Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Another Year of Potential
As Big Ben struck 12 o'clock, another new year dawned: a year full of potential to do good or bad, to help or hinder, to get stuck in or give up.
And yet with all this potential in front of us, we are probably still reeling and recovering from the previous year and its activity, demands, successes and failures.
If we are to adapt to the ever-increasing rate of change in our world it will be our ability to recognise the changes, be open to them and respond to them. It will be an ability to work together with our colleagues and friends. It will be our ability to be open to new ideas, to work with new people (perhaps even those we don't like) and be prepared to engage and increase our creativity for problem solving, product identification, relationship building, selling ... or whatever aspect of life impacts us most.
There is great potential in our schools, colleges and universities to inject passion into our students, to find new ways which enable them to discover their own talents and abilities, and not least, find new ways to resurrect and increase our own passion for what we do.
I'm excited by all that 2008 holds ... challenges and triumphs ... hope you are too.
I wish you all a very happy new year.
Stuart
And yet with all this potential in front of us, we are probably still reeling and recovering from the previous year and its activity, demands, successes and failures.
If we are to adapt to the ever-increasing rate of change in our world it will be our ability to recognise the changes, be open to them and respond to them. It will be an ability to work together with our colleagues and friends. It will be our ability to be open to new ideas, to work with new people (perhaps even those we don't like) and be prepared to engage and increase our creativity for problem solving, product identification, relationship building, selling ... or whatever aspect of life impacts us most.
There is great potential in our schools, colleges and universities to inject passion into our students, to find new ways which enable them to discover their own talents and abilities, and not least, find new ways to resurrect and increase our own passion for what we do.
I'm excited by all that 2008 holds ... challenges and triumphs ... hope you are too.
I wish you all a very happy new year.
Stuart
Labels: 2008, business, colleges, creativity, creativity in business, education, increased productivity, job satisfaction, new year, reaching our potential, reduce stress, schools, teaching, university
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Whatever happened to the dreamers?
So echoes the chorus of one of the most haunting songs of 2006. Jack Savoretti sings of dreams lost, the decline of true visionaries ... and the hole that leaves in our world.
For many of us, our dreaming was snuffed-out at school or in education...
'Stop dreaming boy!'
'If you don't stop dreaming and get on with your work you'll be no-one; get nowhere!'
'Get real!'
'What good is it if I can't touch it?'
'In your dreams!'
And yet, more recent discoveries show the important of dreaming in our creativity ... and it also shows the paucity and severe crisis in business because the creatives just aren't there any longer. Intelligence isn't just about answering questions that are posed ... sometimes it's about looking beyond those questions to the root of the problem, making connections that weren't otherwise there, being creative, dreaming a little, from which the true life-changing solutions arise.
A good friend with whom I worked for a number of years had come into the Pharmaceutical Industry from being a professional dancer and lighting engineer: one of the rare people who worked both sides of the stage. Her ideas flowed like water and it wasn't long before she'd established links with doctors that had previously been unreachable. Sales started to increase BUT this wasn't the way our company worked! She was told to stick to our tried and tested methods. Eventually she left and started working for another company who allowed her to use her dreaming and creativity ... and surprise, surprise ... she's been the top sales representative consistently throughout 2007.
Suppressing dreams is not only fatal to our own development and fulfilment, it is also death to our business and industry.
Innocent drinks works with an underlying ethos that encourages creativity and dreaming in all departments ... and celebrates when those dreams result in success. In just 8 years the company has grown from a 3 man outfit selling drinks from a stall at a small music festival into a business with an annual turnover of more than £76 million pounds. Try telling them that dreaming doesn't work or isn't reality.
Thankfully, there is a re-converging of the arts and the sciences ... a broadening of the definition of intelligence, a broadening of co-operative projects where both fields benefit.
And what is the source of this Renaissance?
A resurrection of the dreamers!
I often wonder what would have happened if I'd followed my inclinations to dream. What would have been the impact on me, my family, my friends, my business, my self-perception, my insecurity .. my life.
Never give-up dreaming. Dream against the odds. Bring about change. Challenge the boundaries and see the changes!
For many of us, our dreaming was snuffed-out at school or in education...
