The secret to going after your creative dreams (from SARK)

 

Do you know the secret to going after your creative dreams?

Whether you want to paint, bake, dance, write, play an instrument or make a movie, do it badly, says SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), who is known for her colorful, inspirational work.

You don't need to strive for perfectionism to make your dream happen.

In fact, doing things “badly” frees you to create, says SARK, the bestselling author, artist and teacher, who has helped millions of people learn to act on their creative dreams.

Do you know the secret to going after your creative dreams?
Whether you want to paint, bake, dance, write, play an instrument or make a movie, do it badly, says SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), who is known for her colorful, inspirational work. You don't need to strive for perfectionism to make your dream happen.
In fact, doing things “badly” frees you to create, says SARK, the bestselling author, artist and teacher, who has helped millions of people learn to act on their creative dreams.
- See more at: http://www.spiritualcinemacircle.com/spiritual-leader/sark-susan-kennedy-video-interview#sthash.t1UUU5vV.dpuf

Do you know the secret to going after your creative dreams?
Whether you want to paint, bake, dance, write, play an instrument or make a movie, do it badly, says SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), who is known for her colorful, inspirational work. You don't need to strive for perfectionism to make your dream happen.
In fact, doing things “badly” frees you to create, says SARK, the bestselling author, artist and teacher, who has helped millions of people learn to act on their creative dreams.
- See more at: http://www.spiritualcinemacircle.com/spiritual-leader/sark-susan-kennedy-video-interview#sthash.t1UUU5vV.dpuf

10 insights about corporate creativity from J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler

"I talk to so many people about the lack of creativity in companies in America. Part of creativity is contrarianism, " says Mickey Drexler, CEO of J.Crew.

"Creativity battles common wisdom. Because if there's common wisdom, there's an opportunity. In my own experience, whatever was a good idea was a bad idea to most people," he says in a recent interview with Fast Company.

Here are ten of his insights on what it takes to be creative.

1. "Every business could be creative."
2. "Companies are in the Stone Ages organizationally."
3. "Most companies should have a rule about how big they get."
4. "America's companies are built to destroy creativity."
5. "You have to keep moving forward."
6. "I'm a very proud micromanager."
7. "You cannot copy high quality."
8. "You can drown in data."
9. "It's aggravating to be a public company."
10. "Simplicity is very difficult to achieve."

Read the full article at http://www.fastcompany.com/

8 eBooks I want to Write ASAP

Content.

Creative energy.

Cultivation of relationships.

I don’t simple write books and blogs to educate. Rather it helps me gain (and share) a deeper understanding of subjects.

Here are some ideas I’m working on with deeper value.

• 8 Best Practices for Brand Story Development
• 8-Point Check List for Evaluating Brand Innovation Concepts
• 8 Ways to Introduce New Hires to Your Industry
• 8 Common Questions about Focus Groups Answered
• 8 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Research Report
• 88 Health & Medical Statistics For Better Decision-Making
• 8 Experts Share Industry Insights: Learn From The Best
• 8 eBooks to Write Right Now

Could you contribute to any of these? Let’s collaborate.

What other types of eBooks do you like? Share your suggestions.

N-of-8: Back to basics

It’s a good time to recalibrate our tools.  In this post, I will address the basic questions about N-of-8.

What is N-of-8 ?

A creative facilitation model using a diverse group of 8 individuals

Who does N-of-8 ?

An innovation team led by a trained group moderator

When is N-of-8 used?

• Customer insight and involvement: to engage key opinion leaders who will most influence future practice. 
• Product claims and messaging:  to see how your story can be told from multiple viewpoints. 
• New product and service creation: to help brand teams understand and compare current usage – and then create ideas to solve known customer problems, and even expose new ones. 
• Mission and strategy articulation: a way that leaders press forward and convey the big picture.

How N-of-8 is different:

Not just for “coming up with ideas,” but also for assessing and planning to put them into action

Where is the difference of N-of-8 meaningful to the brand?

Opportunity and structure to create new processes, products, and services

Why is the difference of N-of-8 relevant to the brand team?

