An interesting perspective on contagious behaviour from Don Tapscott's group
This video got me thinking about contagion in 4 dimensions and which expressions have the most power to influence and create engagement and change. Is it physical movement, emotions, knowledge and ideas or faith and beliefs?
Obviously it would depend on the details of who, why, when and where of the situation. We might believe that an idea, belief or piece of information expressed in 4 dimensions will be more likely to create an impact over a more limited expression.
However the starlings in the video are a good example of the contagious power of energy, movement and body language alone to communicate objectives and goals.
Clearly there is no intellectual exchange of ideas through words (written or spoken) between the birds, nor are there any displays of obvious emotions like joy, anger, frustration or happiness that we would recognise. And we might also suspect that faith or spiritual belief, as we understand it, is unnecessary for these animals as it could be argued they have an instinctual knowledge of their place and purpose in the Kosmos. From their perspective only one dimension of expression - the physical - is required to communicate a performance objective in team 'Starling'.
This reminded me of my personal mantra of always working to people's strengths.Particularly in the field of creativity and innovation.
Innovation, in any context, can best be achieved by integrating and orchestrating a diverse group of individuals in one process of idea sharing to get an integral solution through multiple perspectives. Allowing everyone at every stage of their personal journey to contribute ideas often leads to a more satisfying and innovative solution.
However this process requires expert facilitation as the question becomes, how many of the 4 dimensions of expression are required and when for a diverse group to meet, communicate and share ideas?
Tom
Integral Perspectives On Personal & Professional Development
Four Perspectives of One Experience
On a recent trip back from Italy I was struck down by a stomach bug while I was at the airport and was sharply reminded of the four perspectives of human being ( my internal, subjective feelings, thoughts and beliefs, my external physical conditions, the environmental conditions in which I am situated and the shared experience I have with others) and how quickly a ‘physical’ ailment or discomfort can impact on the other three.
My subjective experience plummeted into how I was going to make it through not only the plane journey but the two hour delay that had just been announced. The airport itself was no longer a friendly arena beckoning me to some light Christmas shopping followed by a frothy cappuccino. No, it had now become a hostile environment with nowhere to lie down, or even comfortable to sit and no one to help in any way. And fellow passengers were now a body of people who no doubt didn’t want to be sitting anywhere near me for fear of infection. Suddenly all four perspectives came crashing down like dominoes in what was an interminable journey home to the comfort of isolation and my duvet in North London.
I was reminded of this TED talk by Jill Bolte Taylor and her – far more extreme and indeed profound – experience following a stroke. Jill is a brain research scientist who awoke one night to find herself in the middle of having a brain haemorrhage. As her physical symptoms took hold she was able to not only witness her experience but understand them in terms of her brain biology. The physical experience quickly became an experience in all 4 Perspectives.
Her subjective experience shifted dramatically between being aware of the process of having a stroke and losing that awareness, coming back and forth to the reality of her physical self. And her understanding of herself in relation to the environment as well as her interconnectedness to everyone and everything around makes this story an incredible account of how a shift in one perspective can have a deep and life changing impact on the other three.
Above all her generous, humorous and inspiring account takes the viewer from an understanding of the human brain and body on a material level to experience human being as a fully integrated I, You, We whole…raising the question of who are we and what that might mean for I, You and all of us…
Philippa
My subjective experience plummeted into how I was going to make it through not only the plane journey but the two hour delay that had just been announced. The airport itself was no longer a friendly arena beckoning me to some light Christmas shopping followed by a frothy cappuccino. No, it had now become a hostile environment with nowhere to lie down, or even comfortable to sit and no one to help in any way. And fellow passengers were now a body of people who no doubt didn’t want to be sitting anywhere near me for fear of infection. Suddenly all four perspectives came crashing down like dominoes in what was an interminable journey home to the comfort of isolation and my duvet in North London.
I was reminded of this TED talk by Jill Bolte Taylor and her – far more extreme and indeed profound – experience following a stroke. Jill is a brain research scientist who awoke one night to find herself in the middle of having a brain haemorrhage. As her physical symptoms took hold she was able to not only witness her experience but understand them in terms of her brain biology. The physical experience quickly became an experience in all 4 Perspectives.
