Creative Think

Use Your Shield

It's time for some creative inspiration from the Creative Whack Pack. Ready? Let's reach for a card. It’s number 58, “Use Your Shield.” Let's take a closer look.

New ideas can be threatening, and they often provoke a negative reaction.

For example, when the composer Igor Stravinsky first presented his Rite of Spring ballet with its unusual harmonies and primitive rhythms, he was met with a rioting audience.

When Johannes Kepler correctly solved the orbital problem of the planets by using ellipses rather than circles, he was denounced.

When the nineteenth-century Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweiss suggested to his fellow doctors that they could reduce disease by washing their hands in chlorinated lime water before inspecting their patients, he was ridiculed by his colleagues who strongly resented the idea that they were "carrying around death on their hands."

Be prepared for such a reaction and don't let it prevent you from acting. As German statesman Konrad Adenauer put it, "A thick skin is a gift from God." How strong is your shield?

I've found that when I've embarked on some of the more interesting endeavors in my career — from going into business for myself to self-publishing my first book, from buying a new house during a recession to creating a new manipulative toy business — there have been more than a few people who told me such things as:

• “You're leaving IBM to do what?”
• “What does ancient history have to do with anything?”
• “Where’s the market for that?”
• “I don't think anyone would pay money for that.”
• “Why would an adult want to play with plastic blocks?”

Criticism is vital to the creative process. Having people disagree with you helps you hone your ideas. Indeed, ideas are much stronger when they've been tempered by opposing viewpoints.

But once you're convinced that your idea is worth doing and you've committed yourself to implementing it, such negativity can be a burden to your performance. People are going to take their shots: you need to have a strong shield to deflect criticism. If you let every nay-sayer prevent you from moving forward, you'll never reach your objective.

Think of an idea you're currently trying to get into action. What negative reaction do you expect? How can you protect yourself from it? How well do you deal with criticism? What types of shield do you use?           

Breakfast With Guy Kawasaki

On Tuesday, I had breakfast with best-selling author ("Art of the Start") and venture capitalist  Guy Kawasaki at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, California. It was a delightful: Guy is quite affable and down to earth.

Surprisingly, this was the first time we had ever met each other. This is especially curious when you consider that we were both at Stanford in the early and mid 70s, we both live in Atherton (less than a mile apart!), and we have both written books and done a lot of public speaking.

[Below] Here's a photo of Guy having fun by giving me "A Whack on the Side of the Head" with the amazing Ball of Whacks.

Anyway, it was fun sharing stories with him about various clients, venture capitalists, speakers bureaus, publishers, personal sports (swimming for me, hockey for him), and balancing family life with being on the road. There are not many people who have had a lot of the same professional life experiences — and so it was really interesting to hear how he's managed his affairs and kept his priorities straight.

I especially enjoyed hearing about Guy's possible future projects. Exciting stuff!

Thanks for picking up the check, Guy!

Have You Wrestled With A Paradox Today?

  "We can't leave the haphazard to chance." — N.F. Simpson
"Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one's ignorance."— Confucius

I love paradoxes! They energize my mind in the same way that a splash of cold water awakens me when I'm drowsy.

What are paradoxes? Simply put, they're statements that initially seem self-contradictory, but which after we've thought about them for a bit, can be seen to express a truth. Sometimes this truth is funny, sometimes it's a bit weird, and sometimes it can be profound. As Carl Jung put it, "Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life."

"Where there is a great deal of light,
the shadows are deeper." — Goethe

"The only wealth which will give you
pleasure is the wealth you give away." — Martial

"Only the ephemeral is of lasting value." — Ionesco

"When I came home I expected a surprise and there was
no surprise for me, so, of course, I was surprised." — Wittgenstein 

Paradoxes are a wonderful creative discovery tool. For example, in the midst of a difficult problem, the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr said, "How wonderful that we've met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making some progress." Bohr knew that paradoxes force us to question our basic assumptions and find a different context in which the contradictory ideas make sense. And, in the process, we do some thinking.

Indeed, the very act of "seeing the paradox" — the
ability to entertain two contradictory ideas at the
same time — lies at the heart of creative thinking.

Listed below are some of my favorite paradoxes. Some are humorous, some are off-beat, and some are profound. All, however, make us think — they give us a nice "creative whack." As you read these, you might ask yourself, "What's paradoxical about my life or work? Is there another context that explains this contradiction?"

• Montaigne: "A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears."


• Voltaire: "The superfluous is a very necessary thing."


• Lao-Tzu: "Failure is the foundation of success, and success the lurking place of failure."


• Picasso: "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth."


• Gauguin: "I shut my eyes in order to see."


• Heraclitus: "A thing rests by changing."


• George Santayana: "Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself."


• Bertolt Brecht: "What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?"


• George Wald: "A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms."


• Hobbes: "Prophecy is many time the principal cause of the events foretold."