Innovation outcome can be measured in financial results, marketing differentiation, and image acceleration

6 key takeaways from "The Compound Effect"

Would you rather have $3 million right now -- or take 1 cent which would double every day for the next 31 days?

The answer had a dramatic effect on me.

And it was one of many takeaways from reading "The Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy.

Write out excuses

• Write 6-10 small changes to make
• Write 6-10 small things to stop

Choices

• Take 100% responsibility
• Track it

Habits

• If 1% off, L.A. to N.Y. (Albany and Delaware)

Focus of 3 best habits

“Clean house”

• Momentum

Rhythm register

Influences

• Peak performance partner(s)

Acceleration

• Where can you do more

9 key notes from "Practically Radical"

Here is a synopsis of my notes from reading "Practically Radical" by William Taylor:




Age of disruption

“You can’t do big things if you are content with doing things a little better than others.”


Brand attic

Timelines of products, campaigns, artifacts

Pedigree = Dogma “we’re for dogs”

Girl Scouts = Juliette, founder 1912


Where you look shapes what you see

- Build-A -Bear

- Pepsico

- Container store


“Zero-Gravity Thinkers”

The job of change agent is not just to surface high-minded ideas. It is to summon a sense of urgency inside and outside of organization, then turn urgency into action.


“Crumple it up”

Humana identified practices to stop

“Chief Purposologist”


Be the most of something

You can be unique and not narrow


Thinking harder – caring more

Engage emotionally to satisfy


Blank-sheet-of-paper mindset


Someone who can tap people and processes in org

"600 creative minds strong, spread across continents, acting as one." - GYRO

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I love the copy is this ad. 

What A Time To Be Alive

The bright, new technologies of now are bringing humans together as never before.  In just one click, we can share our innermost thoughts with a million other minds.

We can swap pictures of kittens.  We can bring down governments.  We should feel like gods.  But somehow we don’t.

Because most what we feel is numb.

It seems we’ve switched on something that we can’t switch off.  The current of information is endless now; it knows where we work and it follows us home.  It bombards us with multichannel assaults on our time and attention, and the more it continues, the more desensitized we become.

So the big question is this:  In a world made numb by digital noise, what can any business or brand do to make itself relevant again?  Why should anyone care?

It is the question we reinvented our company to answer.

After three decades helping world-class businesses succeed, we have had the courage to change our culture.

Entirely.

The kind of ideas our clients need now can come from anywhere and take any form, so we’ve swept away the “creative apartheid.”

These times demand an agency with unconventional DNA, a collective team of influencers, curators, editors, thinkers, inventors and producers.

With all the energy, excitement and passion of a start-up – we have created a global ideas shop.

We are 600 creative minds strong, spread across continents, acting as one.  United by a single propose:  to produce ideas that ignite.

These unstoppable ideas, fired by emotion, are behind everything we want to achieve for our clients.  Emotion is the key to intimacy between businesses, brands and people.  It’s there in every choice humans make, whether they’re buying laptops or signing million-dollar contracts.

Ideas that ignite emotions are ideas that ignite business decisions.

And our right to exist as a company depends on our ability to find those expansive ideas – on every project we’re given and every single day we come to work.

We will never be afraid to do whatever it takes to make businesses and brands matter to people again.

WE ARE GYRO.

8 triggers to help you Breakout of the ordinary

Although it's impossible to draw up an exhaustive list of every activity or setting that may produce a breakout, each of the triggers mentioned below has worked well for at least some individuals.

In their book The Breakout Principle: How to Activate the Natural Trigger That Maximizes Creativity, Athletic Performance, Productivity and Personal Well-Being, Benson and Proctor present these among many categories that have demonstrated the power to stimulate the biological changes commonly associated with breakouts and peak creative experiences.

As you review these options, ask yourself: Is it possible that this approach, or something like this approach, would work for me?

  While at first these activities may seem totally different, they all have one major factor in common: the power to sever prior mental patterns -- and that's what the Breakout trigger is all about.

300 designers can't be wrong

Design professionals say they get their inspiration out of the office.

