"Inner Work Life" and the impact of Amabile

After years of painstaking research on the "inner work lives" of employees of several organizations, world-renowned creativity researcher Teresa Amabile offers valuable insights in her new book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. If you're a manager, she argues, then understanding and nourishing your staff's "inner" life is key to productivity and success--and specifically supporting progress and meaningful accomplishments, even in small steps, can make the greatest difference. Check out her video here, as she explains what helps people get more deeply engaged and satisfied with their work.

Amabile personally made a great difference in my life by introducing me to the field of creativity (who knew there was a field?) when I was still a teenage sophomore at Brandeis. Her pioneering research and writing (her Creativity in Context broke new ground as a comprehensive review of decades of key creativity studies) was so impressive that Harvard Business School soon snatched her up as one of their own.  Before they did, though, I decided to take her "Psychology of Creativity" course, which changed my life.  If you'll indulge me for a paragraph...

I still remember the feeling of the state Amabile would call "intrinsic motivation," as a class assignment led me to spend nights roaming the library, highly stimulated by ideas for perhaps the first time in my life. For my final paper and class speech, I felt so compelled to make an ambitiously-wide-ranging case about work and creativity that I sought out writers in different domains to see where they would lead me. I read social theorists and philosophers who had something to say about conditions for creativity--there was Dewey and Weber and Marx and others--and started to make direct connections between their conclusions and the findings of the psychological studies we were reading about in class. My wordy masterpiece, "The Stifling of Creativity in Work in Our Society" (yes, I still remember), was pretty good, but the speech I gave was, I believe, my best work as an academic, delivered with no-notes-needed passion and breaking the rules of academia (When I finished my diatribe, with smoke still coming out of my ears, I remember the stunned and lengthy silence in the room until the sole graduate student asked, "Do you have statistical evidence for this?"). When years later I learned that Amabile did not remember this greatest-student-speech-of-all-time, I realized the impact was made primarily on me, but it was, indeed, a lasting one. In any case, thank you, Teresa.

Amabile's The Progress Principle (written with her husband Steven Kramer) is distinguished by what she does best--unparalleled research, clear-eyed analysis and cogent writing full of evidence-based and practical human-centered principles. For the last several years, Amabile has been focusing on the workplace, using research findings to help guide leadership in organizations in ways that best leverages the talents, motivations and creativity of the humans who work there.  This book is a culmination of reviewing, coding and making sense of more than 12,000 journal entries from the work trenches.



"Of all the events that can deeply engage people in their work," she says, "the single most important is simply making progress on meaningful work." Managers can best boost positive inner work life, she explains, by reviewing and supporting people's progress everyday--which might sound simple but is more often ignored. Even small wins can yield "significant work life benefits," and the book reviews other influencers, catalysts and inhibitors that impact inner work life. Just like she did for me personally years ago, Amabile once again convincingly makes the case for how best to engage and inspire, and foster the conditions for optimal creativity and productivity in ourselves and others.

Stirring up Live Creativity

During the past few weeks, I've had the honor and challenge and pleasure of stirring up creativity with large groups in a range of settings.  Check it out:

A few minutes before "Who's Got the Biggest Fed Head?"

Last week, I designed and hosted a game show for a 100 Federal Reserve employees, which we called "Who's Got the Biggest Fed Head?" (email me for an audio clip of our theme song!),  testing the knowledge and collaborative abilities of teams in an interactive format.  As I've written previously, most people would be shocked to learn that our too-often maligned Federal Reserve embraces creative thinking and new approaches in service of innovation, learning and improving.  For the game show, I brought a percussionist, and we couldn't help wink at the irony of walking through the crowd of Chicago protesters, beating on their little drums, as we carted in two large congas to play for the actual Fed employees, most of whom, from what I can tell and from what Bernanke himself said recently, sympathize with the protesters.  By the way, that's a $100 bill tie I'm wearing (left).

I just got back from West Virginia, where I facilitated an innovation session for an energy consulting firm (Leonardo Technologies; check out the cool stuff they're working on).  In addition to exploring innovation and creativity through interactive exercises, we also discussed the importance of passion--how to empower employees to pursue their own creative talents and interests--and brainstormed possibilities for new clients and areas to expand their worthwhile work of shifting the energy paradigm in our country.

Stirring it up with kids and parents

I also had a chance to stir it up with younger groups recently, as a speaker for 750 kids at a middle school assembly and as part of the Malaise County Fair project I've been developing with a creative cast this past year. For Malaise, we had our first public performance with families as part of a fall festival here in Chicago, where we tested out new ways for an audience to participate musically and otherwise.  As those of you who know me know, I'm dedicated to helping all of us be creators and not just spectators, and Malaise County Fair continues to experiment with breaking down the wall between performers and audiences in new ways.

Next week, I'll be at it with another innovative program for kids, Poetry Pals, which brings together children of different faiths (in this case, kids from Muslim, Catholic and Jewish schools) to learn from each other and write poetry together.  We're always looking for volunteers to help us with this program, so please email me if you're interested in fostering interfaith relations with us.

Malaise County Fair performs

"The cocoon of middle age habit"

I'm still thinking about the reactions I got last night at a networking event when I asked for folks who wanted to join in on an impromptu musical jam (There was a stage with sundry instruments ready to go--how could I resist?). Simple questions ("Do you play any musical instrument? Sing a little? Want to join us?") were met with such revulsion, such instant "No Way"s and "You don't want me to"s that you would have thought I was inviting them to commit a heinous crime.



Despite our amazing expansion of personal freedom and choices, I often wonder if the permission we give ourselves to experiment creatively has changed much in the past 100 years. Let me dip into the archive for a little 20th century inspiration still relevant today.



"A childlike man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle age habit and convention." ~Aldous Huxley



"This creative power should be kept alive in all people for all their lives. Why? Because it is life itself. It is the Spirit. In fact it is the only important thing about us. The rest of us is legs and stomach, materialistic cravings and fears.

