As a young traveler I once decided that I might sing for my supper, well actually, clean a hostel for a free night’s board.  I lasted about two days before I reverted to paying cash.  The manager smiled and said, ‘Cleaning toilets is a good way to find out what you don’t want to do.’  So how do we find out what we want to do?

Andy Warhol once famously said;
“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”  Warhol was a conceptual artist, his ‘work’ and business was in the play with ideas.  Much of the production was undertaken by his minions at his studio ‘The Factory.’   The ‘art’ therefore, is the process of thinking, the creation of ideas.  In this sense, good business is having the best ideas and implementing them successfully.   

I am currently training a Small Business Course for Mission Australia.  As participants near the end of the course they face the reality of starting their own business and begin to express some fears and doubts.  This conversation is always the most exciting for me, because it is in this space of the unknown that we discover the true reward of business, personal growth.  Fears about time management, sales skills or any number of practical concerns highlight opportunities for learning and creativity.  Like a blank canvas, a business offers no place to hide, but infinite choice and an ability to be your most authentic self, to decide exactly what you want to do and how you want to do it.  And just like a canvas, you can always paint over whatever isn't working, get help, or start fresh with a new canvas!  Good business, 'art,' is a process of creating, innovating, refining and reinventing ourselves, our staff, our product and our systems.  To be the best we must understand, practice and manage the process of creativity and innovation.

Now of course, the toilet will still need cleaning, but you decide how, how often and by who!

 

  

 

I am having a vulnerable week. 
There have been tears, fears and yes, doubts a plenty.  In Jamming terms I have been staring at a half finished canvas and it is messy, embarrassing, unresolved, ugly even. 

This is generally the point in a Jam where people will once again turn to me for advice.  I try to ease the struggle and occasionally offer a friendly opinion, but always resist ‘teaching’ or telling Jammers what to do, because of course there is no ‘right way’ and it is simply not my decision to make.  It is also, like the first moment of facing the blank canvas, an opportunity with great potential for empowerment. 
 

In her TED talk The Power of Vulnerability, Brene Brown shares the story of her journey into Vulnerability.  She speaks about the discomfort of learning, having a “willingness to do something where there are no guarantees.”  Her message is that we are born courageous creatures “wired for struggle” and our efforts to avoid or reduce the discomfort associated with this risk merely serve to dull the shine on our glorious imperfect lives and loves.

 

Having a willingness to share what is messy, embarrassing or unresolved is opening a door to learning, because learning is an exchange, a dialogue.  We must be prepared to say to ourselves or to another ‘I don’t know,’ ‘I am afraid,’ ‘how can?’ ‘I wonder’ and then to boldly step into that space of discovery. 

 

Yes, it was a messy week.  I had my moment of tears, fears and doubts and I am so pleased!  Excited and thrilled to be playing in a space of new learning!  And grateful to those who have shared and supported me.

 

At the end of every Jam I thank participants for Sharing their Creativity.  This is not merely ‘thanks for your business,’ but an expression of truly genuine gratitude for giving of themselves, sharing a moment of their beautiful vulnerability.  What a special gift!

I follow @guidedogswa on Twitter and they recently posted this deliciously adorable photo of their new trainees!

Now I am and will always be, a ‘dog person’ so it is not hard for me to immediately fall in love with this delightful duo.  However knowing this pair are destined to be leaders, puts them in a class well above my neighbour’s yapping terrier. 

So what qualities make these leaders stand out from the rest?

PLAYFUL – Puppies are playful. Like children and indeed the young of most species, puppies are curious and experimental.  Exploring the world around them, they are prepared to take risks and push the boundaries with a natural instinct to learn and grow.

COLLABORATORS – Puppies play well with others.  Trusting and friendly, with a few alert sniffs, puppies invite you onto their playground.  Taking on different roles, sensitive to strengths and weaknesses, puppies learn from and respect the differences of those around them.

COMMUINCATORS – Puppies have acute listening skills, they utilise all their senses and absorb the world around them.  They maintain awareness of their environment and nuances of even the smallest changes within it.  From a friendly nuzzle to a cautious growl they communicate efficiently and effectively to those close to them.

INTEGRATORS – Puppies are well balanced.  Making time to play and rest, they are present in the moment.  Puppies are authentic in sharing their unique personality.  

And finally wiki.answers.com suggests that a puppy leader 

“should be an excellent problem-solver because it is impossible to predict every possible puzzle a dog might encounter in his working life and he must be able to apply what he knows creatively in new situations to make safe and reasonable decisions.”

