Category: creativity

How Attention Should be Consciously Exercised

I like this quote from Valeria Maltoni post ‘Clear Thinking in an Age of Confusion‘, which covers a variety of sources for clarity: “Attention is a muscle you can exercise. People so often look but don’t see“

Attention is important because otherwise we tend to close ourselves into our own thoughts and frames. It requires open mind and being free from worries to notice those things that are outside our usual frames. I am always surprise at how much we can miss if we don’t pay attention.

And it is definitely worth it. “Strategic thinking is all in the doing… if you can think clearly enough to do the right things in the right context. Notice more, and you’ll find those things, because you’ll see them. Then you’ll know“

What type of exercise is meant here? Meditation, meditative walking, and all sorts of mindfulness exercises are good. But it is certainly also staying curious and open to new things through our relationships, reads, travels and other occasions to discover.

Consciously exercise your attention and discover new facets in your everyday life!

Share

How Plastic Recycling Remains a Major Challenge to Overcome

In case you haven’t noticed there is a scandal recently uncovered around plastic recycling, explained for example on this well-named post ‘How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled‘. It is worth reading thanks to the depth of investigation as it almost reads like a spy novel. It shows how the general public got manipulated by the industry in believing plastic would be recycled when it isn’t – but giving us good conscience. And this probably does not stop at plastic recycling: much of the waste sorting effort at its origin gets wasted by subsequent treatment.

PLASTIQUE, LA GRANDE INTOX

In addition to the situation exposed in the link, there have also been reports of illegal disposal of recyclable plastic in less developed countries as the result of cross-border waste commerce. There seems also to be increasing evidence that the situation has been developed consciously by the industry: “We found that the industry sold the public on an idea it knew wouldn’t work — that the majority of plastic could be, and would be, recycled — all while making billions of dollars selling the world new plastic.” According to the investigation, the plastic recycling illusion was developed at the end of the 1980s to face the increasingly worse image of the industry.

It is good that such journalism still exists today to uncover such practices and differences between what is published and what is actually happening.

Like for most materials around including metals and glass, plastic virgin material is easier and cheaper to produce, and avoids also all risks of contamination. Still I observe that there are a few startups around developing new technologies based on enzymes that would provide new routes for effective recycling of plastics.

Effective and economic recycling of material is still a major challenge to be addressed in spite of laws on disposing only ultimate waste; this will need to be addressed in an urgent manner if we want to preserve our natural resources and avoid plastic demand to overgrow our capability to dispose of it.

Share

How Not To Be Forgotten in the Collaborative Age

I like this quote from Benjamin Franklin “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” I take that to heart writing books. But what does that mean in today’s collaborative age with the internet?

The quote provides two interesting alternatives so that you get remembered. In any case it reminds us about our own impermanence and what we can do to try to overcome it.

Writing since the writing revolution has been the way to get memories and information pass reliably from generation to generation. The intent is still valid today although the number of things written or otherwise published or created increases dramatically; and the barrier to writing and broadcasting is much lower than it was in Franklin’s time where being published was reserved to the few.

I still believe that quality, thoughtful writing is still important beyond what we all publish on all sorts of media. The process itself is enriching, and the outcome is a sounder basis for people to build upon – as long as it is worth reading. Even in the collaborative age, quality writing remains important; as are all creative work based on image or video. What counts is the effort and the depth of the expression.

Express yourself in ways that are worth reading, watching or listening to, and that will stand the test of time. Do the effort to reach that quality!

Share

How Non-Conformists Must Find New Safe Spaces

In this comprehensive post by Paul Graham ‘The Four Quadrants of Conformism‘, he addresses what is the type of person moves that actually move the world (hint: they are quite few in number). The challenges raised by an increase in conformism in the current world are also exposed.

The quadrant of conformism is the degree of conformism axis against a passive/active axis. This creates roughly four types of people and it would be linked more to personality than cultural influence. There are more conventional-minded than independent-minded people, and fewer active/aggressive people than passive.

“Why do the independent-minded need to be protected, though? Because they have all the new ideas. To be a successful scientist, for example, it’s not enough just to be right. You have to be right when everyone else is wrong. Conventional-minded people can’t do that. For similar reasons, all successful startup CEOs are not merely independent-minded, but aggressively so. So it’s no coincidence that societies prosper only to the extent that they have customs for keeping the conventional-minded at bay“

“In the last few years, many of us have noticed that the customs protecting free inquiry have been weakened.” We are reverting to a pre-enlightenment situation where people were expected to be passive and conventional. The fact that universites are becoming locations where intolerance becomes prevalent, while they have historically, on the contrary, be places of tolerance and investigation, is a worry. This safe space has not been replaced by the internet or other safe locations.