Her subjective experience shifted dramatically between being aware of the process of having a stroke and losing that awareness, coming back and forth to the reality of her physical self. And her understanding of herself in relation to the environment as well as her interconnectedness to everyone and everything around makes this story an incredible account of how a shift in one perspective can have a deep and life changing impact on the other three.
Above all her generous, humorous and inspiring account takes the viewer from an understanding of the human brain and body on a material level to experience human being as a fully integrated I, You, We whole…raising the question of who are we and what that might mean for I, You and all of us…
Philippa
Empathic Civilisation
We 4D practitioners have long taken the position that contagious behaviour influences people at an unconscious level and given time can create sustainable change! Jeremy Rifkin's presentation on the Empathic Civilisation by the RSA makes the point again in an engaging and contagious style.
Controversial....Me?
We hear a lot of well meaning, personal development specialists giving advice about the importance of 'staying in the present moment' as if that was the answer to peace, happiness or/and contentment. Meditation and yoga retreats are increasing in popularity and many people are considering what spirituality means to them in life and work. Their ultimate quest is to realise the 'Power of Now'.
However I've been thinking long and hard about this stance for many years and am now finding the idea of a retreat into the 'now' as increasingly redundant and almost close to bankrupt.
We are living at a time of great upheaval and change. Our current economic models seem to no longer make sense, there is confusion as to the way forward and we in the privileged West are in conflict with most of the rest of the world in terms of our values, ideas, beliefs and experiences. So we might suspect that this is not a time to fall into a 'Power of Now' trance and hope things will get better on their own. Surely what we need now, more than anything, are new ideas for the future. New ideas about how we can genuinely integrate and co-create future communities and cultures in collaboration with the rest of world.
While it is important at times to empty our minds to focus and rest in the present moment, it is ultimately a state of stagnation from a developmental and evolutionary perspective. The world is full of creatures that can rest in the present moment without thoughts about past and future: cows, sheep, cats, jellyfish to name a few. And history is littered with stories of human beings who have allowed themselves to 'go with the flow' even if that ultimately meant the annihilation of natural environments, other living beings and sometimes even themselves.
But as far as we know we human beings are the only creatures on earth that can consciously create the future. We actually have the science and technology to create a cleaner, healthier and happier world for everyone now. There is absolutely no reason for human beings to kill each other for resources in a world where we have the ability to turn sea water into drinking water, dry desert into arable land, and deliver cancer treatment in forms that we previously only saw on Star Trek.
It's all out there if only we could find a new way to 'be' that meant everyone who had access to it wanted to deliver these technologies for the good of every living being. The only thing standing in our way is ourselves. The problem is that most people believe that someone or something else is responsible for making the future happen. Whether it be a natural or supernatural being. But who is it? Governments, politicians.....God? Maybe. But is it the future we need?
The real challenge is with us.
The human organism is full of genetically inherited, physical and emotional drives that can't adapt to the pressures of the modern world. Civilisation has brought many wonderful things together with a deep and abiding anxiety. Some of us feel it more than others but it's there. Hence the rise of the 'power of the present moment' Gurus. We need to engage with new ideas that help us to better understand who and what we are and in what context. In terms of understanding ourselves from an evolutionary perspective most of the current values, ideas and beliefs on which human societies around the globe are built are in desperate need of innovation.
While far from perfect the sciences have revealed many undeniable truths. Evolution being one of the most important. We do not live in a pre-designed, pre-determined universe, we are engaged in a random and chaotic process of creativity. However we human beings are that process becoming conscious of itself. The human mind has developed in such a way to make it possible for us to be co-creators in an eternally evolving process of becoming.
The challenge is that there is no blue print or template to follow from some alternative, perfect universe that existed in the past where everything was lovely and we all got it right- otherwise we'd all be living there. We are all pioneers in life.
