| Tagged in: Thinking , The Tipping Point , problem solving , Outliers , Malcolm Gladwell , kate dunn , Digital Innovations Group , dig , business leaders , Blink | Feb 10, 2009 |
| Posted by: Kate_Dunn |
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What Are We Missing?
I met with a group of thought leaders in the digital marketing services industry this weekend. One of the businesses represented in the group has been particularly hard hit by the recession. Their plight was weighing heavy on my mind during the long flight home. Unfortunately, I wasn’t coming up with any particular strategies to help him out of his predicament. After a few hours of frustration, I decided to finish my new book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Just like his other books The Tipping Point and Blink, I was hooked. His ideas are not just interesting, they make you think. I got up this morning still considering the points he makes about how we look at success and those who achieve it. And then it happened. After dropping my kids off at school a great idea - one that can really help my client - just popped into my head. I had a full evening with my two daughters and the normal Monday morning chaos of getting off to school after a two day lull in the action. I hadn’t had time to ponder my client’s situation for more than eighteen hours. But there it was …a darn good idea. I shared it with my client later in the day and he thought so too. So here’s the point: The problems we are dealing with today are significant. Many of us haven’t seen economic conditions like this since the 70s and some of us have never seen them. If you spend your days looking at the same surroundings, talking about the same dismal economic prognostications, hearing the same problems over and over, your mind is going to be in a rut. So change the scenery, change the conversation, read something you wouldn’t normally read. Get the motor on the old brain running again and a great idea might just pop out. What have you done lately to shake your brain up?
I met with a group of thought leaders in the digital marketing services industry this weekend. One of the businesses represented in the group has been particularly hard hit by the recession. Their plight was weighing heavy on my mind during the long flight home. Unfortunately, I wasn’t coming up with any particular strategies to help him out of his predicament. After a few hours of frustration, I decided to finish my new book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Just like his other books The Tipping Point and Blink, I was hooked. His ideas are not just interesting, they make you think. I got up this morning still considering the points he makes about how we look at success and those who achieve it. And then it happened. After dropping my kids off at school a great idea - one that can really help my client - just popped into my head. I had a full evening with my two daughters and the normal Monday morning chaos of getting off to school after a two day lull in the action. I hadn’t had time to ponder my client’s situation for more than eighteen hours. But there it was …a darn good idea. I shared it with my client later in the day and he thought so too. So here’s the point: The problems we are dealing with today are significant. Many of us haven’t seen economic conditions like this since the 70s and some of us have never seen them. If you spend your days looking at the same surroundings, talking about the same dismal economic prognostications, hearing the same problems over and over, your mind is going to be in a rut. So change the scenery, change the conversation, read something you wouldn’t normally read. Get the motor on the old brain running again and a great idea might just pop out. What have you done lately to shake your brain up?
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written by Laura Gredel, February 10, 2009
I like that…..shake things up. Many people consider reading a business book as tedious work. Reading with the intent to get your brain stirring and not just reading each page as gospel to be memorized, will produce value.
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written by Steve Visio, February 10, 2009
I have been reading “Effortless Mastery” by Kenny Werner a jazz pianist who is a master of improvisation. People quit trying to play music because of the fear of sounding bad. I think people get intimidated by business books because of fear and their expectations of themselves.
He writes about a paradoxical effect that happens when you detach from results. It allows you to act on your instincts without being hampered by expectations. Fear is removed because any result is good. Mistakes cause humility which brings about reflection and creative solutions to avoid future humiliation.
Furthermore he believes that there is a place in you where ideas form and coalesce. A place where your best ideas, creativity and innovation live in abundance. In order to find this space you must quiet the interference created by expectation. He quotes a yoga master, “Expectation exists when there is fear.”
Inaction is the enemy, fear of results stifles creativity. Just like a jazz soloist plays from the heart, first this note, then this note, we must listen to our intuition and then take this action, then this action, with no fear or expectation of results. When I can do this the ideas flow like water. Try it!
He writes about a paradoxical effect that happens when you detach from results. It allows you to act on your instincts without being hampered by expectations. Fear is removed because any result is good. Mistakes cause humility which brings about reflection and creative solutions to avoid future humiliation.
Furthermore he believes that there is a place in you where ideas form and coalesce. A place where your best ideas, creativity and innovation live in abundance. In order to find this space you must quiet the interference created by expectation. He quotes a yoga master, “Expectation exists when there is fear.”
Inaction is the enemy, fear of results stifles creativity. Just like a jazz soloist plays from the heart, first this note, then this note, we must listen to our intuition and then take this action, then this action, with no fear or expectation of results. When I can do this the ideas flow like water. Try it!
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“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
If we continue doing the same things everyday.. how do we grow? If we continue making the same choices everyday.. how do we know they are the right ones? Without shaking things up, we can never move forward or progress like he says. Kate makes a good point… And while some people tend to be against the idea of change… they only hurt themselves in the end. Their life becomes one of monotony, whereas those who spice up their lives leave room for growth, learning and adventure. One that is worth living.
As per Kate’s question.. What have I done? Well, as I have started my exercise journey at American Family Fitness.. I have been able to allow my mind to open in ways I never thought would be possible. Running on the treadmill while listening to my iPod frees my mind from all of the day’s work. I tend to think of some of the best ideas while running (or walking with Laura..). My mind is able to escape from reality and to free itself from all worries. While I don’t always think of “great” ideas… my mind is able to sometimes actually stop thinking. And when I am done… I am refreshed for learning new things, thinking of new ideas and starting tomorrow anew.