Report 103

Your newsletter on applied creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in business.

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Wednesday 4 September 2013
Issue 236

Hello and welcome to another issue of Report 103, your twice-monthly (or thereabouts) newsletter on creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in business.

As always, if you have news about creativity, imagination, ideas, or innovation please feel free to forward it to me for potential inclusion in Report103. Your comments and feedback are also always welcome.

Information on unsubscribing, archives, reprinting articles, etc can be found at the end of this newsletter.


Note

Most articles in this issue of Report 103 can also be found in the archives together with dozens more articles, papers and thoughts.


 

In this issue of Report 103

  1. Creativity of the Artist: Observe
  2. Play
  3. The Real Neuroscience of Creativity
  4. The Entrepreneurial State

Creativity of the Artist

One: Observe

By Jeffrey Baumgartner

Hi! Welcome to the first in a series of articles about the creativity of the artist. In the series, we will look at how artists use creativity in order to create original art -- and we'll look at how you (assuming you are not an artist. If you are, I apologise) can apply the creativity of the artist in your work and life. For what it's worth, I am an artist by training and inclination -- but I got caught up in the world of business for about 20 years. I am now making a move back towards doing art. Frankly, it's way more fun!

Observe Everything

Probably the biggest way that artists differ from non-artists is in how the former observe things. For instance, on a sunny, windy day in the countryside, have you ever watched the wind blow across the trees? It is fascinating to watch. As the leaves flutter in the wind, they reflect and deflect the sunlight rapidly, causing them to flicker and dance in a flow of changing colour and tone.

The other day, in a wheat field near my home, sat a rusty blue tractor. The faded blue against the rich golden corn and the green trees behind was truly beautiful. Indeed, I went to get my camera. Sadly, the farmer was faster than me! By the time I returned, the tractor was gone.

Wherever you go, make it a point not just to look, but to observe your surroundings. Better still, go out for regular walks and leisurely bike rides in order to observe the world around you.

Admire Ugliness

It is a myth that artists seek out the beautiful. A good artist will look as intently at ugly things as she will at beautiful things. I am as fascinated by an ugly, obese person as I am a slender, beautiful person. Abandoned, dilapidated buildings are incredible to look at. Sometimes the line between beauty and ugly is very fine. A ruined building against a bright blue sky can be stunningly beautiful or a blot on the landscape.

Even when something is unquestionably ugly, it is worth observing in order to understand its ugliness; in order to appreciate the beauty of other things; in order to understand what beauty and ugliness are. And even within the ugliest of ugly, there is often beauty. A soldiers helping his hideously wounded colleagues in a bloody battle is both ugly and beautiful. Of course, that's not something most of us observe on a regular basis!

Seek Out Incongruity

In particular, watch for incongruity and absurdity. A building with no windows. A woman wearing a winter coat on a warm summer's day. A man in bright coloured clothes on a train full of men wearing grey business suits. A machine in a cage. Look at these things and question them in your mind. Why does the building have no windows? Was the architect incompetent? Do the owners hate their neighbours? Why is the machine in a cage? Is it a wild machine? Might it attack people if it was not caged? And so on. You get the picture, I hope.

Applying to Business

"This is all well and good," I can hear the businessperson say, "But how does it apply to me? I've got a business to run!"

Assuming creativity and innovation are important to you, there is a lot you to learn here!

Firstly, getting in the habit of viewing your surroundings and looking for the beautiful, the ugly and the incongruous, will provide your brain with more raw material for building unique ideas. Likewise, taking walks while thinking of business problems and observing the scenery you pass, will make it easier for your mind to bring together disparate elements in new ways -- and that results in creative ideas.

Observe Your Business in Action

Learning to observe more completely your surroundings will teach you to observe more completely the processes and actions in your business. Indeed, learn to look for the beautiful, the ugly and the incongruous. Admire what is beautiful in your business activities and think about how you can apply that beauty elsewhere. And note, beauty need not be limited to flowers, lovely paintings in the reception area and a nifty view from the CEOs office. Processes that run efficiently and elegantly can be beautiful. Building quality products can be beautiful. Making your customers happy is certainly beautiful!

Look also for the ugly. Poor quality control on finished products, unhappy employees and dangerous working conditions are all ugly and need to be changed. But ugly can sometimes be good. The Volkswagen Beatle and Citroen 2CV are two examples of ugly cars that sold very well, in part because of their ugliness. Ryan Air, a prominent discount airline in Europe, seems almost to emphasise the ugliness of flying with them, presumably because this also emphasises their very low air fairs. Sometimes emphasising the ugliness of one aspect of your business can highlight other qualities that appeal to customers.

Incongruity in your processes and actions often indicates a need for innovation -- or at least improvement. For example, Years ago, I worked with a company that had a ridiculously complex process for invoicing their clients. The process was probably designed by a French bureaucrat. Invoices were sent weeks, and sometimes months, after a project was completed. Indeed, clients sometimes called up and begged for their invoices! Needless-to-say, this process meant that cashflow was slowed down and that's not a good thing for any business.

However, incongruity can also help define special qualities in your product. For instance, making it difficult to buy your product would, in most cases, be considered a negative incongruity that demands innovative action to make your product more widely available. However, if your product is marketed as being exotic and exclusive, making it difficult to buy could help emphasise its exclusivity or specialness.

Peace of Mind

The idea of observing the world around you is also a part of mindfulness and a key notion in Buddhism. Aside from the benefits it brings in terms of enhanced creativity -- learning to observe and appreciate the world around you can only be good for your emotional and mental well being.