Apparently, before the known universe emerged, the total energy from which the 'big bang' was generated was in a state of zero. Particles popping in and out of existence in a state of pure potential. I'm guessing that cosmic dance of energy was outside of time and space, as both hadn't been created yet. So whatever intelligence was at the source of creation, it certainly wasn't comfortable just existing in an infinite 'now' as the consequence of its impulse to become created a space time with forward momentum. In other words the arrow of time always keeps us feeling, thinking and moving in a forward direction towards the future.
In reality we have emerged out of the fabric of space time. In fact we ourselves literally make time,physically and intellectually. We are time machines. Even when we reach a point where we might think we are going backwards in terms of our progress our feelings, thoughts or actions are realised in the next moment we experience. The paradox is that it always 'feels' like we are in now-ness, but in reality there is no 'now' as we are perpetually moving into the next moment, and the next, and..... there goes another moment and.......so it goes.
Just try for a moment to conjure up a mental image of a fixed dividing line between the past, present and future and you'll get a sense of the ever moving flow of space time.
The power of being in the 'now' surely means reflecting on the past and engaging with creative ideas for the future in order to find a way to become more human in the global 21st century.
Back to 4D website
Ideas anyone?
The Clear Channel Ideas Seminar entitled The Outdoor Social Space, took place on Wednesday 10th November at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). HERE is what happened.
Influencers
INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.
Watch it HERE.
Leadership and Vision
I found this post about leadership and producing musicals on one of my favourite blogs - Ken Davenport commenting on how important it is for a producer to have a clear and unshakeable vision.
Having been employed in two of Cameron Macintosh's productions I witnessed first hand, the charisma of Cameron's leadership. He is indeed a powerful leader who cares about his shows, his organisation and most of all his people.
Before fulfilling my life long dream to become an actor I had my own brush with leadership in my younger days as the proprietor of hair and beauty salons. I came to understand (to my cost) how a vision also requires the leader's energy and attitude to be clear and present at all times. If not always in person then in communications that support a shared commitment.
While I had built a very successful business based on my values, ideas and beliefs about 'Hair in the 80s' ( my apologies to anyone I may have offended at the time ) and attracted some very talented people who liked the vibe I was creating, I eventually made a foolish mistake. I thought that after five years of successful trading I could go off and follow the various impulses that distracted me in my twenties and leave my businesses to function under various talented and loyal managers.
However hair and beauty is a very personal business and I quickly discovered that as my name was above the door, (literally) it became the brand and therefore clients wanted to know that I was around. Needless to say that my decision to go off touring with a rock band for a year resulted in the steady decline of my business as the vision, confidence and energy faded in my absence. However if I knew then what I know.....blah...blah.
Anyway here is Ken Davenports short article on producing for theatre.
The Power of Delusion
I was flicking through a selection of new books recently and came across a small and curious tome confidently titled 'The Power'. On further inspection I discovered it was (and still is) Rhonda Byrne's sequel to her pseudo esoteric 'money factory' 'The Secret.' In brief, Rhonda's core message is that you can be, do or have anything or anyone you want in your life. If you believe then you'll achieve. All you have to do is focus on the power of your intention, send your wishes out into the universe and abundance will come your way.
Naive, magical thinking?
Maybe.
I read a few pages of the book and then abandoned it. I then came across this article in The NY Times .
Now, I"m not entirely negative towards aspects of Byrne's perspective and approach in principle. A little positive self delusion can be very helpful, providing there is an underlying understanding and acceptance that our life's events are often a fragile combination of the chaos of randomness, luck and the power of our intentions expressed in behaviour. When things work out it is usually the coming together of these elements in the right place at the right time with the right people.
I am also a great believer in the idea that if we can find a way to 'creatively' respond to the given circumstances of our day to day existence we may survive and conquer many of life's challenges and even do very well. If we have high levels of energy and are contagious enough we might even be able to make some of the things we dream about and desire happen. But to deny that there are limits to our ability to have everything and anything we want is dangerously delusional.
If we use the analogy of an artist painting on a canvas we can view the undeniably influential objective reality of the world in which we live ( matter, bacteria, genes, atoms, planets, rocks, trees, gravity, weather etc) as the canvas on which our minds paint images and create our individual interpretations of the world. All will be fine..... providing we stay on the canvas. Once we start painting outside the frame we enter the world of imagination. I really like this place and spend much time painting off the canvas. However reality bites hard and we have to find a way to balance fantasy and reality. Otherwise we can begin to totally delude ourselves and at worse, take others with us.
