Creativity at Work Newsletter, November 2007
Nov 30th, 2007 by Linda Naiman
Nearly 40 Percent of Employees Say Companies Are Not Creative
One in five U.S. workers also say they would take less money to work at a more creative company, according to a new survey. When asked about their company’s creative potential, 39 percent of respondents said they do not think of their company as a creative entity. Nevertheless, the survey found that 75 percent of workers believe their employers value their creativity. Economic experts have termed this phenomenon the “creativity gap,” or the disconnect between the creative resources available and those being employed. Full story
See for Yourself
by Tim Laseter and Larry Laseter
Great leaders understand something that is often lost in todays world of global connectivity, where a surfeit of data is accessible with a few keystrokes. Computer-generated reports certainly play an important role in management, but the critical, visceral insight needed for effective leadership can come only from firsthand contact. The best executives get out of their offices and away from their computer screens to observe their frontline employees, competitors, customers, and suppliers on the job.
Most business gurus tout cleverly titled management concepts while ignoring this relatively simple practice. Pick your program: Lean Six Sigma, Servant Leadership, Strategic Sourcing, Disruptive Innovation. This list of possible strategic business initiatives has a lot in common with the diet books forever topping the bestseller lists. Each promotes itself as a silver bullet; most deliver benefits, but rarely to the extent advertised; and few prove sustainable over the long run. Diet fads and management fads alike offer recipes for success but rarely get at the fundamental changes needed to deliver more than temporary improvement. Full story
10 Unexpected Uses of the iPod
New technologies often have unintended uses. Take the Ipod as a case in point. It was developed with the intention of playing music (and later videos), but its applications now go well beyond that. Here are 10 rather unforeseen, even surprising, uses: Train doctors to save lives, store the entire human genome sequence, bring criminals to justice, learn a foreign language and more. Read the story here: Full story
Pecha Kucha: Show and tell
Pecha Kucha is a Haiku-style form of presenting that began in Tokyo and has now spread to cities across the world. Conceived by two architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein, as a means of giving architects a platform for showing their work, without boring people to death with longwinded dissertations.
Each presenter is allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each for a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show. The result is part poetry-slam, and as Dan Pink put it in Wired, part beat-the-clock-performance art.
Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a demand that seems to be global - as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over 80 cities across the world. Find a location and join the conversation.
Zen presentations
Lawrence Lessig, author of “Free Culture,” compares and contrasts traditional economies with an emerging economy characterized by collaboration, sharing + commercial outcomes, ie Youtube, Wiki, Secondlife as avenues for wealth creation. He also has an elegantly simple presentation design aesthetic.
See also Presentation Zen, a wonderful resource to help you improve your presentations.
The Dance of Evolution, or How Art Got Its Start
According to Ellen Dissanayake, an independent scholar affiliated with the University of Washington, Seattle, the artistic impulse is a human birthright, a trait so ancient, universal and persistent that it is almost surely innate.
But while some researchers have suggested that our artiness arose accidentally, as a byproduct of large brains that evolved to solve problems and were easily bored, Ms. Dissanayake argues that the creative drive has all the earmarks of being an adaptation on its own. The making of art consumes enormous amounts of time and resources, she observed, an extravagance you wouldn’t expect of an evolutionary afterthought. Art also gives us pleasure, she said, and activities that feel good tend to be those that evolution deems too important to leave to chance. Read the story here.
Upcoming Workshops
Whole-Brain Thinking Workshop at RRU
Date: Thursday & Friday, January 31, & February 1, 2008
Place: Royal Roads University, Victoria BC
April 4, 2008, Royal Roads University, Victoria BC
Gift Ideas
I’ve made a collection of my paintings available as fine art prints and posters.
Books: Visit my store for a selection of books on art, creativity, innovation and design. Amazon Gift Cards Reward clients and employees with the gift of unparalleled selection. You can use our gift cards, or you can incorporate them into your own gift presentation by receiving the claim codes electronically. Available from $5 and never expires.
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Thank you for reading Creativity at Work. You feedback is always welcome.
Happy creating,
Linda Naiman
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About Linda Naiman:
Linda Naiman is recognised internationally for pioneering arts-based learning and development applied to creativity, innovation, collaborative leadership and teamwork. She is available for coaching, corporate retreats, workshops, or to speak at your conference. Click here for details
© Copyright 2007, Linda Naiman & Assoc. Inc. All rights reserved.