Where will you go today to be inspired?

83 Gallery event with Colors & Bottles: inspiring the creative side of my brain

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I really enjoyed my most recent painting event with Colors & Bottles held at 83 Gallery in the Short North district of Columbus.

This was my third time, and it keeps inspiring the creative side of my brain.

During this event, there was a specific painting taught by our instructor, Ratnamala, who is quite encouraging.

So when I wanted to interpret the painting in my own style, she said “whatever you wish,” then shared some tips to make me feel comfortable with my technique.

Colors & Bottles mission is to offer a relaxed, welcoming, stress-free, social art experience for anyone and everyone of all skill levels. Certainly that’s been how I’ve felt -- comfortable, social, no-pressure, encouraging, and entertaining.

It was great to meet and talk with Jessica Burley, founder and president of Colors & Bottles.  She is the heart, passion, drive and determination behind its success.

“I wanted to start an organization that not only offered an artistic stress outlet for people but I wanted to structure my business in a way that could create jobs for Artists and Art lovers,” Jessica says. “The idea of hosting events in various hip locations was a perfect, yet fun, solution to help support and grow local communities. This idea allows for our host small businesses to get people in their door to market, sell and promote their products. We truly believe that if everyone supports each other and works together than we can all help build strong, successful and happy communities.”

Colors & Bottles is now in 9 cities nationwide and employs 137 artists and contractors.

2 masterminds in "Creative Engines" share insights on innovation

Monday night, I had the chance to see and hear two creative masterminds in conversation focusing on innovation and creativity.

• Sergio Marchionne is chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group LLC and CEO of Fiat S.p.A.  Marchionne is credited with turning Chrysler Group and Fiat around.

• John Jay, a Columbus native and Ohio State alum, is co-global creative director for advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, the agency that developed the “Imported from Detroit” Super Bowl ad campaigns for Chrysler that made a worldwide splash.

In this event, Marchionne and Jay met each other personally for the first time – then discussed topics that included the powerful impact of innovative design and bold creative practice on successful businesses and, by extension, the American economy, as well as the complex and challenging process of reshaping a brand, and more.

Here are a few highlights from my personal notes:

“Talk is cheap, except in a 2-minute commercial during halftime of the Super Bowl.”

“We used a composer in Portland for the music track; now she’s a punk artist.”

“Clint first said he’d do the commercial but didn’t want to show any cars.  I told him I sold cars for a living.”

“In 2009, no one bet a dollar on our survival.”

“I challenged our organization to launch 16 new products, that now account for 75% of our sales.  We’ve paid back the government loans, with interest, 6 years ahead of schedule.”

“We tapped into the mindset of the country.  If Chrysler could do it, so could I.”

“Our leadership model requires two things:  lead change and lead people.”

From Eminem song, Lose Yourself:

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Marchionne joined Fiat in 2004, returning it to profitability in 2005 after four straight years of losses, and spearheaded Fiat’s strategic alliance with Chrysler in 2009 with the support of U.S. and Canadian government and trade unions. A little over two years later, following its emergence from Chapter 11, Chrysler Group returned to profitability; in June of this year, sales were up 20 percent from the previous year.

This event is presented in conjunction with the 200Columbus bicentennial celebrations, honoring the creative spirit of Columbus. It is also the final event in the eight-day idUS international design festival, taking place in Columbus in October.

In conjunction with the event, 3 cars were parked in front of the Wexner Center Plaza:   the Chrysler 200S Convertible, the Dodge Dart Limited, and the Fiat 500.

9 Environments that control you -- and how to take control of them

The environments that we live in—all 9 of them—either inspire us or expire us. 

They facilitate our success or they detract from our success. They energize us or they drain us. They relax us or they stress us. 

The good news, writes Jack Canfield, is that we have a lot of control of the environments that affect us. We can de-clutter our office, create better filing systems, paint a wall, redecorate a room, clean out the garage, join a health club, hire a personal trainer, buy a treadmill or some free weights, join a yoga class, join a mastermind group, move to a new area, take walks in the park, schedule more time with friends, stop hanging out with negative people, hire a coach, hire a financial planner, join an investment club, feng shui your home or apartment, or subscribe to a positive magazine. 

