you, and in fact, may not even yet exist. We all imagine, some more consciously, powerfully and constructively than others.
Many who think they cannot visualize or imagine have no trouble worrying in graphic detail. And what is worrying other than imagining- in combinations of thoughts, feelings and pictures- what might happen, or could happen even though it hasn’t happened yet, and may never happen- usually for the worse?
I suggest we look at how to harness and develop our imagination for constructive and creative purposes, starting with some simple exercises. Go ahead, play Read More→