Books like 'The Secret' and 'The Power' may reveal a partial truth about our circumstances and the human condition. But if we believe (as Byrne and her ilk suggest) that these ideas are the whole truth.....Well, some of us may never recover from the dissapointment.
All you need is………
John Lennon was probably one of the greatest pop song writers of all time and the song All You Need is Love was the hippy anthem of the nascent 60’s green, sharing and caring culture.
A time of embracing personal freedom, creativity and sharing everything from ideas and beliefs to material possessions. Among this emerging community sole ownership or possession of anything was deemed an outdated and meaningless concept.
Even our ideas of owning a permanent self or soul was challenged by the introduction of Eastern religions and philosophies like Buddhism, Daoism and Zen.
Lennon’s lyrics offered the suggestion that we let go of striving to do something and just play the game of Love. It’s easy!
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time - It's easy
The message is that if you’ve had a thought or idea, someone else somewhere else has had or will have a similar or the same idea. So why bother?
But what does this mean for innovation and evolution?
Those ‘Boomers’ that remember the case of the sixties girl band The Chiffons vs George Harrison of the Beatles will recall how similar Harrison’s Hymn to Hare Krishna ‘My Sweet Lord’ was to the Chiffons celebration of their man in the song ‘He’s So Fine.’ In fact the melodies are identical and ultimately cost Harrison his reputation as an innovator and a small fortune in a well publicised court case.
There has been a recent trend online for open sourcing, sharing and giving away ideas. But this is on the wane after most people were finding little benefit in the practice other than seeing others exploit their ideas for individual gain. Also as the concept of IP gains traction in an economy where quantity and price compete, new ideas are the new currency.
It's becoming more and more the case that the only sure way to differentiate yourself in a crowded market is to be totally original and find a niche.
So does this mean keeping your ideas to yourself and getting to the marketplace first?
If John Lennon is right there probably is someone, somewhere who has already thought of your idea. So what to do when you find out that your unique, game changing idea for a product, service, novel or film script has already been thought of?
Do you give up and resign yourself to witnessing someone else enjoying the fruits of their success with your idea?
Or do you:
Carry on regardless?
Make yours better, bigger, cheaper or more exclusive?
Steal their best bits and add it to yours?
Collaborate with the competition?
Go and work for the competition?
Buy the competition?
Go head to head with the competition in a very public way?
Do the exact opposite to your original idea?
Sabotage the competition?
Claim they ripped you off and sue them?
Celebrate their success and use it to promote your idea?
Find out how they got to market faster than you and adopt their process for your next idea?
Carry on producing your idea and give it away for free?
Or do you let it go and keep sharing in the knowledge that you have an infinite capacity to generate creative ideas.
All you need is…..belief!
Back to 4D website
Dream on!
In the last few days I have very much been reminded of this quote:
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”
-George Bernard Shaw
Which lead me to this one:
"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thought. With our thoughts, we make our world."
~The Buddha
The possibilities............
5 keys
Here are 5 keys that could unlock and release the energy to help you innovate and evolve in life and work.
Create, Communicate, Connect, Challenge and Change.
CREATE – Who you want to be in 4 fully integrated dimensions.
1. Body - Ask yourself whether you are as physically fit as you could be, then take action.
(Most human beings are predominantly visual and often judge a book by it’s cover so think about how you would like to appear in terms of what you wear and how you move in the world).
2. Heart- Take some time to explore your level of emotional intelligence. Daniel Goldman's thoughts and theories will help with this.
3. Mind- Assess wether you have enough information and knowledge for what you want and need to achieve in life and work.
4. Spirit- Define your personal beliefs, drives and motivators. The book by Lawrence and Nohria called 'Driven: How human nature shapes our choices' is a good place to start.
COMMUNICATE – Your V.I.B.E clearly (your values, ideas, beliefs and experiences) - let people know who you are.
Take some time to develop your communication skills.