How can we keep it alive? By using it, by letting it out, by giving some time to it. But if we are women we think it is more important to wipe noses and carry doilies than to write or two play the piano. And men spend their lives adding and subtracting and dictating letters when they secretly long to write sonnets and burst into tears at the sunset.

They do not know that this is a fearful sin against themselves. They would be much greater now, more full of light and power, if they had really written the sonnets and played the fiddle and wept over sunsets, as they wanted to." ~Brenda Ueland, "If You Want to Write" (1938)

If June and July were a Single Day...

I woke up early this morning intent on inspiring creativity outside and in, first by facilitating two days of innovation exercises at an educators conference at a farm-camp in mid-state New York, and then by walking dozens of miles through NYC and Philly, climbing the Statue of Liberty* and ringing the Liberty Bell, couple-clutching through Times Square and Washington Square Park, watching kids play baseball in Brooklyn and dance a recital in Upper Dublin, PA, navigating and negotiating my way through Canal St., Port Authority, deer crossings* and crossing the Delaware, mixing it up with family, old friends, rude people with East-coast accents, and my girl.

I got back in Chicago just in time for exploring leadership with new MBA students and seasoned risk managers and then hitting a homer over the left fielder's softball glove before I celebrated at a party featuring the largest pink penis pinata* ever seen. Then we ate and swayed with the rain and heat along with several bands at Chicago street festivals before heading north to Summerfest in Milwaukee, taking a view from the sky* before dancing dangerously on benches to Michael Franti (video below or here) and his frantic love vibe, and then as the heat souffled us we were better off leaving the beach where alewives had flooded the shore and drove back down to the Chicago lakefront for late night swimming and a thousand-person, fire-twirling full moon celebration.



By afternoon I shared the sorrow and joy of a death and a bris, took moped rides to interfaith program meetings, and watched fireworks lighting the sky. I officially finished my own musical script, packed my car with musical instruments and chairs, held auditions* and am now ready for our first Malaise County Fair rehearsal, taking the next step with my most personal creative project, guitar polished and ready to strum into the unknown.

As evening began to roll around, I facilitated an "idea jam"* for a super-smart group of engineers whose buildings can swivel, and this past weekend I swiveled my way out to Ravinia to listen to Five for Fighting under the stars and then took in the ultimate theater-on-steroids show--30 "plays" in 60 minutes by the Neo-Futurists. Now I sit at a cafe, typing this, reminded that there is no better place to spend the summer than Chicago (with a little travel thrown in) and wondering what is in store for the remainder of these simmering months.

Summer Creative Plunge

There is a cool rain pounding the streets once again out my window, as Chicagoans like me continue to wonder when summer will fully arrive. But no matter. The days are long, the trees are green, and it's time once again for me to urge you to let your creativity bloom.

With the extra daylight and outdoor opportunities, what might you be able to bring into the world this summer that only can come from you?

Perhaps you need a spark or a support group to take a summer creative plunge? Like-minded creativity rabble-rouser John Dillon--he is also a radio host, author, and Albuquerque-based speaker and singer-songwriter--has put together a free video series to inspire your creativity. Below is the first of his four free videos:

John has several websites and resources for you if you'd like help engaging your creativity. And if you like his mellow and passionate style, I encourage you not only to watch his four free videos (and listen to his "Art of the Song" radio show and get his book, left), but make a commitment for real creative change by taking a leap and signing up for his 7-week Creativity, Passion and Purpose TeleCourse. Watch the 4th video for more information and sign up using this link so he knows I referred you. Deadline to sign up is this Sunday.

Here in Chicago, I continue to develop Malaise County Fair, an audience-interactive musical and show dedicated to helping us all get out of whatever malaise we are in and creating a space to jam together as a community. We welcome more creativity rabble-rousers to join us--please like us on Facebook, and contact me directly if you'd like to be involved as a performer or behind the scenes.

Let this be the summer you become a musician--let me help you make that happen with my music coaching and you'll be jamming to songs in 6 weeks or less.

Whatever you choose to do, I want to encourage to move from being just a spectator to more of a creator in your life. As John Dillon and I agree, creativity can change lives--and it is just what our society needs right now. It starts with you.

"Everyone Agrees" about Innovation (Whatever it is)

In an article this week in Time, Fareed Zakaria succinctly captures our national conversation about innovation: "Everyone agrees it's key to America's future" but "we don't really have a good fix on the concept."

Zakaria, the omnipresent commentator who works for both CNN and Time, has emerged as one of the most lucid and sane advocates for this buzzword we call innovation. He points out the ways the U.S. as a country is falling behind--and argues convincingly that innovation is "the only durable stength we have" in these troubling economic times. Both novel business ideas and new technology are crucial to innovation, he writes, and what's most important is the "ecosystem that encourages technological breakthroughs and their application."

Click on his picture above to see an interview last night for the Daily Show as he explains that while corporations are doing fine right now, the American labor force is not.

As the political game between two parties begins to pick up steam with Republican candidate debates, we find that "innovation," as Zakaria points out, is one of the few unifying forces in American culture right now. While researchers define innovation as "the implementation of creative ideas," national commentators tend to refer to it in terms of money--for research and development, for capital to invest in businesses, and for government programs that lead to new companies and products. Zakaria is particularly good at describing that ecosystem that fosters innovation, which includes the need for government investment (that fueled great breakthroughs like the Internet, the microchip and GPS)--and which Republicans are often less thrilled to publicly admit supporting.

Zakaria's new CNN series, Restoring the American Dream: How to Innovate, debuted last Sunday, and you can find great resources on CNN for better understanding the innovation conversation, including interviews with distinguished innovators, including John Kao, whose Innovation Nation is also a must-read on the subject, and author Steven Johnson in the video below.


