Tag Archives: Creativity
I read, write, and talk about creativity and innovation ALOT–what it is, why it matters, how to pursue it. So it’s time to talk a bit about what innovation isn’t, and introduce a concept admittedly nuanced but that may fit a better in the business world than creativity. Not Innovation Innovation is NOT sitting around dreaming up earth-shattering ideas behind closed doors, trying to be clever and creative in concocting a new secret sauce that …
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Have you heard any of the following lately? “I’m OK with how things are.” “The timing for this isn’t quite right.” “Seems like a lot of pain for such little gain.” “We need more buy-in to do this.” “That may work elsewhere, but not here.” “We tried something like this before, and it didn’t work.” These are early warning signs that your once high-spirited startup is vulnerable to what might best be termed “big company …
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In addition to the reasons you already have for taking a vacation this summer, there’s another one you may not have considered: Travel is thought to increase creativity. One of the difficulties we all face is the “curse of knowledge,” also known as subject matter expertise.Expertise is obviously valuable and required for success, but it can also hamper creativity. It can blind us to radical new ideas, because our mindset is so strong. That’s why it’s …
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Following my column Boost Your Brain And Give It A Break–At The Same Time, I received a number of comments and email requests from readers wanting to know how to get started with meditation. I thought I’d share with you how I got started, my routine, and what the effect has been on my thinking and creativity. I got involved in meditation by accident. I was researching my 2009 book In Pursuit of Elegance, and …
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One of my favorite books of all time is Creativity in Business, written by Stanford Business School professors Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers, who taught one of the most popular courses by the same name. In the book the introduce the “Voice of Judgment” (VOJ). Steven Pressfield, in his books The War of Art and Do The Work, refers to it as “Resistance.” Your VOJ will stop your creativity cold. It comes in two basic …
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Sometimes the gravitational pull of past experience prevents us from seeing things with fresh eyes. We need escape velocity! Some starter fuel…
Don’t discard seemingly empty days. Treasure them, collect, store them, because they really aren’t. (empty, that is!)