Learn how to structure ‘story’ to help you talk about who and what you are succinctly and with impact. Stephen Denning's book on story telling for leadership has some interesting ideas.
Understand how your behaviour can help to convey the deeper meaning in everything you do and say.
CONNECT- With the 4 perspectives of human being.
How you feel and think is directly influenced and affected by your physical condition, the environment in which you live and work and the people that you share your time with. Making the connection between these perspectives helps to create a balanced experience. Reach out to others and start conversations about things that interest you through social and professional networks.
CHALLENGE – The currenty reality.
When you hear phrases like:
“But we always do things this way”
“If it ain’t broke don”t fix it”
“It’s just change for change sake.”
“Better the devil you know.”
Try asking “What if……?” “ If we could…….?” or “ Why not?”
CHANGE – One small thing each day to experience a new way of being.
Back to 4D website
My Space - For creativity.
I read an interesting article in Scientific American Mind magazine about creativity and environment. It's an ongoing question how our work environment affects our creativity and productivity. Any research so far has come up with little more than - stick a pot plant in the office...that'll get 'em innovating like crazy! But our work cubicle might just hold the key to employee happiness, engagement and creativity!
"..a cubicle is more than a mere physical workspace. In recent years, social and organisational psychologists have begun to amass evidence that the character of people's personal work environments affect their performance in profound and surprising ways. The size of our desks, our proximity to natural light, the quality of the air we breathe and our privacy (or lack thereof) - are all major predictors of our comfort, our contentment and our productivity."
But it might not simply be a question of getting a fabulous Soho design team in to jazz up the open plan. The latest research has shown it's more about the control an individual has over his or her environment. Or to use the first third of Dan Pink's triptych - a sense of 'autonomy'. In this latest study 4 groups were put to work for a short period of time in 4 different environments and then monitored for productivity and creativity. The four environments were set up as follows:
1) A lean basic office space - "a sanitized space containing only the items needed to perform the tasks: a pencil, paper, bare desk and a swivel chair"
2) An enriched office space - "decorated with plants and art, including several bright Georgia O'Keefe-style pictures"
3) The empowered office space - where participants were provided with the same art and plants as were used in the enriched office space but were allowed to arrange them however they chose or not use them at all.
4) The dis-empowered office space - where "participants were given the opportunity to decorate, but when they had finished doing so, the experimenter rearranged the office so that it matched the enriched condition"
And take a guess - in which environment were participants happier and more productive?
Yes, indeed. You guessed it. Number 3. Participants in the 'lean' or 'dis-empowered' environment were the least productive. Whilst participants with some control over their environment were twice as productive as those in the enriched environment.
Autonomy really does seem to lead to increased productivity. Of course this could lead to anything from graffiti-ed office partitions to foam parties in the board room.
Or it might just start with letting ME decide where I put my pot plant!
Back to 4D website
First Love
CLICK HERE to see the trailer for a new SkyArts series called 'First Love' featuring the lovely Lenny Henry being coached by our friend and colleague Jo Thompson of Charismalab.
Anxious to Create?
We humans are the product of 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution. As far as we know, we are the most intelligent and advanced species on the planet. We have more control over our environment and our subjective and objective experience than any other living creature and yet we seem to be one of the most anxious. However, unlike any other animal, we know that we’re anxious, but we are not always sure why.
We can think and believe we are anxious about many things but for many of us anxiety is a free floating feeling that can get attached and projected onto people, places and things that may not be the true cause of our anxiety.
Take for instance phobias. Most phobics suffer with an irrational fear of things that most of us wouldn’t even notice. Psychologists like Dr Jeffrey Shwartz have devised some interesting therapeutic solutions for people suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. They have discovered that, in some cases, anxiety can be re-routed using mental will power to rewire the neurological pathways in the brain. However, even though one’s anxiety can be released and redirected away from an object, it will often and eventually attach itself to something else.
For some of us anxiety is an ever-present sense that something is wrong, that we are in danger. Or the feeling that there is something missing; that we are somehow incomplete, something within us has not been fully realised or expressed. We can engage in behaviours to distract us or even numb the feelings with alcohol and drugs but anxious feelings are rarely relieved for very long.