• Timothy Connor: "I have such a high regard for the truth that I use it sparingly."


• Chang-Tzu: "Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness."


• Foucault: "All modern thought is permeated by thinking the unthinkable."


• [Judge] Learned Hand: "There is no surer way to misread any document than to read it literally."


• Everett Dirksen: "I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times."


• Disraeli: "No government can be long secure without formidable opposition."


• Katherine Mansfield: "If you wish to live, you must first attend your own funeral."


• Seneca: The hour which gives us life begins to take it away."


• St. Francis: "It is in giving that we receive, it in pardoning that we are pardoned."


• Eden Philpotts: "The people sensibile enough to give good advice are usually sensible to give none."


• Mill: "Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so."


• Degas: "Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."


• Orville Mars: "The little I know I owe to my ignorance."


• Alan Kay: "Any company large enough to have a research lab is too large to listen to it."


• Kahlil Gibran: "The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply."


• [Pianist] Arthur Schnabel: "The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes, ah, that is where the art resides."

As the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once put it: "The paradox is the source of the thinker's passion, and the thinker without a paradox is like a lover without feeling."

What do you find paradoxical in your life and work? What paradoxes can you share?

Move On

It's time for another dose of creative inspiration from Heraclitus, the ancient Greek Philosopher. (Heraclitus lived around 500 BC, and I consider him to be the world's first creativity teacher.)

Today's epigram to ponder is: “A thing rests by changing.”

What do these words mean to you? How would you apply them to a current problem? Pretty cryptic, huh?

Follow along with me because I believe there's a creative strategy here.

In this paradox, Heraclitus poses the counter-intuitive notion that change is more restful to us than staying still. It is resolved by understanding that Heraclitus believed that everything is continually changing, and that it often takes less energy to move on to the next phase of a process than fighting to stay in the current one.

It's like rowing a boat on a river: it requires more effort to resist the current and remain stationary than it does to go with the flow.

Simply put, the creative strategy Heraclitus is advocating is:

“Move On.”

This is a really valuable piece of advice. In a world that is constantly changing, it's best not to get too locked into how things are now or once were.

Here's a personal benefit: I find that when I allow myself to let go of a cherished position, strategy, or belief — especially one that takes increasingly more energy to hold on to — it's much easier for me to discover new alternatives.

Try applying this strategy to a current project or problem. Ask yourself: "Where would my energy be better focused: on where I've been or on where I'm going? Isn't it time for me to move on to the next phase?"

Be Grateful You Can't Smell This Blog

Many things to be grateful for this time of year . . . including the fact that you can't smell this particular post.

Because if you could, you'd quickly move away (and probably unsubscribe!).

I was in Morocco several months ago. Here are two photos from the medieval town of Fes.

This is a donkey carrying dried leather skins to the local tannery. (Hey, what's that smell?)

Okay now, Full Smell Alert!

[Below] Here we are at the tannery. Here the skins are being dyed in concrete vats. Notice the many different color choices.

Quite a strong aroma.

It's worth the trip -- even if the smell takes a while to leave your nose.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

McCabe and Mrs. Miller

Film director Robert Altman died on November 20, 2006.

Earlier this year, I rented and watched about ten Robert Altman films over a two-week period (MASH, "The Player," "Short Cuts," "Nashville," among others).  It was an "Altman Orgy." My clear favorite of all of these was the 1971 "McCabe and Mrs. Miller."

I first saw "McCabe" in the early 1970s at a Sunday Night "Flicks" at Stanford along with 1,500 "enthusiastic" students. It's the story about John McCabe, a gambler (Warren Beatty) who goes to a Northwest frontier town to start a brothel. Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) arrives and convinces him his brothel needs a woman to turn it into a more profitable enterprise. The two build the business into a success. Then the bad guys from a mining company arrive on the scene to buy McCabe out.

When I saw "McCabe" thirty-five years ago, I thought it was hauntingly beautiful. When I watched it again recently, I still agree. It's one of those rare movies you see when you're younger that still holds up today. In fact, I liked it so much I watched it twice — the second time with the Robert Altman commentary running.

One especially interesting point was Altman's comment, "McCabe was the only movie I ever made in which I shot the movie entirely in sequence." (This was because the film had to follow the weather changes from autumn through to winter.) This must have been challenging, but Altman and his team handled it well. (I don't think I've ever created anything from beginning straight through to end. I jump around a lot, and I would imagine most of you do as well. Can you imagine having to execute your next creative project in a linear fashion?)

There are two things I always liked about Altman. First was his working style: he'd have a clear plan of what he wanted to do, but he'd always leave plenty of room for improvisation in the execution of that plan. It was often messy for others, but it gave him the results he was after. (I can identify with that type of creative process.)

And second, fame and glory came relatively late to him — his first feature, MASH, was released when he was 45. Before that, he was making baseball instructional videos, among other things. I think that helped him keep a relative sense of humility in the ego-crazed culture of Hollywood.