Jack  says, "While it is true that our environments exert a lot of control over our feelings and behavior, we have the power to create environments that positively impact us."

The only thing you can do to transform an environment is to add something (a new person, a new piece of equipment, a new belief), delete something (a negative person, the TV from your bedroom, a self-limiting belief, clutter), or modify something (paint a room, set a boundary with a family member, change where you eat dinner).

As you review the 9 environments that constantly surround you in your life, ask yourself:

"What could I add, delete or modify in each of these environments that would contribute to my success or enhance the quality of my life?"

See the full list at www.jackcanfield.com

Words that establish the Ripa Hotel brand: Words that matter

Earlier this year when I stayed at the Ripa Hotel in Rome, I was greeted each day with inspiring words – words that matter – all around the hotel.

Especially these words in the elevator:  Happy and Dream.

They helped set the tone for the hotel’s brand:  all the staff were friendly, courteous and helpful.  The buffet breakfasts started our morning with an ample selection of hot and cold foods, along with my cafe latte.

The Ripa is located close to the center of Trastevere.  Read more about its design and concept at ripahotel.com

I was happy with my visit.  And I dream of returning.

All this week, I’ve been blogging about words and how they matter in persuasive writing.

Alternatives youth program: Words that matter

The Chicago building that stands on the west side of Sheridan Road, one block south of Lawrence Avenue has some inspiring words – words that matter:

• Stretch
• Renew
• Trust
• Grow
• Share

This is the home of Alternatives youth development agency.

They offer comprehensive, multicultural programs serving more than 3,000 young people and their families each year.

The mission of Alternatives is to facilitate personal development, strengthen family relationships and enhance the community’s well being. Established in 1971 when the community identified substance abuse as a key issue affecting local teens, Alternatives is dedicated serving Chicago's at-risk youth and their families.

Their programs include counseling, leadership development, substance abuse and violence prevention, and academic enrichment.

The programs and services of Alternatives use an asset-based model that focuses on enriching young people's lives by building upon individual strengths within the context of their family and community. They help increase opportunities to succeed and grow as individuals and community members.

Most of all, they value the diversity of the communities – and so Alternatives will partner with more than 100 local organizations and schools.

All this week, my blogs will focus on "words that matter."  Here are some close-up photos of  the words on the Alternatives Building.

Colors & Bottles: a social art experience

Last Sunday, Brian and I decided to express some creative energy in a different way.

We went to a Colors & Bottles painting event.

Colors & Bottles says its goal is “to offer a relaxed, welcoming, stress-free, social art experience for anyone and everyone.”  The afternoon lived up to our expectation of a very chill experience.  They genuinely supported everyone in their art – without judgment.

The C&B was a comfortable class for all skill levels. During our event, there is one specific painting shared for reference and taught by the lead art instructor.  We got an easel, brushes, paint, apron, water cup, palette, paper towels and anything we might have needed

Here are some pics from our day.

   

You can read what Val wrote on her blog “That’s What We Did” thatswhatwedid.blogspot.com

16 selected works from the AGORA 9 showcase

For the ninth year in a row, AGORA was a vast showcase for Columbus’ visual artists held at Junctionview Studios in the Grandview Heights neighborhood.

And AGORA is not a quiet art exhibit – in fact, it’s almost a party atmosphere.

Saturday, I joined other art enthusiasts to observe 450 pieces of artwork on display created by around 200 artists.  Plus, there were 8 bands, 6 food vendors, 10 craft vendors, art cars, a fashion show, a fire show, live comedy, even an Instagram installation.

I agree with Halie Williams from Columbus Underground who wrote, “I was immensely impressed with not only the number of works showcased, but the amount of talent and diverse pieces of artwork.”

AGORA celebrates Central Ohio's diverse and talented creative community. AGORA guests have the opportunity to view and purchase hundreds of works of art, wander through working artists' studios.

Below are a few of my favorite works from the exhibition.