Archive for Creative work
The Hunger Games – allegory for our world? (part 1)
I have been wanting to have a conversation with my friend Oscar who is 12 and quite a Hunger Games fan, but he is quite busy with life these days – so alas, I have to take my questions and observations out on the blog. Over my winter break I read The Hunger Games and watched the movie. For the record, as usual, the book is much better and more dimensional than the movie. I thought the story was so interesting and provides such a great commentary on American Society today. My next few blog posts are going to be based on lessons from Hunger Games – I hope you enjoy. This week’s is about—1) reality TV and its hold on the US. Upcoming posts will be: 2) the story as a metaphor for personal challenge and lot that we have in life ; 3) the distinction between common sense learned from applied learning and that which comes from “training;” 4) the separation within and between regions, cultures and communities |
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Katniss Everdeen and The Duck Dynasty—flip sides of the same coin? |
Innovation Inflation is ruining us
Daily, I read articles and hear advertisements about innovative new products or concepts. I must disagree. There is little true innovation in our daily lives. By calling anything that is creative innovative, we are de-valuing true innovation. There is an plenty of creativity and that is a good thing, but creativity and innovation are not the same. Here is my take on the difference.
Creativity is taking a new approach on an existing issue or task. For example, in the new Iphone, having a finger print scan is a new take on phone security. It is creative; it is not innovative. Smart phones, personal secure access and fingerprint scans each already exist and now they are re-combined in a new way. Creativity is the ability to enhance an existing product of concept through aesthetics, function, or added features. The finger print scan on the iphone is creative. It is something that you say “oh cool.”
Innovation operates in a different dimension. Innovation identifies and executes a solution to a problem or need that most do not even realize exists. The ipod and iphone were innovative. They changed our access to music (ipod) and ability to manage large amounts of information at our fingertips (iphone). More importantly, they changed the way that we think about our relationship to information and data. I maintain that without the iphone, the current quantified self movement, which hopefully will transform health and fitness in positive ways, would not exist.
I also think there is a difference in the level of execution, discipline and perseverance between creative and innovative. I think of myself as a very creative person. I can think of ten great ways to try something new or design a system to accomplish a task. However, my failings come in my ability to think harder, look differently and persevere through boredom and frustration to be truly innovative in identifying a need or articulating a solution that defines an undefined problem, or changes how or whether we think (or act) about something.
The distance between creative and innovative is great and requires three important qualities. The first is focus and perspective. These are two sides of the same coin. We must be able to focus on an issue or task to see its minutiae and to endure challenges. I think of my nine-year old friend Charles who can sit for hours and make original origami and I think that someday he will have the patience to wade through complex problems and see them in a new light. At the same time of seeing the detail, a person has to have perspective on the scope of the issue and understand where it fits, or can fit in the larger context. Achieving both of these things can be like running across a teeter-totter, bumpy.
The second quality is the ability to see the problems. One quality that I often don’t like about myself is that I can have a glass half-empty mindset when looking at almost anything. Although I maintain that this is my saving grace in terms of coming up with new solutions and not settling for okay. I am confident that this quality will help me be innovative. And I have learned how to wrestle the inner-critic when I need to, especially as a manager.
The third quality is endurance and comfort with ambiguity. Individuals working towards innovation have to be comfortable with long periods of being lost and not being able to quite put their finger on the problem. True innovation takes a great deal of poking, prodding, defining and re-defining a problem and a solution. In our world of instantaneous everything, I think the patience and ability to be comfortable with unsolved problems will become more rare, yet more valuable.
Using Metaphor is Like . . .
I cringe when I hear friends and colleagues deliver a flat unimaginative presentation or article. I know these individuals have lots of great information to share, but it falls flat when they deliver it without giving the audience any foundation to build upon or way to relate to the materials.Metaphors help to build a bridge between a complex subject and a novice’s understanding. They give a framework for the listener to plug in to and are learning devices to remember content. In my example above, everyone in the audience knows sushi and can see it as a desirable object. Also, metaphors can suggest good graphics that make more interesting presentations.You do not have to be a walking metaphor machine to use this technique effectively. Rather — come up with a couple and use them well. Below are a few that can be used broadly to convey process, concepts, group dynamic or mechanics. |
Keeping a couple of metaphor cards in your back pocket can be a saving grace |
As my earlier blog posts, co workers and friends will tell you, I use these metaphors a lot and can almost always tie an explanation or answer to them. However, there are many more that you can use: preparing a meal, visiting a zoo, an archeological site, a museum, a physical city infrastructure . . .
The key is to get creative and identify some that work for you. Whether you walk around with metaphors falling out of your backpack or use this technique the next time you have to explain something to someone . . . work to identify a symbol, process or outcome that your audience can relate to and build the bridge from that shared understanding to your content. |
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