Communities have creative souls. Some blossom in the spring of harmoniously shared lives, others whither in the cold winds of isolation and fear. The communities that blossom, that “work” in more simple language  — are creative communities — because the collective “team” has chosen to appreciate and even encourage diversity. The bad news/good news about diversity is that there is usually more conflict on diverse teams, but if normalized, those teams are almost always more innovative than homogenous teams. You only have to examine the work of Richard Florida to understand that creative and diverse communities evolve into economically prosperous communities. Case in point: Buckinghamshire, UK. I volunteered as a graphic illustrator yesterday at an extraordinary event. I promised to

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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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Heads-up! There’s a great creativity post on Mike Brown’s excellent blog, Brainzooming. It’s a listing of 37 articles on ways to be more creative.  I’m kicking myself because I’m not on the list! I realize that even though I’ve written about 300 posts related to creativity, and a book — I haven’t written a piece that explicitly takes on that challenge.  I would argue that my “Magic Jacket of Creative Behavior” post comes darn close!  Well, never mind, no time like the present to make a change — I’ll make the next list with this post! There are a lot of ways to be more creative, in my list below I’ve tried to focus on fundamental Ways of Being that lead to

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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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I’ve had the pleasure over the last week to devour a new novel from British writer, Gary William Murning.  Murning is the author of If I Never, a fine book, a thriller, I reviewed here last year. The new offering is essentially a fictionalized memoir titled Children of the Resolution. To say the least, Murning has upped his already fine game in his second major work of fiction. He did it by reaching into his past — and his heart.  The only thing I don’t like about this book is the cover art. Quite aside from the content of the book, Murning has decided to self-publish, a gutsy move, and a brilliant one in my view. His publisher (Legend Press) passed,

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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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I’m busy these days writing a manual for my new company, Kiln.  Writing a technical document is a mixed blessing.  It feels like you’re doing something that will provide value, that feels good, and — it’s often slow going. The manual is for a new innovation process which we’re calling FuseTrail. More about that in future posts, but as part of that effort I had some fresh thoughts about factors that impact innovation. I had all the usual suspects down, things like, respect for ideas, supportive culture, persistence, and talented people. I paused while writing and thought about what was stopping some of the organizations I’ve worked with — and it came to me — the obvious, Courage. This will be

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I read with some interest, and, frankly, surprise that Intel and will.i.am are joining forces. They’ve named the rapper “Director of Creative Innovation.” Read the PR Blurb in Daily Finance for the spin on the story. This is really interesting.  Some quick thoughts: 1. will.i.am is undoubtedly a creative force as an artist. The Black Eyed Peas are monster hit makers and captivating performers. Beyond his hip-hop cred, his song “Yes We Can” used in the video for Obama during the 2008 election was nothing short of inspirational (I just watched it again, tears in my eyes). He’s dabbled in fashion, producing, acting, and more. The man has creative chops, absolutely no doubt. As a symbolic kind of guy for creativity,

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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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I just finished reading a wonderful novel, The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. It’s a brisk story told in first person by a young Indian entrepreneur.  I won’t say much more about the story, but it’s a good one, and deserving of the accolades and prizes its received. Perfect airplane reading, and, it has me thinking about how an entrepreneur gets started. Kudos to Adiga for writing a compelling, dark, fascinating examination of poverty, opportunity, and wealth. A White Tiger is a rare breed in the wild, and the metaphor was used in the novel to describe how challenging it is for a young Indian, mired in the mud of deep poverty, to move from virtual slavery to being an

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