Courageously Creative

Be more creative in your own way

Competitiveness

Competitiveness

Survival of the Fittest?

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Yellow Orchid

Not in my backyard

There is an ancient vine growing on a trellis in my backyard. Each spring, some runners reach up for the stream of water that runs along the gutter and each summer, I prune the vines off the roof. It occurred to me that for the sake of order, I was cutting the longest, strongest, and most adaptive stems, and although the plant survives, I’m discouraging the plants full potential and may be missing the best flowers.

Forbes asks: Are people too smart to be creative?
Companies can’t have too many captains and can’t have too many stray vines. Employees are encouraged to keep the status quo and stay aligned with company goals. How do you remain professional without sacrificing creativity? Understanding the mission, adhering to culture, dress, using proper language, grammar, being on time, and keeping to schedules all help your ideas to be accepted without sacrificing your creativity. Bounce ideas off trusted friends before making them public. Look for the formal or informal paths for innovation that allow for review and selection of new ideas worth implementing.

Understanding culture and paths for innovation allows you to climb the trellis and flower without being clipped. How do you create within an organization?

Best of the Best – Your Second Chance

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Lion Dance Sheko

Lion Dance: King of the Jungle?

新年快乐! Kung hei fat choi! As China welcomes the year of the rabbit, westerners have a second chance to make a New Year’s resolution and may I suggest something of global proportions.

There is talk of countries using creativity to increase competitiveness through innovation. That’s fine for whole countries but what about us? Individuals are also starting to look around and realize they are not the only ones running the race.  What steps can we take to become personally more competitive?

Although globalization has fans and opponents, it’s nothing new and has been around since before the Phoenicians sailed the Mediterranean or caravans traveled the Silk Road.  Today’s phenomenal growth in the East is partially the result of centrally planned capitalism, for example, China has thrived by looking at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and using this to target industries to put their resources.

Year of the Rabbit (SWOT Analysis)


Strengths
Weaknesses

Cute, Fast, Soft

Small

Multiplies

Poor Language Skills

Four Lucky Feet

Damages Gardens

Excellent Hearing

Owns Easter

Bugs Bunny Franchise

Opportunities

Threats

Silent Spokes-model

Foxes

Entertainment

Wile E. Coyote

Gaming

Competition from:

Pets

Dogs and Cats

Surveillance

Fur Coats

It’s no longer good enough to be the best rabbit on your block or your neighborhood, today; we must be the best in the world. What steps do you need to take to get in the top 1 percent of people within your skill set. We can start by asking what do like to do? What am I especially good at? Where do I add the most value?

List a few things by asking: What do I need to do to get on next year’s top ten list? How do I win the gold medal in cost accounting? What do I need to do to win the Oscar for most efficient software coding, or the daytime Emmy for most positive influence on children, or the people’s choice award for most caring of my patients, or the best supporting customer service rep? Think about what business you are really in – Apple is not in the computer business but information sharing.

Find the best teachers and first-class partners. Find the intersection between your chief skills and your collaborators unique abilities. If we happen to be the best auto mechanics and team up with a great farmer, maybe our competitive advantage comes from improving tractors.

Being the best in no longer about vanity or bragging rights, it’s about survival.  If you take steps to identity and refine your skills now: “You’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest,” as Dr. Seuss said.

Destructive Criticism

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Past to the future

Past to the future

It’s amazing how many people are commenting on the controversy sparked by the book about eastern parenting styles called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Like most people, I have no experience raising teenagers girls of Chinese decent in America and did not read the book – but read an excerpt called “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”- and some of the reaction are taking on a life of their own.

The theme of the debate is not whether tigers eat their young but instead can be simplified as: eastern (discipline, academics, and obedience) verse western (self-esteem, independent thinking, play) methods of parenting.

In the 1980s, there was a mystique surrounded the principles of “Japanese management,” and today we start to look toward Chinese values (could happen #3) because of the mystique  surrounding China’s Asian miracle of growth and  lifting their people out of dire povertyis admired.  It’s also amazing to watch a sprouting bamboo  grow an astonishing 24 inches a day in the spring, but this is unsustained and the plant levels off before summer.

