Gregg Fraley

Be a Goofball By Gregg Fraley Everybody’s born a goofball Every kid is a goofball. Goofballs goof around. They goof for the sake of goofing. They goof all the time. Because goofing is fun. It’s the opposite of serious And it’s not mysterious. All you do is make everything a toy, make everybody a cartoon character, make every place interesting… it’s not a bathroom, It’s … the bat cave, It’s not plain Jane Smith from down the street, It’s “Hayne Rodrigo” the Spanish lady who loves to salsa (even if she doesn’t know it, and, this is essential, You Make Her Dance till she laughs). The key is, you don’t do anything normal. You don’t talk normal, Sit normal, Walk

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Some people have no idea what it means to have a “Generative Discussion.” A generative discussion is when people talk, and in the process of discussing something, use a bit of vision, imagination, and ideation. Entrepreneurs and inventors are good at this; they tend to always be looking for the opportunity in what’s being talked about. “What If…” or “Wouldn’t it be Cool If…” or “How Might We…” are phrases you often hear. Now dig, I’m not talking about brainstorming (in any of its many forms and definitions).  I’m talking about, well, talking — but with a creative twist. Creative talking, Innovative talking (aka a Generative Discussion) is more than debate — which is usually about proving how right you

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There is quite a bandwagon rolling right now about Creativity. 5 years ago it seemed that Creativity was a bad word. You could never say it aloud at a corporation because what it meant wasn’t new ideas, it was interpreted as “lack of control” or, even worse, those touchy-feely things that have nothing to do with business. Alright, you could say the word, IF, you coupled it with “…and Innovation.” This is still something you nearly always have to do. When you think about it, it’s kind of silly. Creativity is a bigger concept than innovation, in fact, innovation is a subset. So, saying Creativity AND Innovation is a bit like say, I like Music AND Raggae. Now, every few

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I tweeted this morning that I had the don’t-have-an-idea-for-a-blog-post-blues.  It’s true.  Mr. Creativity himself does occasionally run dry!  (Note to self: see if Peter Lloyd might write a song with that title). I got some humorous ideas and encouragement tweeted back at me. Gary Murning (author of If I Never, @GaryMurning) suggests an author interview.  I’ll take him up on that, but not today. @ReetaLuthra suggests that the aforementioned blues are a topic in of itself.  Yes, but a bit “movie within a movie” — not today! Mark Abrahams (@Mark_Abrahams) pushes my own advice back at me and advises me to put on my Creative Coat (see my TEDx talk). Ding! That’s it, I’ll post about The Creative Coat Concept

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The UK Foreign Office is currently bending over backwards to apologize like mad to the Pope. It’s an interesting turn of events given the long and twisted history of anti-Catholicism in the UK. The short version of the story: the Pope is coming to the UK soon for the first official state visit by the Vatican since 1982. In a lower level planning meeting at the Foreign Office, a half dozen people brainstormed ideas regarding how to handle the visit. Some of the ideas were clearly Jokes, and should never have been made public. Some of  the ideas were serious as well, which indicates that the purpose of the brainstorm was not to embarass the goverment. There was a sincere attempt

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Riding the train you get a peek into the lives of other people. It’s one of my favorite places to observe, draw, and reflect. Yes, most have their game faces on already, but sometimes you get an intuition of what’s under the mask. I saw this woman a couple weeks ago riding the train into London. She was a domestic of some kind and she had a lovely open face (when you draw people everybody’s face looks more interesting, beautiful really).  Massive bag in her lap, practical brown shoes, tidy looking overall. A name came to me, Agnes. Agnes was a bit tired looking, in spite of a hurried, dab-on make-up job. Agnes relaxed for the ride and zoned out,

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It occurred to me that Innovators need music as much as, maybe more than, everyone else. Music is an unparalleled source of inspiration for many people, so why would innovators be any different? So, what would the inspired Innovators ultimate playlist be? I’ve created the ultimate playlist for innovators — based on experience, and suggestions from friends on Twitter and Facebook. Now, it’s a given that there might be different playlists for different innovator mind-frames, like, what to play when doing research, or what to play when building a prototype, doing idea generation, etc.  Those might come later.  But this list is the generic all purpose one. I say Innovator in my title, but this is a post for Entrepreneurs

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Frankie Boyle’s autobiography, My Sxxx Life So Far is not for everyone.  It’s filled with obscenities for one, and his relentlessly irreverent view on nearly everything is sometimes too much to bear.  On the other hand, I have to say, I loved it, because this is a guy who somehow never learned to pull his creative punches.  This is absolutely 100% authentic, honest, creative, interesting, and funny.  Inspiring for me, and I suspect many innovators would find this book a breath of fresh, albeit blue, air. Frankie Boyle is probably best known as a panelist on the UK comedy show “Mock the Week”. The show is improvised outrageousness and Frankie is clearly the most spontaneous and out-of-the-comedy-box person on it.

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I occasionally post my notebook drawings.  I’ll let this one speak for itself…

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