 For more information on how to learn from these unique animals and their trainers go to 
http://www.guidedogswa.com.au/

But first tell us how do you measure up to these generous and gifted leaders?

So you have put on a red hat and a yellow one, invested in some postits and colourful markers, generated some ‘random words’ and brainstormed more than a dozen uses for an umbrella.  You’ve tried to get ‘out-of-the-box’ and ‘off-the-wall’ but somehow you are just a bit stuck.  I mean you don’t even own an umbrella, what difference does it make how other people choose to use them?

 

De Bono has done a great deal to encourage an understanding of creativity as a skill and process.  One, which we all participate in, and can practice and improve.  However De Bono only gives us half the recipe.  Typical of a science trained doctor, his approach is one of follow the instructions step by step, voila, Creativity!

 

Any amateur chef will tell you following the recipe does not always result in the cookbook picture! And of course that is ok, if you are happy with the taste, but De Bono’s tools for too long have left a bad taste, or sadly no taste at all!

 

Mastering any skill, from climbing to kissing involves some technical aspects, the method or instructions.  However there are elements one can only learn from experience, the language unique to that skill.  Rock climbers learn to read the rock, as well as the weather and perhaps the body language of the climbers they rely upon.  Chefs learn the language of food, the smell of a ripe tomato, the texture of a certain sauce.  These sensibilities are developed over time and practice.  So what then is the language of Creativity?

 

The great news is that the language of Creativity is all languages, your language, the Hundreds of Languages.

Every experience you have builds your repertoire of what IDEO’s Jane Fulton Suri calls ‘Design Sensibilities.’  Elements of rhythm, gesture, texture, light, humour and perspective to name just a few.  These subtle intuitive components are drawn upon personally and professionally and building our awareness of them increases our ability to make thoughtful, powerful and creative decisions.

Suri writes “develop the design sensibilities of your employees as a business asset with two important benefits: more refined intuitions about the needs and desires of your customers and greater confidence in making intuitive judgments to resolve complex problems with well-rounded solutions.”

 

So how do I develop design sensibilities? Come and talk to us, it is what we do.

 

Our Lemon tree has been particularly abundant, producing deliciously juicy fruit, thanks to the recent rains. In fact, so prolific has the growth been, we harvested this strange piece last week.
The obvious contest between two young shoots produced this rather gnarled octopus – like anomaly. At first glace this appears to be a lesson in potential for self-destruction (or at the very least contortion), when consumed by the battle of direct competition. The rather unappetising result suggests no real winner. But of course this view rests on a rather narrow concept of ‘Lemon,’ that is round, singular and whole.
The more I considered this marvel, the more I admired the collaboration of the two shoots. Struggling for limited resources they joined together to survive and thrive. Indeed there is conflict, but the battle has produced a creative adaptation of our traditional notion of a lemon.
What are some of the conflicts with which you struggle that might benefit from a creative, collaborative change in perspective? Tell us your citrus story!

Tired of the same old office Christmas party? This year celebrate with an Art Jam!

Click here for details!

One of the great skills of Artists, Designers or Entrepreneurs practice is an ability to See, that is, to observe or notice things of interest. They are then, usually particularly talented at reading, translating or applying these observations creatively. But it starts with seeing!
We are constantly exposed to a barrage of information on all our senses. Being able to categorise, negotiate and certainly disregard much of this data is a skill, which whilst necessary, can become too effective in narrowing our attention. We train ourselves to only take note of the ‘important details.’ But ask yourself, how important do you feel when someone spells your name incorrectly? Small, but Significant!
So how do we recapture our attention to detail?

1. Document It – You don’t have to be Leonardo Da Vinci to keep a notebook handy (in fact Leonardo would no doubt envy your iphone!). Drawing can be a fantastic way to develop your observation skills, if you can learn to focus on the lines you see, not what you expect to see. However you might simply snap a photo, write down a few words (twitter it!) or even record yourself a voice memo. ‘It’ could be anything you experience, a smell, the shape of shadows, the feel of your desk, the colour of your foot. Begin with a loose goal to make a unique, yet random record of your week. If it helps you might imagine an audience, but don’t try to make these fragments hold meaning, the exercise is simply to observe.

2. Frame It – It can be difficult to observe something you ‘see’ everyday. Try reframing it! Put it somewhere different. Great Art has often been nothing more than an Artist moving a thing or idea somewhere unexpected, such as Duchamp’s Fountain, a urinal he exhibited in 1917. http://bit.ly/ab3mx5
Moving something puts it in a different context, changing its relationship to the world. Try putting your rubbish bin on an office chair or on top of your desk for the day and consider how your idea of rubbish changes with this increased status. We literally frame our precious photographs, but everything ‘has its place.’ Shift your world, shift your thinking.