I've previously referred to this conversation as the innovation imperative--the urgent need we have as a country and a culture, as organizations and individuals, to better learn how to be more creative and foster innovation. One imperative is a national and economic one, which includes creating the ecosystem and investments necessary to bring innovation here at home. Another is our own as individuals and in our organizations. I define innovation in that context as improving what's now and creating what's next. For our own innovation to flourish, we have to be constantly working on improving our current state of being--questioning assumptions, proactively seeking out better ways of doing things--and be constantly visioning and creating new strategies and possibilities for the future.

What have you been doing lately to improve what's now and create what's next for your own life, career or organization?

Reinvention Week 6: Remembering the Burn

As I continue my process of working from within to reinvent, I am thinking back to Burning Man, a carnival of experience that can't help but activate one's Warrior of Aliveness. Drawing 50,000 or so people now each Labor Day week in the desert of Nevada, Burning Man is an experiment in living--and creativity--unmatched on the planet right now. What do you need to burn that will help you feel more alive?

Let me share a piece of my experience a few years back, in a story I call...

Letting It Burn

It was Sunday, the last official night of the week-long festival in the desert known as Burning Man, and rumor had it that they were going to burn down the Mausoleum.

Aaron, Jess, Bea and I headed out from our camp on our miraculously still functioning bicycles. The Mausoleum was one of the most beautiful structures I had ever seen on earth, and attending its destruction would be the perfect ending to a week of unprecedented experiences for me and my friends.

Darkness was descending as we pedaled toward the great desert Playa. A sandstorm kicked up out of nowhere, and we put on our goggles and masks and headlamps, as we had done several times in the past few days. But the airborne sand thickened to such an intensity that we soon had to abandon our bikes and set out by foot. Unable to see more than a few inches in front of our faces, our hands on each other's shoulders so not to separate, we slowly walked in what we hoped was the general direction of the Mausoleum.

Now, the truth was, even during daylight, the Mausoleum had been extremely difficult to find in the vast desert. We kept walking, assuming we would run into some of the thousands of other Burning Man participants we believed to be nearby. But minutes turned into miles. The sand was unrelenting, and we came across no one. I drank my last sandy swallow from my water flask. We had lost all bearing of where we came from and where we were heading.

“Do you think we should turn around?” Aaron asked, slight panic creeping into his voice. It was hard for us to hear each other, both because of the sand muffling all sound except its own blowing and because we spoke through surgical masks or bandanas over our mouths.

“Does anyone even know how to get back?” asked Bea. We would have looked at each other for the answer but we could see nothing and already knew the answer was no.

“Let's keep going,” I said. “What choice do we have?” So we kept moving, four voyagers making our way through what felt like a cave in the middle of the earth, somewhere in the great expanse of the Nevada desert.

* * *

The adventure began a few days before: We were lucky to find perhaps the last available RV in all of Northern California, and six of us first-timers packed up and headed out from San Francisco to Burning Man, the week-long festival-carnival in the otherwise uninhabitable desert of northern Nevada. Read the rest of the story here.

Reinvention Week 4: Mission Mantras

For current creativity insights, click here or here. For more on creativity from Adam, use search field (top left) or click on keywords (bottom right) on his Innovation on my Mind blog.

I'm in the process of reinvention and I'm asking the question: What does it take to change my internal identity in such a way that sustained change--real reinvention--can happen? I went inward and Eastward last week to yoga and a yogi, and was left with the message to create my own mantras.

Now when I just write the word "Mantra"--which simply is a repeated, often sacred phrase or sound used by meditators for thousands of years to create transformation--an automatic thought is activated in me. Actually several. That I am risking embarrassment by sharing this. That I live in Chicago and no longer Northern California, and I shouldn't make people here cringe. That I should worry about my reputation as a professional consultant. That I should give up this "reinvention" idea because as much as it sounds good and is what "all innovators are doing" it requires changing something within, which is hard to talk about or admit to or do at all without worrying about a whole host of implications.

You see, I have many automatic thoughts whose goals appear to be to keep me in a life of safety, resist any risk and change, and shut out any ideas of living a more impactful life.

And I know you do too. So I'm asking you--yes, you, reading this right now--what automatic thoughts do you have that are keeping you small and safe? And more importantly, if you could silence those thoughts and live from an identity that would be closer to your real calling, what identity would that be?

Despite my automatic thoughts shaming me for weakness at having to resort to mantras, those thoughts are full of crap. My goal is to be a Warrior--not Worrier--of Aliveness. A warrior must use whatever can work to achieve his mission. And I just don't see how I can change my internal chatter without the proactive, creative act of re-wiring my messages to myself. Think about it--what is stopping you from being more of the YOU-you-want-to-be in the world? In large part it's our internal mantras, our repeated phrases born of protection and fear. So my goal is to change them.

Here's my challenge to you: Send me some of the mantras befitting the identity you want to live out of. You can share them anonymously (or not) via comment or by email to me. I want to hear them. And I need to create and hear mine, again and again, to myself, every day, in order for transformation to happen.

While historically a mantra can be anything from a simple sound or phrase or a more detailed affirmation, right now I need my mantras to reflect my mission. What does it mean to me to take on this identity I'm calling a Warrior of Aliveness? I need to be reminded, again and again, of who I am and what I am up to in this world. So here are some of my mission mantras that I am repeating again and again, morning and night, to rewire my automatic thoughts. What are yours?

To live as my most awakened self To help others live more as their true selves To discover and follow my passions To feel more alive and be in the moment To eviscerate the needless negative To stretch others and myself to actively make a difference in the world To say yes to that which enlivens To take out my sword and slice the saboteur who keeps me closed and small To be and help others to be a creator and not just a spectator To open my heart and feel more, rather than numb myself To be excited about life To bring more love into the world To experience the world and try new things rather than hide To release the negative and embrace positive To get off the leash of my monkey mind To be in the now rather than escape and distract myself To speak the truth and help others speak their own truth To take bigger risks To be a model for possibility To embrace change To stop pleasing others at the cost of my own principles and passions To express myself boldly, creatively and confidently...

