Imagining a New Frame

What do you picture when you see leaders of the Federal Reserve Bank coming together for a meeting? Could your frame be wrong--or at least need to be adjusted? What about the frame through which you define yourself or view the possibilities in your own life?

I was back giving a creativity session to nearly 100 leaders of the Federal Reserve System this week, as they took part in a conference called Thrive, intended to help them become adaptive, creative, right-brain thinkers. You read that right. There are indeed hearts and pulses and thoughtfulness in residence at the Fed, and their colorful and inventive conference included presentations from several provocateurs including Benjamin Zander, the charismatic and world-renowned conductor, whose book, The Art of Possibility, has become a creativity classic over the past decade.

Zander encourages a shift of frame toward new possibilities (See a recent interview here, and more extensive TED talk here) and sees the financial crisis as an opportunity for making the world better. "I believe the next 30 years are going to be THE most exciting 30 years in human history," he recently remarked, with enthusiasm we rarely hear these days.

As he explained in his book, "Revolutionary shifts in the operational structures of our world seem to call for new definitions of who we are and what we are here for." He uses the metaphor of music in his talks to encourage change and better leadership. "Art, after all," he writes, "is about rearranging us, creating surprising juxtapositions, emotional openings, startling presences, flight paths to the eternal." It is this rearranging that is a key lever for creativity, part of the flexibility competency of creativity I've written about previously.

I woke up this morning reading his book, thinking about this line, "The frames our minds create define--and confine--what we perceive to be possible," as I headed toward the bathroom and saw myself in the mirror. My hair on top of my head was arranged, rearranged, in a kind of propeller shape I had never seen before (I swear I did not touch my head before I took the picture, right). I took out my iphone for a picture but felt unsatisfied by the shot I took. For all its great features, the iphone's camera has always been a limitation to me, unable to zoom, so I could never have control over the size of the shot I was taking. Indeed, I often felt limited by the frame.

In frustration, I blindly poked the camera button as I held it out in front of me, attempting another shot. I turned the phone to look at the picture I had taken, and, voila, I suddenly saw something else on the viewfinder I had never seen before--an activated horizontal zoom feature! I'd had the phone for two years and just assumed there was no zoom, when in fact there was the whole time. My frame of frustration was my reality, and I never considered the possibility that it could be different on my dated version of the phone.

Zander's contention is that most of us wake up in the morning "with the unseen assumption that life is about struggle to survive and get ahead in a world of limited resources." He argues that we can invent a new framework of meaning, a "universe of possibility" instead where "you set the context and let life unfold." Hmm.

The "Four Cs" for 21st Century Education

Most of us know that "there is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces." So states the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national organization comprised of both business (Apple, Intel, Adobe, HP) and education (National Education Association, Pearson, Scholastic) leaders, committed to "fusing the three Rs and four Cs." As an advocate for the skills of innovation, I'm thrilled to see attention now placed on these Four Cs, with 14 states, including Illinois, having signed on to adopt the Partnership framework as a way to ready students for the 21st century. Most of us know the three Rs are reading, writing and arithmetic, but what are the Cs?
In the Partnership framework above, the Four Cs make up the "Learning and Innovation Skills" and are as follows:
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
3. Communication and Collaboration

For creativity and innovation, the framework emphasizes Thinking Creatively (brainstorming techniques, creating new ideas, refining and evaluating ideas), Working Creatively with Others (communicating new ideas, being open to diverse perspectives, demonstrating orginality, viewing failure as part of the process) and Implementing Innovations (Acting on creative ideas and contributing to a field). These are terrific guideposts.

So the question is, how do we really teach creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration? These are right brain skills, those that are most difficult to teach in a codified, regimented way. With most school systems now fixated on measurable outcomes (usually test scores), how do we make these Four Cs a priority when they are so hard to measure? Illinois, for one, has charged "core content teams" with several tasks including to "ensure that the Illinois Learning Standards embody the fusion of the three Rs and the four Cs." I'm looking forward to delving into this question and learning more about what states are really doing to embrace the framework. Let me hear from you if you know more about the progress being made.

In this Pearson Foundation video below, "Teaching Teachers to Teach 21st Century Learners," we hear from various leaders from the worlds of business and education as they discuss the importance of 21st century learning and the need for change. Partnership for 21st Century Skills President Ken Kay begins to describe the skills needed with this distinctive pairing: "Non-routine thinking" and "complex communications."


The education world has long been averse to change--in many ways we are still preparing students for a world that no longer exists. The fact that the Four Cs have been defined and already embraced by many leaders is a promising step. The conversation is happening. We'll see if that can lead to real change and better learning for our kids in the near future.

On Blindspots, Shift and Change

I woke up antsy again this morning, a common occurrence for me of late, sensing that I need a shift in life but not sure what to do or where to focus. So I write this with no conclusion planned, no lesson about creativity already identified. I am seeking a personal breakthrough, a change of perspective, right here, right now, fingertips on laptop.

I'm trying to turn toward my peripheral vision to uncover my blindspot(s)--where an answer lies--but what I see and hear instead is this constant barrage from my mind: Get to your 14 things to do, go through those 4 different pending email folders, make those calls, strategize then plan then do then act then go, go, go or you are in trouble. To escape this noise, I click on an email and suddenly find myself reading Will Marre's blog, where he is addressing something similar in his post "Take Back Your Life." He describes the increase of stress in our personal work worlds, and this part speaks to me:

Those who have decided to work for themselves as consultants or starting a new enterprise have so much pressure to outperform that the velocity of our warship has to always be moving at “warp.” If we slow down the immense gravity of our death-star economy will crush us. Whew.

That's it. The pressure I too often feel has put some kind of neck brace on me. I can't turn my head toward a very real force that is trying to get my attention. This is why I'm so antsy. I need to shift but the immense gravity weighs on me and I can't move.

So now I'm trying to access a different part of my being through the less rigid, right side of my brain. I rifle through some writing and find a poem of mine that recalls a long-ago moment in Napa, CA. Yes, this is close to the feeling I'm having.

...I cool against this tree trunk
with the wood-wind in my hair

and the sound of motors

in my mind

I remember the need I felt then to dip my head into some different kind of water:

Right now I crave water that has the texture of birth

and I would dip my head in it to show

what can be replaced

My hair would not turn gold
like the boy from the story

but I would find alloys from this strange land

in the puddle near the drain

of the bin I wash in

to start my day

I just took a shower. I was consciously trying to wash out the "alloys" from my hair in order to feel different, to emerge with a new mindset that would enable me to see what I needed to do in a way I couldn't before. But I discovered that nothing washed out of my hair. The alloys, if anything, were now a more permanent part of me--the gray in my hair. Which I realize I can cover or hide but can never replace.