Capital C

Give Yourself an A

Benjamin Zander is the Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and one of the most inspirational speakers I have ever listened to.  He was also a great teacher famous for handing out an A to every student, the first day of class.  All he asked in return is that they write a letter to him saying why the deserved the mark.  His theory was that if your projected yourself into a future desired state, that talked about what you had learned and accomplished in his class, there was a better chance you would achieve it.  Give yourself an A for something you really want, and then write the letter why you deserved it.

Art Meets Data

Every day we are hit with a tsunami of statistics, facts and conjectures.  Some real some dramatized, and more often than not all synthesized by the consumer.  77% of consumers skip through all television ads, if given a chance.  80% would buy filters to knock out irrelevant information.  Once in a while something breaks through, and more often than not by combining art with data.  A great example and a must video to watch is Chris Jordan’s talk at the TED conference, where he uses images to dimentionalize his statistics in a compelling, provocative way, proving it's possible to mix data and art. (the above image is a tiny fraction of the 100s of millions of cell phones that go into landfills every year.)

The Buddha Sense

Deepak Chopra’s book Buddha offers great insight into marketing and the importance of appealing to and tapping into the right senses. “Erasing a memory isn’t a simple process like erasing scribbles off a chalkboard.  The eyes have the longest memory, followed by the nose.  Who doesn’t remember the blinding white snows of yesterday, the swooning scent of a rose, the brilliance of an unfurled peacocks’ tail?  But try to imitate a robin’s song, something that you have heard a thousand times.  Few people can.”

1 Minute Powerpoints

Mark Twain once said- "I'd have written a shorter letter, but I ran out of time".
A challenge we all face is one of condensing our ideas, thoughts and presentations down to their essence.
Many top execs are demanding 1-3 minute powerpoint presentations, to start developing cultures of focus and elegant communication.
Try the 1 minute Powerpoint, create extreme clarity and free up everyone's time (except your own).

The Neuroplasticity of Change

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change itself, literally.
Science is beginning to accept that the old 'brain as rigid machine' philosophy is wrong. The mind and brain are actually quite capable of organic rewiring at any age, building and forming new pathways of thought and capabilities, even if there was damage to the brain.
The mind cuts paths of behavior in the form of neural grooves, which make it easier to do what we do best. The problem is that the only constant is change, and when we change, getting out of those grooves or ruts is difficult, and creates anxiety.
So the message here is that anxiety in small doses is good; that's what change feels like. That's what progress feels like, and that's what you're brain reformatting and redesigning itself feels like.
It won't be long before that uncomfortable feeling becomes satisfying and encouraging, because it's proof that the impermanence of life is being embraced.

Leading From Behind

Nelson Mandella is one of those truly enlightened human beings. So when he talks about leadership, it's worth taking note.
Mr Mandella describes his style as 'leading from behind', which is about creating context and a receptive environment for other leaders to excel. He sees the ultimate leadership role as coach and architect, allowing people to develop, evolve and flourish. It's the capacity to recognize the web of interdependence that contemporary business operates within, where recognizing and identifying other's natural genius and putting it in the spotlight is critical. So the true skill of the modern leader is to subjugate their own ego and be the designer of the systems and structures that allow teams to shine brightly.
It's a long walk, but one worth starting.

The Human Medium

Let's say that a medium is something that something else moves through. That's an intentionally grade three explanation, but anything further would be about mediums and not humans.
Human mediums are the corporate or social organisms that ideas move through.
The question is: does your idea respect the medium it's intended to move through? Do you understand it, as any scientist would understand the components of an experiment?
The truth is, we don't recognize the importance of the human medium or human systems as we design ideas. We think the medium will magically conform to and transmit the story, but that rarely happens.
Good idea design recognizes that human systems are unique and complex, and ideas need to be designed to conform to and work within the organizations limits, the human emotional variables, biases, preconceptions, fears, passions...
Unless you decide you want to change the system, which is noble and achievable. But that too requires work and understanding. Because you still need ideas to move through the human medium to change the medium itself.
So understand your medium, understand the dynamics, understand the biases, mythos, ethos and KEEP IT SIMPLE. And be humble (the hardest part).

Shit Knives & Improvised Ideas

Anthropologist Wade Davis in a TED talk described an inuit man who had his weapons taken away from him, so he defecated into his hand, and as it froze he fashioned the feces into a knife which he used to butcher an animal.
The best of us do the same with ideas. Sometimes we need to quickly squeeze one out and fashion it into a useful, relevant tool immediately, on the spot, with only the material and knowledge at hand.
In the speed game of innovation, thinking fast and prototyping faster is the game.

User Innovation

The competitive landscape is changing; a statement we've heard for decades. But this is different. The 4 key drivers are 1- rapid global connectivity, 2- digital technology reducing cost, 3- disintegration of industry boundaries and 4- emergence of social networks.
So we're moving to a much more personalized solution, dependant on the ability to engage in multi institutional collaboration.

The new mantra- platform and experience, not product.
The challenge is understanding the mindset and lifestyle of the user, moving from the focus group to ethnographer, from the quantitative to the qualitative. It's about active users not passive consumers. Value is being redefined as systems of value. Therein lies the difference.

Thinking Visually

Dan Roam's book 'Back of the Napkin' would probably done poorly 25 years ago. It was a time when idea sessions on napkins or any scrap of paper was commonplace. Then along came Powerpoint and ideas were expressed in this seemingly more efficient format.
What we lost was the spontaneity of quickly communicating loose ideas, and the willingness to let a concept die and be reborn, all between a few sips of beer and bites of pretzel.
The point is this- the more time we spend on an idea, the more rigid it becomes in our mind, and the more likely we are to defend it. Loose drawings of ideas keep the concepts light and flexible, succint, and open to input and changes on the spot.
Try to 'people-ize' things (stick figure) and dimentionalizing ideas (shopping car piled higher than last year). These compact visual ideas let us scan back to the pictoral thought and 'get it' within milliseconds.
Stay loose- bk