Reinvention, Week 2: Identity Shift

Last week I discussed "reinvention"--a popular buzzword and new imperative for ongoing success in business and life in a culture of constant change--and decided it's time for me to take it on myself. What will it really take for me to reinvent myself? I ask this question seriously and with an actual lump in my throat.

Lately my ongoing attempts to live a creative life and spark creativity in others have not led to enough satisfaction or sense of purpose for me. I seek sustained changes and new results that only full reinvention can spark. My typical back door methods--perhaps a splash of charm or a well-placed creative quip--are no longer cutting it.

It's time for me to jump into the cold water of reinvention and learn how to swim, even if my flesh has to wrinkle and age and prune and peel.

Okay, so let me repeat from last week: Reinvention cannot happen unless there is a fundamental change in belief about myself. I can't just wear purple clothes and say I have been reinvented. I have to change something within--something that shifts my guiding mindset--and let it work its way out. Maybe it's possible to do that instantly but I've never discovered how. Coming up with new ideas is not my problem. But they lead only to occasional reinvigoration. Not real reinvention.

So I've decided to change a fundamental belief--the belief about my identity itself. I've been stuck in whoever I thought I was and not able to bring about changes I wanted in my life. So forget whatever my identity was two weeks ago. As of last week, I took on another, may the flags be unfurled and words now capitalized.

I am a Warrior of Aliveness.

Yes, you heard me. Warrior. Of Aliveness. That's the new identity I have been working from in order to realize reinvention that sticks. Warrior of Aliveness. WOA.

If you know me, you know that I am not a particularly warmongering man. Yet there is something about the uncompromising mission of a warrior that appeals to me right now. And generally I believe in language grounded in specific, concrete reality. "Aliveness" doesn't really do that. But it works for me. I will explain more in the future.

For now, as I've been settling into this new identity, I've realized that I need an ongoing power source to survive in this world. It's not easy to be a Warrior of Aliveness in the thought-mind I currently own or in the 21st century Chicago culture I am surrounded by. So I must find certain kinds of fuel that enable my warrior-fire to burn within. I now go off to seek it.

Reinvention now!

"In today’s environment of superacceleration, catch-up is a fool’s game. There is no advantage in keeping up. Forget about trying to compete. Instead, leapfrog the competition by redefining anything and everything about your business. Look at what the competition is doing—and do something entirely different." ~Daniel Burris and John David Mann, "The Reinvention Imperative"

Whether you know it or want it, you are in the process of reinventing yourself. The idea of reinvention--not just once but continuously, not just personally but organizationally--is now part of the 21st century conversation on success. It goes like this: we have to keep changing, keep learning and keep innovating in order to be relevant and in demand in the marketplace.

I mostly agree, and as a passionate advocate for more creativity in our lives and our culture, I enjoy taking part in this forward-thinking conversation from upstarts such as Change This, an online content source whose mission is to spread new ideas from original thinkers. Its latest issue includes "The Reinvention Imperative" by Daniel Burrus & John David Mann, which compellingly makes the case that it is now an imperative to reinvent ourselves and our businesses in order to keep up in a world where "change itself has changed":

There are two kinds of change: change from the outside in, and change from the inside out. The first happens to you. The second is an initiative that you take through conscious intention. Today there is an urgent need to anticipate and take the initiative to change from the inside out, even as all these transformations are coming at us from the outside in.

Burrus and Mann make the point that we have to be both proactive and extraordinary, and that real reinvention means getting closer to our own core, our own unique gifts. "The reinvention imperative," they write, "puts each of us on a quest to be the best me we can be."

Okay. But let's stop here. Talk of reinvention sounds cool. And it fits with my blog articles of these past few years and with my creativity competency principles:

>Fluency: Consider all of my possible options and identities

>Flexibility: Shift some things around and see things with fresh eyes

>Originality: Truly embrace my best and most unique self and offer it to the world.

But how do we really reinvent ourselves so that change is not just temporary and the results are real and different? If I'm going to reinvent myself--which I happen to be in the process of doing quite actively--what does that really mean? Does it mean that I have to change my insides first (umm, how?) or that I have to just embrace the core me and put it out in the world more effectively (oh, is that all)?

I think for personal reinvention to occur there must be a powerful mindset shift, a real change in belief about ourselves. Reinvention must be powered by a belief shift and real differences in behavior that comes from an alternative belief frame.

The truth is, this blogger needs a reinvention, a real one, not just one written on paper or that sounds good. It's time for me to put the creativity principles and rabble-rousing I've recorded here--yes, this blog holds more than 130 articles that can keep you busy reading and linking and viewing for days--to action.

Time to take the advice of the "Reinvention" authors: to stop trying to keep up and do the same as others and instead do something entirely different.

Time to embrace a belief and identity that forces reinvention and risk-taking.

Time to play by different rules.

Time for a new identity and new belief system that befits a warrior of aliveness.

The Current Theater of American Prejudice

Creativity flowers from the foliage of diversity, whether a diversity of ideas, perspectives, cultures, or, alas, religions. Here is video-food-for-thought from our current theater of American prejudice, starring Stephen Colbert (semi-actual person) and Reza Aslan (an actual Muslim). If you don't see the video below, click here.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Reza Aslan
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

If you'd like a real opportunity to improve interfaith relations here in Chicago, join me to help with the non-profit Poetry Pals, a kids program bringing Muslim, Catholic, Jewish and other diverse students and their communities together to share in creativity. Check out this video and facebook page for more.

Creativity: #1 Skill of 21st Century

I'm taking a break in South Florida, on the beach surrounded by the scariest looking Portuguese men-of-war I've ever seen (see below), sampling an eclectic variety of new songs thanks to downloads from Paste Magazine streaming from my ear buds. Paste offers about 20 new songs a month from up and coming musicians for an incredibly low price. I never know what kind of song will emerge from the shuffle, which I particularly enjoy.

I wanted to share a recent article from Psychology Today, once again attesting to creativity as a top 21st century skill--needed by all at every age:

Is Creativity the Number 1 Skill for the 21st Century?
Creativity is the essential skillset for the future by Mark Batey, Ph.D.