'Stop dreaming boy!'
'If you don't stop dreaming and get on with your work you'll be no-one; get nowhere!'
'Get real!'
'What good is it if I can't touch it?'
'In your dreams!'
And yet, more recent discoveries show the important of dreaming in our creativity ... and it also shows the paucity and severe crisis in business because the creatives just aren't there any longer. Intelligence isn't just about answering questions that are posed ... sometimes it's about looking beyond those questions to the root of the problem, making connections that weren't otherwise there, being creative, dreaming a little, from which the true life-changing solutions arise.
A good friend with whom I worked for a number of years had come into the Pharmaceutical Industry from being a professional dancer and lighting engineer: one of the rare people who worked both sides of the stage. Her ideas flowed like water and it wasn't long before she'd established links with doctors that had previously been unreachable. Sales started to increase BUT this wasn't the way our company worked! She was told to stick to our tried and tested methods. Eventually she left and started working for another company who allowed her to use her dreaming and creativity ... and surprise, surprise ... she's been the top sales representative consistently throughout 2007.
Suppressing dreams is not only fatal to our own development and fulfilment, it is also death to our business and industry.
Innocent drinks works with an underlying ethos that encourages creativity and dreaming in all departments ... and celebrates when those dreams result in success. In just 8 years the company has grown from a 3 man outfit selling drinks from a stall at a small music festival into a business with an annual turnover of more than £76 million pounds. Try telling them that dreaming doesn't work or isn't reality.
Thankfully, there is a re-converging of the arts and the sciences ... a broadening of the definition of intelligence, a broadening of co-operative projects where both fields benefit.
And what is the source of this Renaissance?
A resurrection of the dreamers!
I often wonder what would have happened if I'd followed my inclinations to dream. What would have been the impact on me, my family, my friends, my business, my self-perception, my insecurity .. my life.
Never give-up dreaming. Dream against the odds. Bring about change. Challenge the boundaries and see the changes!
Labels: academic, business, creative, creativity, creativity in business, dreaming, dreams, education, human resources, impacts of creativity, intelligence
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
The Ken Robinson talk that made a difference
Today, I have a video for you. It lasts 19 minutes so get a coffee ... sit down .. relax ... watch ... and enjoy.
Probably one of the most encouraging and challenging talks I have seen in recent years.
If the video doesn't start use the following link (the video will open in a new window which you can close, using the 'Close Window' button after viewing) Watch Ken Robinson Talk
Probably one of the most encouraging and challenging talks I have seen in recent years.
If the video doesn't start use the following link (the video will open in a new window which you can close, using the 'Close Window' button after viewing) Watch Ken Robinson Talk
Labels: business, creative, creativity, education, ken robinson, ted
Monday, 10 December 2007
How relevant are our emotions in our outlook & learning?
I was reading a book today and came across a quote from psychologist Daniel Goleman, which seems to sum up pretty well where we currently find ourselves in education, business and society.
Here are some of his thoughts:
'These are times when the fabric of society seems to unravel at ever greater speed, where selfishness, violence and a meanness of spirit seem to be rotting the goodness of our communal lives ... Those who are at the mercy of impulse - who lack self-control - suffer a moral deficiency. The ability to control impulse is the basis of will and character. By the same token, the root of altruism lies in empathy, the ability to read emotions in others; lacking a sense of another's need or despair, there is no caring. And if there are any two moral stances that our times call for, they are precisely these, self-restraint and compassion ... When it comes to shaping our decisions and our actions, feeling counts every bit as much, and often more, than thought; we have gone too far in emphasising the value of the purely rational, of what IQ measures, in human life.'
Goleman points at the changes needed to bring about a revision and resurgence of individual and community values and creativity. Stimulation and development of only one area of our personality quashes the full potential of us as people (individuals and in our communities).
Only when each of us we are able to redress the balance and open up ourselves to facets of our lives that have lain dormant or remained underdeveloped/undeveloped can we begin to release our true potential and creativity. Then, our crisis in the business and indeed world arena may begin to be challenged and effectively reversed. Until next time ...