“Though I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this situation, I can’t predict how it plays out. Could some universities reverse the current trend and remain places where the independent-minded want to congregate? Or will the independent-minded gradually abandon them? I worry a lot about what we might lose if that happened.”

“But I’m hopeful long term. The independent-minded are good at protecting themselves. If existing institutions are compromised, they’ll create new ones. That may require some imagination. But imagination is, after all, their specialty.“

Our increasing conventional society is a worry, but I believe we underestimate the existence of free inquiry possibilities as information is becoming increasingly available. Innovators had to be close to universities and their incomparable library; this constraint is now obsolete and virtual locations will develop offering the same possibilities.

Share

How Self-Help Approaches Can Be Summarized

I liked this quite ambitious post ‘Every self-help book ever, boiled down to 11 simple rules‘. And as we speak of apparently a $11 billion self-help industry, that’s even more ambitious!

Here’s a summary of those eleven points reworded by me

  • take a small step at a time – change should come in small chunks
  • visualize where you want to get to
  • struggle is good because you need to get out of your comfort zone. It will necessarily be scary
  • be emphatic and take some time to judge people
  • contemplate your mortal nature to act with a sense of urgency
  • be playful in change, cultivate your specificities
  • help others and be useful in life
  • avoid perfectionism, which leads to procrastination. Just ship to the world
  • accept human limitations and play the long game recharging your batteries when needed
  • write down objectives and do lists
  • don’t just read, go out in the world and try

I am not sure this summarizes all self-help books around but it is certainly a good try. And like me you’ll find probably a pair of points that are worth remembering now because we may not have been sufficiently careful about them in the recent past.

Share

How Opportunity Is Always in Existing Gaps – At the Edge of Our Comfort Zone

I very much like this post by Valeria Maltoni: “Opportunity is in the Gap Between What you Know and What you Don’t“.

“The longer you can hold yourself in the space between what you take for granted and what could be next, the more you can learn about potential futures. That’s where the opportunity is.” Valeria Maltoni continues by recounting how she was able to unlock substantial business opportunities just by getting different departments or diverse people communicate at a higher level. The previous gaps between departments or people could easily be transformed in substantial opportunities.

Opportunity is always in a gap between two different and diverse ecosystems or environments. The point made here is that it is also between what we know and what we don’t know, where we need to rely on others and develop ourselves.

In any case, opportunity is not just where you are right now. Get up and seek to exploit those gaps at the edge of what you know and are comfortable with!

Share

How Virtual Characters and Deepfakes Are Becoming Mainstream

This interesting post ‘Deepfakes Are Becoming the Hot New Corporate Training Tool‘ shows how deepfakes start to become commonplace including as a corporate tool. In this example, it is used to allow simultaneous communication of a corporate messages in many different languages and cultures.

“This month, advertising giant WPP will send unusual corporate training videos to tens of thousands of employees worldwide. A presenter will speak in the recipient’s language and address them by name, while explaining some basic concepts in artificial intelligence. The videos themselves will be powerful demonstrations of what AI can do: The face, and the words it speaks, will be synthesized by software.”

Virtual presenters are used in this case, which are becoming increasingly frequent (refer for example to our posts ‘How Virtual Creatures Invade Our Connections and our World‘ and ‘How We Will Increasingly Interact With Artificial Humans‘). In this case, “the ability to personalize and localize video to many individuals makes for more compelling footage than the usual corporate fare“; and it is also cheaper and easier than mobilizing actual actors (another trade that is due for automation it seems!).

I have personally already used virtual voice-overs; using virtual people in videos is just another step and it is just around the corner. We need to get ready to face increasingly virtual interactions with people we will struggle to decide if real or virtual.

Share

How Learning Approaches Must Be Different in Complexity: Upending the 10,000 h Rule

Following on our previous post ‘How Generalists Are Necessary for the Collaborative Age‘, let’s continue some exploration of the excellent book ‘Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World‘ by David Epstein. One of the main topics in the book is to show that the famous 10,000 hours rule for mastering some area of knowledge is actually only applicable to certain types of activities that are bound by clear rules: chess, music, golf. It does not apply to mastering complexity or any activity that does not respond to those characteristics.

“The bestseller Talent Is Overrated used the Polgar sisters and Tiger Woods as proof that a head start in deliberate practice is the key to success in “virtually any activity that matters to you.” The powerful lesson is that anything in the world can be conquered in the same way. It relies on one very important, and very unspoken, assumption: that chess and golf are representative examples of all the activities that matter to you.”

The concept of the 10,000 h rule to master some practice is thus upended. Worst, “In 2009, Kahneman and Klein [found that] whether or not experience inevitably led to expertise, they agreed, depended entirely on the domain in question“. Sometimes even “In the most devilishly wicked learning environments, experience will reinforce the exact wrong lessons.”

