Gregg Fraley

Who remembers “Happenings?”  I’m not referring to the Supreme’s song, or to the TV show, but actual… Happenings.   Before Tweet-ups, before flash mobs, before raves, before disco, there were Happenings. A cultural trend of note, highly innovative at the time, and worth revisiting. I’m creating a new version of a Happening in Boston next week, but more on that later. Why am I posting about this? Because there is something to learn from the old trend, and that is, we learn best through interaction with cultural stimuli. Back to history — the first Happenings were hosted by high level artists in the New York City area (such as George Segal and Allan Kaprow) in the early 60’s.  Characterised as “the

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There is a growing realization that brainstorming (aka ideation, aka idea generation) sessions are set up for failure. This is arguable, and I expect I’ll hear how I’m wrong about this.  Many facilitators have a religious belief in the power of brainstorming. While I believe they can be truly productive, I do think brainstorming “works”, I think the formula for success is very tricky. I believe most brainstorm session plans are fundamentally flawed. Sadly, it’s mis-directed creativity that does not lead to innovation. What normally happens is usually not absolute failure.  Typical results are… mediocre, with incremental ideas as the result. Sometimes this is good enough, incremental ideas are often exactly what you want, and are under-valued. If that’s your

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I keep a close eye on Grant McCracken’s postings, his insights on culture are always fascinating. Grant is the author of Chief Culture Officer, and I’ve alluded to him here before. He recently made some interesting comments about the fallout of hiring Barbara Lippert as “curator of pop culture” at the ad agency Goodby Silverstein. Reactions to her hiring included several age-ist comments about how a 55 year old woman couldn’t possibly be on top of trends. McCracken pointed out, among other things, that trends are only 20% of culture to start with. In his view age is actually an advantage when it comes to the broader task of culture watching. Do read his very pertinent comments. Lippert did a

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I’ve been asked by intelligent people why I bother with Twitter. The short answer, for me, is — marketing. But, it’s not only marketing and that glib answer will hardly suffice for those who really are seeking to understand the phenomena.  I passed 7,000 followers this past week, and I consider that an accomplishment. Now, not everybody needs to have that kind of Following, in fact, depending on your goals, 100 or less might be exactly what you want.  Your goals with Twitter will be different if you’re playing for yourself, or for an organization. They’ll be different depending on your personal desires. This post is more about how and why an individual might get to Tweeting, see my 7

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My friend Mark Dykeman sent me a new Harvard study on Creativity. It’s a shocker at one level, and at another, it’s really not. The not-finalized study (The Dark Side of Creativity, Original Thinkers Can Be Dishonest, by Francesca Gino and Daniel Ariely) claims, and quite credibly, that creative people can be dishonest — that is, less ethical, than those who are not as creative. In reading through the “working paper” (this means it has been released for comment and discussion, I’ll forward notes).  I note how well researched the piece is, the authors have done a good job of building their case.  They tested the concept no less than five different ways, and all five studies confirm the conclusion.

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“Coffee, tea, or, — hey, get the hell off the plane!” Nearly an entire cabin of passengers on a Ryanair flight revolted over the weekend. The incident caused a three hour delay for all passengers, even the non-trouble makers. Nearly 100 passengers deemed by the airline to have caused the trouble, were forced off the plane and must now book their own flights home. They will also incur lodging charges. Some will not be allowed back on Ryanair — those who disobeyed the cabin crew. I guess paying customers are pretty much “extra baggage” to Ryanair. And God forbid anyone should question the cabin crew!  This must be punished! The donnybrook started when a passenger (or a few) was charged

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Very quick post, but if you want to see an amazing glimpse into the future, check this out: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=176790 I do wonder why they didn’t use older people as the models, but otherwise… kudos to Honda for the U3-X. It would be nice to see similar videos in other industries, any suggestions?

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There is a memorable scene in Godfather III where Michael Corleone laments his inability to stay out of the mob game, he screams —  “Just when I thought I was out of it, they pull me back in.” This is something like my relationship with start-up companies. I’ve been involved with several, and whether they were successes or not, at the time, I always felt that this ‘was the last one.’ I don’t know why exactly. Perhaps because of the intensity of the work, or the roller coaster ride of high high’s and the low low’s. Maybe just because it’s a bit scary.  At times, back in the day, I was ambivalent about my own motives. That ambivalence is probably what

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I don’t profess to be the foremost expert on all things UK Government budget. Still, I feel like I have to comment on yesterday’s announcements regarding support for higher education tuition in the UK. In a nutshell, tuition for higher education will be allowed to float free, and, loans to students will shift to a longer payback period.  There’s more to it than that. It claims to be “fair” because the loan repayment will be graduated and progressive. That is, if you make a lot you pay more, if you make very little you might not have to pay it back at all. And…if you pay it back early you might incur a penalty! To use an old phrase where

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Briefly noted: My good friend Alan Black sent me a link today to a very hip and creative blog called Crooked Brains. The post up today has to do with electronic or smart pens and he thought I’d like to see it given my recent review of Livescribes Echo smart pen.  Check out these wacky pens, some of which are quite innovative, some just interesting. Livescribe’s Echo is included in the list, and I still think it’s the most practical, but the others are quite interesting, and may suit your needs.  For instance if you’re a music composer the Gigiway device looks great. Is it just me thinking that this market is about to take off, or am I just

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