There is not a single method for parenting and most reach a healthy balance between being demanding and being permissive, with an aim not to prepare children for our world,  but  for the world they will live in. Criticism can be constructive, but it can also stifle creativity and be destructive.  Use of creativity is needed by young adults to adapt to a world that will change beyond their parent’s imagination. Asia has not changed for centuries but is rapidly changing now. I wonder what kind of upbringing those leading the change in China had. Continuing with traditional parenting prepares children for a world that is confined to  (could happen #1) museums.

Perhaps a controlled upbringing with traditional Chinese values, may have been the best way to prepare a child for an agrarian/manufacturing society where collective rights are valued more than individual rights. Of course academics and discipline matter, but so does developing self-esteem and independent thinking to adapt to an unpredictable future. So do you stake-and-tie your tomatoes or let your chickens run free? What do you think?

New Fruit on an Old Tree

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Heirloom

Heirloom

I read the news today oh boy; with much fanfare, the Beatles released the digital versions of their music on iTunes. This is big release for 40 years ago albums. While most music made it to the web a digital lifetime ago, the holdup was related to a long trademark dispute over the ownership of the apple with both the Beatles’ Apple Corp and Apple Computer each wanting a bite. The questions for us to consider are what makes: She Loves you, Yellow Submarine, and Help! endure? And are there  common elements that we can incorporate into what we make?

They were hot in the 60s and their upbeat and enjoyable harmonies, catchy lyrics with timeless messages are some of the reason why the Beatles remain relevant today. Some songs hold up because they remind us of yesterday, but most of these songs hold up because they still remind us of today.

Now that we’re comparing oranges to oranges, what factors have allowed Apple Computers to not only endure but to be getting so much better all the time. People fondly remember the old Macintosh but left unchanged, few would use an antique computer today. While some computer makers concentrated only on increasing processor speed, Apple stayed relevant and ahead of the competition by continuously innovating their products in ways that improve the user’s experiences. Constantly improving their own products, if something works, they don’t just let it be.

– how do you like those apples?

Shortcut to Success in Everything

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Porter carrying supplies up mountain

going up?

It’s a six hour walk up a slippery wet trail – is this the best way to bring supplies to the top of the mountain? I asked why they didn’t use the 30 minute tram, at night when it is not being used by visitors, and my guide answered: it would put the porters out of work.  This provides a strong metaphor about efficiency and best practices.

Have you ever heard of an experienced golfer playing a round with the old clubs they first bought when they were learning the game?  Even while practicing at the driving range, they use their good clubs.

The easiest way to improve your golf game is not with hours of practice, but upgrading your equipment. The easiest way to improve your triathlon time is with the right running shoes, a faster bike, and a better designed swim suit. The right equipment helps to shed time from your finish– and makes you more competitive without extra practice.  What’s the best way to become a better photographer or painter?

A really good photographer or painter can probably produce something decent with the barest of equipment like a pinhole camera or a piece of calk. However, for most of us we are looking for any advantage we can find to improve our results. If you are standing in front of a once in a lifetime view, don’t you want to capture it with the best equipment. Clearly, the easiest way to improve your photos is to use a better lens. If you are spending the effort in learning to paint, the single easiest way to improve is to use better brushes, better paint, and better media. You can see it in any beginning watercolor class, hopefuls struggling with synthetic brushes, student grade paint and unsuitable paper – and with early failures, unfortunately, people give up. Sure upgrading always cost more, but calculate how much your time is worth, and consider how important your ideas are. Of course there is a time and a place for using scrap paper but if you are going to spend the time and energy to create, why hold yourself back. What’s worth doing is worth doing with the right tools. Of course good technique takes years of dedication but starting with inferior equipment makes it almost impossible to succeed. The best way to succeed in anything new is to first value your time and your ideas and start with the right tools and whatever you do, don’t be a porter.

– What do you think?

Not Just Cheese

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According to The Economist World in Figures 2011, which country is in the top three for the following categories?

  1. Innovation Index (adoption of new tech, cooperation between business/Science)
  2. Technological Readiness (adoption of Communications and information tech)
  3. Lowest Brain Drain (talented people who leave home country)
  4. Business Environment (market/tax/labor, etc.)

The answer is Switzerland, what are they doing right besides cheese, banks, watches and new tunnels?