Thus in the real complex world, actual learning must happen differently that repeating many times the same exercise in a predictable environment. It probably requires exposure to many different situations. Learning also cannot be expected to be continuous: it is probably discontinuous, with some ‘aha’ moments separated by slow maturing of new understanding.

Quite some thoughts that upend a lot of common knowledge. And still more thoughts that put into question traditional education.

Share

How We Need to Continue Creating Even Without Recognition

This post by Seth Godin ‘Creation/recognition‘ reminds us of the sometimes huge time gap between creation and recognition.

“There’s often a significant lag between the creation of something useful and when the market recognizes it. That’s an opportunity for speculators and investors, who can buy before the recognition happens.” And this applies to all fields of creation, from start-up companies to artists to writers to experts in a specific field.

But, and that’s the main point here, “it’s an opportunity or a trap for creators, who might get disheartened about the lack of applause and upside immediately after they’ve created something.”

The point of course here is not to look outside for recognition, but focus on the art and the purpose to deliver our best. Notwithstanding a possible time lag, if we give our best and continue to improve recognition will come eventually. Let’s not be disheartened by a lack of response of the world to our creations. Our inner fire will not be satisfied anyway. Let’s strive on to change the world.

Share

How Deadlines Contribute to Avoid Excessive Perfectionism

In this excellent post ‘68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice‘ Kevin Kelly shares his wisdom. Some of those bits caught my eye, such as this one: “Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. It prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better.”

I find that it is an interesting take about deadlines. Deadlines is not just a way to improve productivity and oblige to be focused on delivering, but also it is a way to make sure we are not too perfectionist.

Perfectionism can have a dark side (it is never as good as it could be, therefore it never gets released to the world). Seeing deadlines as a way to force a good enough quality is an interesting perspective.

Even more reasons now to set deadlines!

Share

How a Diverse Team Is Needed for Innovation

In his post ‘Are You A Maverick Or A Heretic?‘, Howard Getson makes the point that throughout history, many innovators have been rejected (or even burnt at the stake) for their ideas that would prove right later. Thus if innovation is to take hold, the visionary innovator needs to be supported and surrounded by people of various personality types that ground him or her in real life.

“I love being around entrepreneurs because a lot of them are Quick Starts, and they share this future-focused perspective. The problem, however, is that when you say something’s possible that hasn’t been proven yet, the average person responds with “no it’s not.” I’ve seen the pattern over and over“

“if you’re naturally a visionary, feel free to embrace it, but surround yourself with people who keep you grounded in reality. We’d never have innovation if it wasn’t for you, and innovators wouldn’t ever get anything done if it wasn’t for other personality types.”

Innovation is not just having a great idea. It is also about inducing change in society and creating conditions for the internalisation of innovation as a foundation for future progress.

Innovation and disruption is not an individual game. It’s a team game, with diverse people supporting and helping spread the idea. It is a community game, because building a community is today the engine for spreading ideas.

Share

How Remote Work Will Extend But Still Not Become the New Normal

The experience of remote working has dramatically spread this year with the pandemics. As soon as the worst was over however, many employers tried to revert back to the previous normal, but many employees actually enjoyed the experience. Cal Newport in this New Yorker column ‘Why Remote Work Is So Hard—and How It Can Be Fixed‘ provides interesting insights.

In this post we learn that the concept of ‘telecommuting’ was actually created in the 1970s to address congestion. But the concept struggled to spread, ““Flexible work” arrangements tend to be seen as a perk; a 2018 survey found that only around three per cent of American employees worked from home more than half of the time.”

“But there were other, entirely legitimate reasons for companies to retreat from [remote work], and they are just as relevant today as they were a decade ago [when Yahoo asked everybody to be back at the office.” The issue is about informal interaction, integration of newcomers into the community, the need for individuals to have interaction. “Face-to-face interactions help people communicate and bond, but that’s only part of their value. The knowledge work pursued in many modern offices—thinking, investigating, synthesizing, writing, planning, organizing, and so on—tends to be fuzzy and disorganized compared to the structured processes of, say, industrial manufacturing.”

Cal Newport continues by seeing the transformation into full remote work being a slow process, and offices – and office time – remaining an important part of everyone’s life in the next decades. Still, there will be more remote work. New personal discipline and habits will need to be introduced, and new collaborative tools and approaches will be perfected as well.

Aligned with Cal Newport views, I observe that during the pandemics some companies commented that remote work would become the new normal, only to relent as soon as restrictions were lifted, most companies seeing only maximum one or two remote days per week being the maximum allowable. Still it will provide knowledge workers with a new rhythm and possibly a new way of living.

Share