Against a backdrop of uncertainty, economic turmoil and unprecedented change a new picture is emerging of the skills and traits for success (and perhaps even simply survival) in the modern era. At the heart of this essential skillset for the future lies... creativity.

A raft of recent research studies demonstrates that creativity is vital from the shopfloor to the boardroom and at the level of the individual to the organization as a whole. What is more... our economic fortunes at a societal level probably rest on creativity too.

{Here are Batey's 7 main themes--to read the full article, click here}:

1 - Creativity and innovation are the number 1 strategic priorities for organizations the world over.

2 - Creativity is part of all our day jobs

3 - Organizational profitability rests on individual creativity

4 - Creative teams perform better and are more efficient

5 - Creative organizations are more profitable

6. Creative Leadership is fundamental

7. Successful economies and societies will need to be creative

The Groupon Phenomenon

Everyone is talking about Groupon, the Chicago-based start-up that has somehow taken an old idea of clipping coupons and leveraged into a company that has become the unrivalled new paragon of business innovation. Innovation fandom began quickly, with Groupon winning a Chicago innovation award in late 2009 when it was less than a year old and expanding throughout the country so meteorically and so successfully that Fast Company magazine has just selected it as the No. 5 "most innovative company" in the world. Yes, in the world. The magazine describes Groupon as "a savior for small businesses" and "the most exciting thing to happen to retail since eBay."

This week Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has selected Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell to be part of a new Innovation Council, dedicated to find creative ways to boost the economy. Primary founder Andrew Mason (left) has become the poster boy for innovation, quoted often, pictured playfully and suddenly a high priest of all that's creative.

Groupon is everywhere, not just in my inbox every morning and beeping me with its latest update thanks to an app on my smartphone (yes, I'm a user), but referred to constantly throughout the culture. Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart examined Obama's latest budget cutting attempts: "From now on when we buy office supplies," he mock-quoted the President, "we will join up with Canada and Mexico to look for deals on Groupon." The viral rise of copycat companies has reached absurdity levels, not just limited to those offering local deals of the day. "It's like Groupon, but with a twist," explains WeedMaps founder Justin Hartfield, offering deals, I kid you not, on medical marijuana. Check it out, as reported in Fast Company. National articles about Groupon are written everyday, including this one in this week's Time magazine.

The hype indicates how desperate we are here in Chicago and in our country to embrace, understand and promote innovation. Groupon has become the start-up model of the kind of innovation political and business leaders refer to: a creative idea with real value, in this case leading to impressive money-making, job creation and investment hunger so great that Groupon recently resisted Google's attempt to buy it for $6 billion. Yes, $6 billion for a company barely two years old.

Groupon does have a creative business model, which is primarily based on getting a large group of people to buy a discounted voucher (You have to pay for it, more like a gift certificate than a coupon from the paper) to various restaurants and local attractions. But there is some real question about its future--given that many businesses suffer real losses and have other problems. Check out this Chicago PBS television segment airing yesterday, entitled "Losing money with Groupon," which describes some issues. As customers, we like the deals but many of us are already at a saturation point, annoyed by expiration dates and too many offers we can't keep up with. So to call it one of the most innovative companies in the world seems a bit hasty.



I have found Groupon's technology to be top-notch, which is no small secret to its success. But overall I do have to give it real credit for brimming with creativity, from the wacky improvised descriptions of offers to its attempts to take risks and playfully try new things. Groupon originally came out of an altruistic attempt to bring people together for social causes and according to founder Mason, "There was a kind of freedom that came with not caring if it failed." And fail it has, included the offensive Superbowl ad campaign (video above or click here) which pissed a lot of people off and Mason later apologized for.

From its visuals to its relationships with customers and companies, Groupon embraces creativity in a way that bodes ongoing success. It's playful, snappy and engaging, and working on personalizing the experience more and more. And Mason, who acknowledges his own and the company's immaturity on different levels, seems to have the right attitude for innovation going forward. "One of the challenges of innovation is figuring out how to wipe your mind clean about what you should be doing at any given moment," he says, "and not having a religious attachment to what's gotten you there thus far."

How do we Clear so that we can Create?

Perhaps like me, you are constantly working to clear--your physical space, your head, your email inbox, your to-do list--so that you have an uncluttered springboard from which to leap creatively forward. I call it trying to get current. It's hard to invent something new when you feel cluttered with unfinished business. It's hard to drive if you haven't scraped that ice off your windshield.

But the snow keeps falling, the digital distractions (or are they now requirements?) beckon and I find myself creating less while engaging in the sisyphean pursuit of always trying to get current. Are you too waiting for your to-do list to be handled before you finally move forward with the things you've been wanting to do? What to do if you want to be a creator and not just a clearing-upper?

Time magazine humorist Joel Stein recently captured this dilemma well, as he examined the great 21st century contributor to our never-can-clear state--the digital mess--in a column called the Mess Manifesto:

In the past few years I've become a compulsive organizer...I have been sucked into hours of deleting pictures on iPhoto, then organizing the rest into little titled folders...I've lost days fiddling with the bottom of my Netflix queue, which is the section that should be labeled 'movies I will never see.' I could have read a Tolstoy novel in the time I've spent managing my songs on iTunes, putting old e-mails into folders, watching TV shows I don't really care about just to get them off my DVR and moving the downloaded Tolstoy novel from my computer to my iPhone and then to my iPad.
We are all OCD now. We do these things not just because digital filing gives us the satisfaction of cleaning without the unpleasant feeling of getting up from our chairs. It's because we're constantly confronting the onslaught of information, and our brains are trying to make patterns out of the randomness.

In order to create something new, we need to move out of our OCD state and clear the mental decks in some way. In the classic creative process model, new insight (the "Aha!") is preceded by a period "preparation" and "incubation"--we need to first prepare our mind for a new solution and then let it stew for a bit before an answer will appear. But I'm not sure we do good stewing when our minds are so overloaded. It's usually during an incubation period of uncluttering--the most common being in the shower or while driving--that a great insight comes to us.