Here are some of his thoughts:
'These are times when the fabric of society seems to unravel at ever greater speed, where selfishness, violence and a meanness of spirit seem to be rotting the goodness of our communal lives ... Those who are at the mercy of impulse - who lack self-control - suffer a moral deficiency. The ability to control impulse is the basis of will and character. By the same token, the root of altruism lies in empathy, the ability to read emotions in others; lacking a sense of another's need or despair, there is no caring. And if there are any two moral stances that our times call for, they are precisely these, self-restraint and compassion ... When it comes to shaping our decisions and our actions, feeling counts every bit as much, and often more, than thought; we have gone too far in emphasising the value of the purely rational, of what IQ measures, in human life.'
Goleman points at the changes needed to bring about a revision and resurgence of individual and community values and creativity. Stimulation and development of only one area of our personality quashes the full potential of us as people (individuals and in our communities).
Only when each of us we are able to redress the balance and open up ourselves to facets of our lives that have lain dormant or remained underdeveloped/undeveloped can we begin to release our true potential and creativity. Then, our crisis in the business and indeed world arena may begin to be challenged and effectively reversed. Until next time ...
Labels: business, community, community values, creative, creativity, education, gifts, releasing creativity, skills, values
Thursday, 6 December 2007
The creative paradox
For decades we have been educating and training people to be academics. Those who succeed take the highest places of honour, those who don't ... well, we'd rather not talk about them.
But who are the REAL losers in these systems. I think the short answer is ... everyone!
We focus on training people to become thinkers, but at the same time deprive them of a key aspect of their intellectual capacity ... creativity.
Creativity isn't just something done by a small subset of people, locked away in a special 'creative room' that most of us never see. True creativity is something in which everyone of us can engage and comes when we apply all of our intellectual faculties ... reasoning, emotions, feelings ... when we allow our whole brain in on the party.
Think about an athlete preparing for a key race. We wouldn't expect them to exercise only one leg and one arm. We may laugh at the idea, but our traditional education systems do exactly that with our brain ... one part thrives and the other part atrophies.
And worse still, what if our brain doesn't connect with these logical, deductive learning processes? In two words: we struggle. Worse still, we become convinced of our own failure because we don't hit the academic standards (which after all are only set against one dimension of criteria).
There are many amazingly creative people who fall by the wayside because they are never allowed to achieve their full potential. Even the so-called 'academic successes' fail, as critical areas of personal development involving the emotions, interactive skills and basic team player skills have been squeezed through the academic mangle and been left behind.
Business cries out for creative people but is rarely in a position to get any: it doesn't really know how to recognise and test for creative people within its own walls and the end-products of university or college education rarely have the necessary skills or abilities.
It's a sobering thought ... one I will be looking at further. But what do you think?
But who are the REAL losers in these systems. I think the short answer is ... everyone!
We focus on training people to become thinkers, but at the same time deprive them of a key aspect of their intellectual capacity ... creativity.
Creativity isn't just something done by a small subset of people, locked away in a special 'creative room' that most of us never see. True creativity is something in which everyone of us can engage and comes when we apply all of our intellectual faculties ... reasoning, emotions, feelings ... when we allow our whole brain in on the party.
Think about an athlete preparing for a key race. We wouldn't expect them to exercise only one leg and one arm. We may laugh at the idea, but our traditional education systems do exactly that with our brain ... one part thrives and the other part atrophies.
And worse still, what if our brain doesn't connect with these logical, deductive learning processes? In two words: we struggle. Worse still, we become convinced of our own failure because we don't hit the academic standards (which after all are only set against one dimension of criteria).
There are many amazingly creative people who fall by the wayside because they are never allowed to achieve their full potential. Even the so-called 'academic successes' fail, as critical areas of personal development involving the emotions, interactive skills and basic team player skills have been squeezed through the academic mangle and been left behind.
Business cries out for creative people but is rarely in a position to get any: it doesn't really know how to recognise and test for creative people within its own walls and the end-products of university or college education rarely have the necessary skills or abilities.
It's a sobering thought ... one I will be looking at further. But what do you think?
Labels: academic, arts, business, college, creative, creativity, education, emotions, failure, failures, feelings, intellect, intellectual, intelligence, reasoning, school, sciences, skills, success, university
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