3. Transform It – Make a small thing big, a coloured thing black and white, something 3D flat. I once accidentally photocopied my shirtsleeve and was fascinated by the result. Transforming things is another way to reframe them, giving new perspective. Technology can provide helpful and non-destructive ways to transform things (computer simulation), but sometimes it is ok to just go ahead and melt GI Joe! The artist Christo explores transformation by wrapping things, including most famously the Reichstag! http://bit.ly/4kD0jw

4. Transform yourself – If you can’t wrap the Reichstag, or change a thing or idea (or person) try transforming yourself. This will in effect change your relationship to the thing. We regularly do this to some extent, modify our behaviour or look depending on a situation. Heels, make-up, a telephone voice. Try using your non-dominate hand, stand when you usually sit, affect an accent for the day, or a whole new character if you are able. Designers often physically put themselves in the place of their clients to have first hand experience of this perspective. Imagine what you might discover if you traded places with a friend, colleague, family member or pet for a day.

5. Be in Dialogue – The first four points listed were techniques to practice and develop your observation skills, but perhaps most important, is to adopt an attitude of seeing. As seeing is something most of us are fortunate enough do from birth, we tend to arrogantly neglect our practice of this incredible gift. Take a position of being in Dialogue with your space, that is, to have an encounter in which your relationship to an object or idea is open to change. From this position, you will truly begin to see.

Those of you who have been following me on Twitter http://twitter.com/loadedbrush will know I have been in Turkey for the past month, drinking tea (to which I am addicted), eating eggplant (more addicted) and smoking the odd cigarette (shhhh! Not remotely hooked). I am proud to report I won at least one match of Backgammon against a local.

Now granted, he had to slow down considerably to match my tedious pace and continue to remind me that the blank face of the die was the worn down four, but a win is a win! Naturally he claims he allowed it to be so, hospitality and all! Of course I know this not to be the case, as at the beginning of the second game we made our very serious bet!

Feeling I had already taken somewhat of a risk merely being female, alone and fraternising with men in such a place, I was not altogether keen to press my luck with further gamble. However my opponent insisted. I countered with,
“Why can’t we just play to play?” After all, I thought, isn’t that what I do so well? As author of The Play Ethic, Pat Kane, wrote “To play is to express one’s full humanity.” It was amusingly pointed out to me that with a bet on the table, I was far more likely to play in a way that reflected my true nature.

There is a moment at the beginning of an Art Jam, when the silence of the blank canvas calls for participants to roll the dice and the risks are perhaps greater than any bet. I could not deny the precious value of this moment. I quickly agreed to what turned out to be a rather tame wager of a bag of pumpkin seeds.

But of course, as my friend also knew, the real game begins when the paint is flowing or the dice are thrown, and tea and talk and new understandings emerge. “If our immediate social universe is about risk, openness and opportunity, then our personal lives must be about energy, enthusiasm, health and optimism, all those capacities needed to enter the fray.” P. Kane

Stay tuned for more reflections on Turkish time and enjoy the games.

We are told Necessity is the Mother of Invention, but reading Naturally Better by Kristen Morrison, I am struck by just how deeply our notions of what is necessary can vary. Most would agree a Necessity is ‘something essential, a basic requirement.’ I quite enjoyed this definition though, “the quality of being necessary or of not being able to be otherwise.” I think there is much that we simply feel, believe or are driven by, which, perhaps not necessary, is just unable to be otherwise.
Necessity in fact is usually quite boring and uninventive. It is when we strive to improve our situation beyond mere survival that things begin to get creative!
Fortunately for Gryffin, Kristen’s son born with Down Syndrome, his mother embraces her essential creative self to effect powerful change.
The story of their first few years together is the story of creativity and learning at its best. Embracing a spirit of Play (Chapter 2, ‘The Adventure Begins’) Kristen dedicated herself to the learning process. Her book, an amazing Document in itself also includes excerpts from her diary and photographs, as well as letters and notes demonstrating the value of Communication and Collaboration in her journey. Her Integrated approach in an Environment, which inspires and supports learning and growth is contagiously exciting.
Whilst a fantastic resource for anyone interested in a natural approach to child health, this book is a testament to what can be achieved when we value learning and trust in ourselves. Kristen is an inspiration; I encourage everyone to read her story.