 

Play

By Jeffrey Baumgartner or someone pretending to be him

I've often heard it said that play is an important part of creativity. British comedians, Ricky Gervais and John Cleese have both made public pronouncements about the importance of play to their creativity. Moreover, the brain's default network, which is where we "[imagine] alternative perspectives and scenarios to the present", is a key element of the creative process. Imagining alternative perspectives and scenarios is certainly an element of play.

This is probably why children tend to be so creative: they play a lot.

It is probably why so many crazily creative ideas are initially dreamed up while joking around over drinks in a pub. Indeed, a surprisingly large number of big ideas started out as notes written on the back of beer coasters! A drink or two reduces inhibition and joking around is a form of play.

Playing in the Office

But, if you and your team work in an office -- you probably don't get many chances to play at work. For better or worse, most managers frown upon playing childish games in the corridors. It just does not appear productive! Ironically, such play probably would be very productive -- at least if creativity is important.

Even when you get away on retreats and external team building exercises that involve games, there is usually a lack of creative play. Exercises are structured and are about team-building, of course; not about being silly and playful. Moreover, people who wish to be taken seriously at the office are unlikely to let their guards down in order to be silly and playful on a retreat with their colleagues.

What Can You Do?

There are two things you can do. Firstly, you can learn to play in your own time. Relax. Joke around with friends. Play games with your kids (or a relative's or friend's kids if you haven't got your own). Tease your lover. Whatever. But always keep a notebook handy. Crazy ideas that suddenly appear during play all too quickly disappear later. It's best to record ideas right away.

You can also formalise play as a part of the creative process in your company. For instance, I find that role-play scenarios are great but playful way to identify problems and try out new ideas. In role-plays, you simply take two or more people, give each person a role to play and then let the participants act the scenario out. For the best results, be creative in your preparation. One thing I like to do is to give participants secret, conflicting goals. For example, a couple of years ago, I did a workshop on creative negotiating. I divided the participants into groups of four. In each group, there were two teams negotiating an imaginary deal. The details of the deal were shared with everyone. However, each team was given a note with some more information. Critically, the buying team's budget was smaller than the lowest price the selling team would accept. As a result, the teams had to look for creative, non-monetary elements to include in the deal.

Such role-play is a grown-up version of playing pretend, something kids do well. But, in my experience, adults can do it well too! One great thing about role-play is that each participant becomes someone else. Indeed, never have participants role-play themselves. You'll get far better results if they role-play others. They see things from new perspectives and need not worry about how they are judged -- after all, they are being other people than themselves.

Non-Verbal Ideation

Ideation sessions that involve building or drawing ideas can also become playful and, as a result, often lead to a much higher level of creativity than do such sessions that involve shouting out ideas or writing them on Post-It notes.

Get Creative

Indeed, if you think about it and apply some creativity, you can surely come up with ideas about how you and your team can play from time to time. And, if you can't come up with any ideas? Then I suggest you go out an play for a while!

 

Facilitated Play

If you would like to explore how role-play and non-verbal ideation can help boost the creativity of your team, get in touch! I love doing playful workshops -- and you'll love the results: great ideas, new perspectives and colleagues thoroughly enjoying themselves! Reply to this email or contact me here.

 

The Real Neuroscience of Creativity

Scott Barry Kaufman has written a fantastic blog post, "The Real Neuroscience of Creativity", on the Scientific American web site.

What makes it particularly fantastic is that it is based on scientific research which is a refreshing change in the world of creativity writing. These days, there are so many creativity blogs spewing misinformed opinion as fact.

Perhaps because creativity seems like a vague and fuzzy concept, people believe it cannot be scientifically studied. In fact, thanks to the growing importance (or at least, perceived importance) of creativity in business, there is a huge amount of creativity research being performed. Much of it has proven many long held assumptions about creativity wrong. Read the blog post for examples.

Why is it important to seek scientific fact when researching creativity?

If you manage a business, a division or a team and creativity is important to you, it is important that you understand the truth about creativity. Doing so can help you identify effective methods of boosting collaborative and individual creativity within your team. It enables you to avoid wasting time on techniques that will not bring creative results. It enables you to evaluate consultants, trainers, software and other creativity services and tools you are considering introducing to your teams.

So, I suggest you do two things. Firstly, read Mr. Kaufman's article! Secondly, learn to question assumptions about creativity and, particularly, blog posts about creativity. If a blogger makes a claim, look for references or supporting data. I could readily write a blog post claiming that people with curly hair are more creative than others. I might base this on my belief that I am creative and the fact that I have curly hair. But, I assume you would not base hiring practices on such an absurd statement -- unless I backed it up with reference to research or, at the very least, substantial personal experience. At least I hope you would not do so!

 

The Entrepreneurial State

The Schumpeter column in the latest issue of The Economist is about The Entrepreneurial State. It is an interesting and thought-provoking look at the role the state can, should and should not play in business innovation. It is well worth reading.

 

My Novel: The Insane Journey

"While The Insane Journey is not an esoteric literary masterpiece by any means, this decadent science-fiction romp reads like an amusing travelogue through a near-future Earth hosted by the hedonistic protagonist Maxwell van Mars. It's reminiscent of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, but with more naughty bits. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a light holiday read that will be remembered as a guilty pleasure. Bon apetit!"

More information here...

 


 

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Happy thinking!

Jeffrey Baumgartner


 

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Jeffrey Baumgartner
Bwiti bvba

Erps-Kwerps (near Leuven & Brussels) Belgium

 

 


 

My other web projects

My other web projects

CreativeJeffrey.com: 100s of articles, videos and cartoons on creativity   Jeffosophy.com - possibly useful things I have learned over the years.   Kwerps.com: reflections on international living and travel.   Ungodly.com - paintings, drawings, photographs and cartoons by Jeffrey