In more psychological and spiritual circles, the process of change leading to authentic creativity might be said to follow this process: 1. Clearing, during which you cast out blocks and worries that are keeping you stuck, 2. Connecting, during which you get in touch more deeply with your genuine wishes, desires and passion, and 3. Creating, during which you activate those desires in a form of expression.

Okay. But that doesn't help if we get stuck in the constantly clearing mode, does it? Stein, though, does offer us a possible solution. The subtitle for his column: "Why we need to stop worrying and learn to love digital disorder."

We need a digital Zoloft, something that will force us to allow messiness into our digital lives...We need an app--I'm calling it 1-Year-Old Boy--that grabs stuff out of our folders and throws it around, possibly while laughing, possibly while pooping, probably both. It will hide a few episodes of 30 Rock from us when we have more than five to watch, and it will hide them in its mouth. And it will remind us that anarchy is the best way to actually enjoy things: it's the newness of watching a movie we didn't know about, of hearing a song we didn't set up on a mix, of seeing a cat do something stupid right in front of us instead of on YouTube.

Ahh. I think there is something here--more than just tongue in cheek. Let me leave you with some questions: Can you find a way to clear your mind despite the messiness, despite the unfiled emails and unfinished business? Can you accept the clutter in such a way so that it can be ignored at certain times and you can feel clear and able to move on to new pursuits? Can you dare to insert creative time during your day, periods where you are able to instantly melt the ice that you thought needed to be chipped first simply by deciding so?

Can we learn to love the disorder and overload so that we can ignore it and create anyway?

An Innovation Blizzard hits the U.S.?

As a blizzard swirls outside my window here in Chicago, I wanted to reflect on Obama's State of the Union speech last week, during which he unleashed his own storm for innovation. "The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation," he hailed. Speaking of our response to Sputnik a generation ago, he said, "We didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs." He summarized his theme of "winning the future" through innovation in his weekly address video (below or click here if you don't see the video) by "out-innovating, out-educating and out-building our competitors."

Now, I'm not a big fan of "we must win" (and others must be crushed in defeat) language that is quite popular in business world these days, but it's good to see Obama thunder about innovation, which he hasn't dramatically done since 2009. This innovation imperative is exactly what has to be center stage right now. And because innovation does not just come from tax breaks or federal investment--but creativity throughout a culture--I particularly enjoy him saying, "What America does better than anyone else is spark the creativity and imagination of our people."


But is it true? Are we the best at sparking the creativity and imagination of our people today? Anand Giridharadas, whose book India Calling examines emerging India, recently made the point that America's culture, compared to India, is more destructive than creative:

When we talk about India and China in this country, we talk about an economic threat….[but] I think the real thing America needs to think about is that these countries pose a challenge of culture and spirit”…Here in America “we are all pulling each other down, we’re creating a culture of destruction…India and China, for all of the work that lies ahead for them, are starting to create cultures of hope and cultures of creation, where there is a consensus on saying, ‘How do we create something extraordinary’; we need to be worried not about an economic threat but the threat of that spirit in about two and half billion people.”

He may have a point, but there are plenty of ways that we can nurture a more creative spirit, and Obama's leadership can make a difference, in both business and education. But we also need new leaders to emerge, and a few fascinating signs have recently surfaced from members of our creative industries--those advertising, marketing and branding innovators who could play a greater role in raising the creative IQ of the nation. February's Harper's magazine challenged advertising leaders to reinvent Uncle Sam's debilitating reputation by creating a Superbowl-style ad campaign. How could we reframe government in a way that would inspire possibilities and positive change? Pick up a copy (or creatively scour the Internet) and see what they came up with. And check out this new initiative called No Right Brain Left Behind, supported by leaders in creative fields, to foster more creativity in education. No Right Brain Left Behind describes itself as "a speed innovation challenge, calling on the creative industries to concept ideas that can help the creativity crisis happening in U.S. schools today." Can't wait to see what they come up with.

Stressed out childhood and squelched out imaginations

Students are so overscheduled they can't think straight in Race to Nowhere, a recent documentary I screened with a community group of questioning parents and frustrated educators this weekend. Between the pressure for kids, earlier-than-ever, to compete to get into the "right" college and on educators to teach to the tests that may or may not measure "achievement," we now have an education culture that more often than not squelches the imagination of its best students--the ones whose creativity we need more than ever.

The film examines mostly high-achieving communities, and uncovers what Stanford professor Denise Pope captured almost a decade ago in a study turned book called Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students. The way we are doing school and the cost to our students, she revealed, is out of wack from our real goals of education. Race to Nowhere (click for trailer here if you don't see it below) reveals what too many parents know--the demands on our kids to succeed have led to grueling routines, sacrificed sleep, cheating and stress, depression and anxiety. The result is that students "do school," chase grades and college application impressiveness, going from one activity, homework assignment and memorized-before-forgotten information gulp to another. The question is, what are our students actually "learning" about how to live their lives? "Things that actually get our students to think are pushed aside," says one dedicated teacher from the film, who left her job as a teacher because she could no longer abide by her own district's test-taking demands.



This last week has seen related conversations percolate about how parents and kids deal with competition, discipline and being the best, thanks to Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which makes the case that our "weak-willed" and "indulgent" culture, compared perhaps to China or at least the demands of some Chinese-American moms like Chua, has our kids growing up ill equipped to compete in a fierce global marketplace. While Chua's arguments for "tenacious practice" and no excuses are worth being reminded of, Race to Nowhere shows how out of balance we've become. And keep in mind, as this week's TIME cover story about Tiger Moms points out, that many educated Chinese are seeking out the more "relaxed" American style of education--wanting to move away from rote memorization to more right-brained learning "because they know they must produce more creative and innovative graduates to power the high-end economy they want to develop."