I would like to propose that this is because anxiety is a primal drive and is present and persistent even before birth. More than this, it is possibly the first cause of anything existing at all.
In other words, I suggest that the original impulse that began creation was born out of a 'proto- anxiety' caused by the tension of an infinite energy trying to manifest itself but only able to bring itself into existence temporarily in finite forms. We could describe this tension as an anxiety of creativity.
Human creativity might then be described as an expression of anxiety. Driven by the desire of beings that innately know they are, at source, infinite but are only able to manifest and express themselves temporarily in finite forms. The infinite and finite self seeking union and full expression. The 'Primal Anxiety'.
So, if and when you feel anxious but you don't know why, try reframing the feeling and think of your anxiety as a potentially creative state of mind. Then use it as an opportunity to focus your thinking on solving a problem and bring something new into the world.
Whatever that might mean for you.
Dreamer...Nothing but a dreamer?
Last night I had the strangest dream. I was having a conversation with some Albanians in a coffee bar in London about their struggle settling in the UK and the culture they left behind. I can’t remember much about the details but it all felt very informative and fascinating. When I left the coffee bar I found myself on the corner of a street waiting for someone to pick me up.
While I waited I had a conversation with a man and a woman about the parking restrictions in the area and then I became aware of a small silver car coming towards that I identified as belonging to me. I looked inside at the driver and noticed, with some pleasure, that it was woman wearing a brightly coloured Hijab (head wear worn by Muslim women). I quickly realised the woman was my wife and got into the car.
Before we could drive away the car stalled and wouldn’t start again. I had to get out and push it in the hope that I would be able to bump start the engine back to life. It was proving highly challenging as the woman (apparently my wife) couldn’t seem to engage the gear stick and I eventually became exhausted by the strain of pushing the car.
Suddenly the scene and circumstances changed and I was in an office engaged in conversation with some ex colleagues talking about work and people we used to know. A whole new set of people and a whole new me.
Now, while I'm sure dream analysts would have some fun unpacking that lot, it all seems a bit randomn to me so I'll leave it to those who know more about the subject. But here’s the thing. I am not, nor ever have been married to a woman who wears a Hijab, however in my dream all this seemed perfectly normal. Now as I picture the faces of the ex-collegues I was talking to in the dream I realise they were people I’d never seen before in my life, and yet it all felt very familiar. I had encountered several individuals all of whom seemed to have thoughts of their own and said things that surprised me. Somethings were said that I’m sure I’d never heard before. On top of that my own identity had shifted and yet I always felt like myself.
Sleep researchers suggest that dreaming is about dealing with our unconscious desires and fears and rehearsing responses to situations we may face in waking life. Some even suggest that each character in a dream is an expression of our own personalities.
In other words everyone you dream about represents an aspect of your own feelings, thoughts and behaviours. Personally, I am not entirely convinced by that theory but it is certain that when we dream we are purely in the subjective realm of experience. There is no objective, physical dimension to engage with as everything is played out in the imagination. And yet , when we dream we meet separate entities seemingly feeling, thinking and acting independently of us, the dreamer.
I was reminded of the movie ‘Inception’ where the Ariadne character explains to Di Caprio that during the dream state “ It’s like you are discovering a new world and yet you are creating it.” One mind, many perspectives.
It is possible that pondering on our ability to 'dream' up an experience of reality full of people, places and things during sleep may help our Western minds, more used to individualist thinking, to better understand the Eastern, spiritual perspective of everything and everyone being an expression of ‘One’ energy.
Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism offer the concept of ‘One’ awareness behind many minds. The central idea being that duality, separation and multiplicity is an illusion.
In other words there is only one dreamer dreaming us all.
And if that is true, that dreamer is YOU.
How do you feel?
Living life in 4 dimensions means being aware of your body and how you move in the environments you inhabit, how you feel moment to moment, your thought processes and having a clear understanding of why you do the things you do.
However, the way you feel often determines your ability to generate energy and rest, work and play efficiently.