What's Your Mantra?

Not that long ago, if you were to ask me what my “mantra” was, I would have thought that you were curious about my meditation practice.

More recently, however, I've heard the term “mantra” used much more in a business context, as in that “guiding principle” which inspires you to do whatever special things you do. In the past I might have called it a "motto," or a "creative strategy," but today: it's a mantra.

For example, several weeks ago, I watched “Mr. Art of the Start” Guy Kawasaki tell a room full of would-be entrepreneurs, "Forget mission statements — they're worthless; instead create a powerful mantra for yourself."

And several days ago, brand consultant Mike Wagner left a provocative comment on my post “Letter from a Frustrated Taiwanese Student,” telling the student:

My suggestion: find a creative life mantra that will remind you to stay creative. Charlie and Maria Girsch have "what if, what else, why not" as theirs. Walt Disney's was "dare, dream, do." I've adopted the Girsch's as mine for now.

This all got me to thinking, "What's my mantra?" As I reflected on this question, I came to realize that, yes, I do have a mantra, and yes, I've been acting on it for the past thirty or more years. My mantra is:

“Look for the Second Right Answer.”

I find that this strategy informs a lot of what I do.

• When I'm looking for information, it tells me to go beyond the right answers that have worked in the past and to dig for others.
• When I'm trying to be creative, it playfully advises me to put my ideas in unusual contexts to give them new meanings.
• When I'm evaluating concepts, it implores me not to get stuck in the negative and to not fall in love with one particular approach.
• And, when I'm implementing ideas, it reminds me that if one way doesn't work, a different one just might and to act accordingly.

So, all in all, it seems to be a good working mantra (for me, at least). I think I'll keep it for a while longer (of course, I could always use a "second right mantra").

Here's my question for you: What's your mantra? How does it inform your thinking and your actions? I'd love to hear what's worked for you!

Buckeyes 42-39!!!

Buckeyes 42, Michigan 39.  Yes!!!

Have Fun!

Time for an epigram from Heraclitus, the world's first creativity teacher (he lived around 500 BC). I like him because he's cryptic and he makes me think.

Since my past several posts have dealt with "thinking like a kid" and "education," it's only fitting that today's epigram is: "Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings."

Take a moment to ponder what these words mean for you.

I can think of a couple ways to interpret this epigram, but today I'm going for simplicity. For me, the creative strategy contained in Heraclitus' words is:

Have fun! 
Here are three examples of how this strategy get the creative juices flowing.

Rosalind Franklin, the scientist whose crystallography research was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA, was asked why she pursued her studies. She replied, "Because our work is so much fun!"

Similarly, Murray Gellman, the physicist who coined the subatomic-term "quark" after a line in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, was asked to comment on the names of the various types of quarks -- "flavor," "color," "charm," "strange," etc. He said: "The terms are just for fun. There's no particular reason to use pompous names. One might as well be playful."

Finally, the renowned chair designer Bill Stumpf was once asked what criteria he used to select furniture projects. He responded, "There are three things I look for in my work: I hope to learn something, I want to make some money, and I'd like to have some fun. If the project doesn't have the promise of satisfying at least two of these, then I don't sign on."

Ask yourself: How can I crank up the "fun" element in a current project?

Update from Joey (Taiwanese Student)

Here's an update from Joey Ting, the Taiwanese high student school I wrote about several days ago in the post "Letter from a Frustrated Taiwanese Student." Many of you wrote in your suggestions, and this what Joey has to say (very lightly edited for clarity).

Thanks guys.

I'm appreciated that I received so much comments, about blogging, photoing and painting. I actually had a blog (in Chinese sorry) long time ago, which is truly good for my creation, as well photoing- most of the Taiwanese students are having photophone, so i can often grab the image funny or full of edification home, maybe some of them will inspire me in near future.

Painting, ha I have drawing tiny people doing things in different posture since I'm in elementary school(of course teacher don't like what I'm doing), and that's also why I still keep textbook I used when I'm young.

And also i heard some advice like choosing creative programme in school, but sadly we cant choose what to study here in Taiwan (shock, aren't you?) so here i read, heeh, i learn things by outclass reading.

By the way, i WILL keep my offbeat sense of humor, hahaha.

On the other hand I'm glad to found there ARE opposite voices here, that make me so respect this place, only I can do is expecting to meet a boss that knows grade means not everything.

Frankly Taiwanese education IS improving, slowly but improving, as the [older] films I see ordinary Taiwanese students just remember WITHOUT knowing what they are remembering. Awful!  I'm lucky that [I was] not born at that time, though I'm not THAT lucky 'cause I born in THIS time. I hope young "whackers" in Asia could lead their children in better path then mine, I hope.

Joey Ting

Good luck to you, Joey. You show a lot of wisdom and perspective for your age.

Thanks also to all of you who shared your advice and comments.