Just like our too-busy adult culture today, a too-busy, overscheduled, and digitally addicted childhood ends up squelching creativity, indviduality and passion. We need an education system that inspires and engages and allows families to spend time together. Kids need downtime and free time to process and to imagine and to play, for social and emotional health, as well as the creative future of our culture.

Right now it's a race that is running us. It reminds me of the time I was in Japan and met up with a top English teacher there. She laboriously tutored kids into the night, almost every night, after their full day of classes. Turns out she could not communicate with me in English at all! Japanese kids were memorizing and studying a faux-English language that didn't really exist just so they could pass a test! More and more American kids are doing six hours of homework a night and forgetting everything they learn by the next week.

Every teacher and administrator I know is overwhelmed with standards and testing. Every parent fears their kid isn't doing enough to make it to the next school or threshold. Watch Race to Nowhere to remind you of other truths: that elementary kids don't need to do homework to thrive, that there is honor and smarts in kids who don't excel academically, and you can be successful if you don't go to the best college. The filmmakers describe the film as a call "to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens." I call it a sanity check.

New Year, New Call: for United States of Innovation

As we start a new year (and, some would say, a new decade) as an already reeling country now reeling even more from the shooting of a Congresswoman, I'm grappling with the state of the United States. There is no question that we are poorer than we were when I grew up, and there is much evidence that we are more divided and pessimistic than we've ever been. We need something (as opposed to "someone," which hasn't seemed to work) to rally behind. And I'm going to vote, once again, for "Innovation." Hear me out.

If there is anything that we've learned as Americans in this past decade it's that there are many versions of "America," and plenty of other Americans who don't see it the way you do. Red state-Blue state-Tea Party-Who's-the-smarty?-Obama-Drama, Hey! Our politics and media--which feed our sense of country and confidence--are so far out of wack that we don't know what is true or what to believe. We do know that from healthcare to housing, we've lost a lot of our wealth lately, and that as a culture and as individuals, we have more challenges than ever before. Some say that we are seeing the irrevocable fall of the American empire. Some say technology can save us, empowering us to write blogs like this that lead to less alienation than in previous years. Not all of us believe that though. What can really unite us?


It's "Innovation." I put it in quotes because we still need to collectively define what that means and to better understand creativity, the engine of innovation. But right now the political left and right, the CEOs and the artists, miraculously agree that innovation is needed, and that our future is dependent on leveraging our innovation capacity. I've called this the Innovation Imperative--that we need creativity and innovation more than ever, for economic, cultural and personal reasons.

Economic: America, with its diversity of ideas, free enterprise, university research and available capital, still has the raw materials for economic innovation. The Obama administration had been more quiet about "innovation" in 2010 than it had been the year before and, as I've discussed before, certain measures of innovation seem to be on the decline. But both political sides, as well as leaders everywhere, know that "innovation" is the key to us getting out of our economic hole. The "United States of Innovation" is the best rallying cry for getting us aligned and talking (!) under one unified banner.

Cultural: For economic success, we need an innovative culture in our cities, communities, schools and organizations. We have really difficult challenges now--from our healthcare to the environment to under-educated kids, that require a new mindset of innovation that can lead to real breakthroughs and better solutions. This blog has been dedicated to offering tools for an innovative mindset and culture, which include openness to new ideas, diverse perspectives coming together in new combinations, and the fostering of the "4Cs" of creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.

Personal: We live in a world without long-term job security, and that means we have to be more creative individually, able to learn constantly as adults and re-invent ourselves as needed. The world is asking us to truly leverage our unique talents in ways that provide value to others, and to do that we have to be aware of and build our competencies of creativity, which I've described throughout this blog. Perhaps the most important is flexibility--which is our ability to see things differently, seek out new perspectives, challenge our assumptions and embrace change.

Despite our current malaise, the United States is still a young country and a small shift of mindset, perhaps an inner rather than outer revolution, could lead to needed change much quicker than we think. What do you think? Can we get people to rally behind innovation? What else can unify us? Here's to a 2011 where more Americans embrace their own creativity and where we're more of a united state of innovation and collaboration.

Permission to Take It On in 2011

"Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah.
It makes no difference what people think of you."
~Rumi

As 2010 ends and we look ahead to a new, unknown year, I want to use this flicker of a moment of your at-least-partial attention to prod you to decide, right now, to take something creative on.

In this blog over the past couple of years, I've written dozens of articles about the state of creativity in our culture, about innovation in organizations, about tools and tips for opening yourself up to more creativity in your own life. I truly thank you for reading when you have and at times offering your own insights, feedback and appreciation.

But the truth remains that for most of us it's very hard to give ourselves much permission to be creative, to actually express our own unique perspective in some way, to play with ideas and each other with or without an end-product in mind. So...for your emotional and psychological health, for honoring your own amazing complexity as a human being, for being an active creator instead of just a passive spectator of life, why not decide, right now, that you will take at least a small sip of your huge and too-often-untapped internal cup of possibility in 2011 to work on something only you could do and/or bring into the world. Come on, take it on.

If you have difficulty deciding what creative project you'd like to tackle, let me suggest that you start small (unlike that huge cup in the picture above). Let's use the creative tool of constraints to help. It's winter right now, which constrains our options in many ways, so let's start by limiting ourselves to working on something inside. Look around your home now (or when you are there), and pick one location--just one place--that seems like a creatively comfortable spot for you to spend some time in. Clear and create one if you need to. Let that be your spot. And let that be the spot where you give yourself permission to try something you just want to try or do or make, secretly or not. Anoint that place as one where there is full, secret-smile permission to create something thathas a good chance of turning out lousy, that you may never share with anyone. What strikes your fancy: Write a short story? Make a mosaic collage out of rocks and lint? Make phone calls to famous people? Paint your cat? Build/invent/destroy/cook something you've never done before? Pick something that enters your mind and commit, right here and now, to try it. Choosing is the first, fertile step.

I'd like to help you in any way I can. Perhaps you know what it is you'd like to try, what project you want to work on--email me and I'll check in with you at a surprising time to see how you're doing on it. We all need support from others for our creative lives, so tell others you trust what you're going to do and ask for accountability or reminders. If you'd like ongoing help I might be just the one-on-one coach or music teacher you need; email me or call me at 773-388-2880 and let's talk about how we could make that work for you.

I write this right now recovering from an injury that has kept me homebound for more than a week. It has limited me and yet at the same time opened my eyes to opportunities in small places, to patience, and to help from others. 2011 looms as a long year full of opportunities, but that first step is often the hardest. Choose that one project, right now, that can get your creative self engaged and alive before the winter of possibilities melts like you know it will.

May you you lean into the new year with courage, creativity and cojones, Amigo.

Embracing your Inner Outcast

This week I was at the southernmost point of the United States where I got a chance to mingle with outcasts and drunks on one of the coldest days in the warmest place in the country. Ah, Key West. If you ever make it to Rick's Bar on Duval Street, watch out for the most foul-mouthed and offensive "folk" singer on the planet.

But I spent even more time in Hollywood, FL, which got me thinking about the other Hollywood, where creative, talented outcasts can sometimes make it big. Though I was not much of an early fan, it's time to give credit the latest crossover Hollywood success, Justin Timberlake. Yes, it was surprising to see his acting chops in the recent movie Social Network but he has also earned his creative distinction with his ongoing appearances on Saturday Night Live, where he has proven to be one of the most unpredictable and funny performers in years. Check out his versatility in the video below (Facebook readers click here). Just like the previously praised Tina Fey, what makes Timberlake so extraordinary is his combination of cool talent--yes, he can sing and act--and willingness not to be cool at all. I mean, at all. He has somehow managed to give himself complete permission to be a fool--which we all need at least sometimes to be at our most creative.

"I was an outcast in a lot of ways," he recently told Ellen Degeneres on the Ellen Show. To kids: "Everything that you get picked on [for], or you feel makes you weird, is essentially what's going to make you sexy as an adult...I would not be here if I listened to the kids who said I was a terrible singer or a sissy. Be different." Now that might be easy for someone of such talent to say (and some weird things about us will never be sexy), but there is in an inner outcast in all of us that is sexy, or at least talented and worthy of much more exploration. The question is how to engage it and love it rather than give in to the conformist voices all around us that want to squelch and homogenize.



Originality is a hallmark (and key competency) for creativity, and anyone who embraces her own originality must at times accept--if not revel in--being an outcast. I particularly like what Mira Nair, the groundbreaking director of Monsoon Wedding, said when she was in Chicago earlier in the year speaking at Columbia College (see right). In many ways an outcast herself--an Indian woman director who found a way to bring stories of non-Hollywood-type outsiders to American screens--she explained that she thrives by putting herself in uncomfortable situations. “I like to do things I’m terrified by,” she said. "I don’t like to do things I’ve done before. I try to do things I don’t know if I can do." That's one way to embrace your inner outcast.

The truth is, when Timberlake released his "SexyBack" song a few years ago, I thought there was no way he would get away with his claim of "bringing sexy back." I mean, come on. But that song is passing the test of time and, frankly, it's a winner. I'm sure he was warned against it again and again, just as I'm sure advisors and commentators have questioned his decision to act or risk foolishness on SNL. Undoubtedly his outcast experience as a small town Tennessee boy ridiculed for singing like Michael Jackson has empowered him to follow his inner compass of creativity. Where is yours pointing you these days?

Creative Collaboration: the Art of Following

If you listen to any great collaborators--take, for example, your favorite sports announcing duo--they demonstrate a form of cooperation that is quite rare among adults in most discussions. They are speaking with, not against, each other, in a verbal dance of give-and-take, knowing how and when to follow and build on what their collaborator has offered, and how and when to drive the conversation forward themselves. Following, Building and Driving--these are the skills of creative collaboration most important to learn.Our ability to collaborate is crucial for innovation and for moving forward in what we want to do in the world. "We hear about collaboration and how important it is in all we do," a Panasonic business development manager told me before a two-day innovation program I led last week in New Jersey. "But the truth is we have so little time and so much is virtual that collaboration seems more like a wish than a reality." The time-limited nature of all our interactions means that when we do talk with collaborators, live or on the phone, we need to do so with skill and purpose. Instead of our typical way of interacting--I report, you report, she reports, meeting over; or you suggest an idea and I tell you eloquently what's wrong with it--we need to learn the art well known to improvisors: To fully support your collaborators' ideas, no matter how wacky they might seem. The key is to consciously shift to following.

We practiced this distinction at the Big Ooga networking event I facilitated Tuesday night. Instead of half-listening to someone else, waiting to interrupt with the agenda/conversation you want, let this be the time that your partner drives and you follow. To follow means that your job is to hear what the other is saying and to follow their course of conversation instead of stopping it or redirecting it. Following is often difficult because we are so invested in showing that we are smart, right, good at judging and fond of protecting ourselves. Someone might suggest: Hey, we could try this or we could create that... and many of us are likely to respond, Yeah, but here's why it won't work or what's wrong with the idea. As adults--particularly during work hours--we are particularly good at the "but"s. Men in particular never learned how to follow on the dance floor so the whole idea of waiting for and following the steps of another can be quite foreign.

Like an improvisor who sees her partner throw an imaginary ball and therefore puts up her arm to catch it, we follow by suspending judgment and fully accepting an offered idea as true, brilliant and full of possibility (regardless of what our "Yes, but," judging mind believes). Then we say, "Yes, And..." to the idea, building on rather than blocking or challenging what was offered. We use our imagination to heighten and bring to life the suggestion driven by the other person. Later, in a good collaboration, it will be our turn to drive and our partner's to follow and build on our idea. This give and take, where we support and expand what our collaborators suggest, and they do the same, sparks everyone's creativity, airs more possibilities and makes for more fruitful collaboration and brainstorming.

We get somewhere new together faster and also make our collaborators much happier when we spend time following--practice it and you'll see.