The words Emotion, Move and Motivate share the same Latin root - Emovare, which means to move. Emotions are probably the most powerful source of our personal energy. This is because our emotions are connected to our desires, passions, needs, dreads and fears. All of which can activate our ancient Feed, Fight or Flight response, which has access to extraordinary levels of energy.
Psychology has revealed that we probably ‘feel’ emotions before we have thoughts about a person, place or thing. These emotion-fuelled thoughts will then dictate our behaviours and the actions we take. And it seems the sequence of events happen in that order: feelings, thoughts, behaviours and action. This is because the emotional part of the brain (limbic system-amygdala) responds before and independently of the cognitive rational brain (neocortex).
However this psychological sequence can lead to ‘emotional hijacking’ as the emotional centres in the brain can cut off access to our rational, logical functions. We might then fly into a rage or become very sad or scared. This is a function left over from primitive human’s instinctive response to danger, which would trigger fight or flight merely from various nonverbal or environmental signals. Early humans needed an instant warning and rescue system, as they had not yet developed the intellectual capacity to analyse and decide what sort of danger he/she was in. Unfortunately this warning and rescue system software is still running in our brains, therefore, we need strategies to implement before any emotional hijacking takes place. We need to learn to recognise our ‘trigger mechanisms and situations’ in order to do this.
Because so much of what we feel is to do with the biochemistry of our bodies and old patterns of thought we associate with feelings from childhood it is vital that we have an intellectual understanding of the psycho- somatic dynamics of emotion.
Understanding why and how we feel the way we do helps us to intelligently manage our feelings, thoughts and behaviours.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Self Awareness
Are you aware and in control of your emotions?
What strategies do you use to manage your emotions?
When is it hard for you to manage your emotions?
Why?
What could you do to help improve the situation?
Other Awareness
Can you easily recognise what others are feeling?
Are you easily able to empathise with others?
How do you behave?
When is it difficult for you to recognise the emotions of others?
What do you think might help to improve the situation?
The psychologist Antonio Damasio has revealed that our emotions are a product of an entanglement of both internal and external physical feelings and thoughts that might not necessarily be connected. For instance, if I am a naturally anxious person, because of the way my body produces cortisol and adrenalin, I might be particularly more anxious in the mornings. As a result if you engage me in the morning I will feel differently about our interaction (and you) than if you engage with me in the afternoons. If I know this, I can better manage my feelings thoughts and behaviours to compensate.
The key to working with emotional intelligence is in first understanding when, how and why we become emotional and then trying to understand the same in others.
The Big Blank Page
On our 5 day retreats we help our guests explore their personal creativity and potential for self evolution. Whilst facilitating creativity sessions we have discovered that some people can be nervous about being put on the spot to come up with ideas and will interpret their own reluctance as a sign to themselves that they are not creative.
So we make sure that we never put people on the spot during our coaching and training sessions.
However it’s a well-known cliché that the one-thing professional ‘artists’ fear most is the blank canvass (or if you’re a writer the blank page).
For artists this is really about the fear of the inability to think of anything to put on the canvass. In other words – painters’ or writers’ block.
When people expect you to come up with a solution or idea, the despair of not knowing if anything will inspire you can be debilitating. And a big part of that is to do with the fear of not meeting expectations, both those of other people and your own. In other words-the fear of getting it wrong.
During our eclectic careers we have both made a living at some point by writing, composing or creating performances and have faced this dilemma on several occasions. In our experience there are two situations that lead you to the blank page.
A. You are going to reproduce something you have already expressed and you know how it will look, sound, taste or feel. You have a pre-designed piece of work so to speak.
B. You have something you want to express but this will be the first time you’ve tried to express it.
If it’s option A there should be little fear, as you know what to do having done it before.
Option B however is a grope into the unknown and that comes with the risk of a psychological block.
This led me to think of the ultimate creation on the first blank page and what would have happened, or not, if the originator of the ‘Great Work’ had had writers block. I’m talking about the moment before Genesis. Not the ‘prog rock’ band responsible for the career of Phil Collins but rather the nothingness from which time and space emerged at the moment of the big bang.
My understanding is that the entire universe is a creative and more over self-creating affair. My reasoning, I believe, is both philosophically sound and easily comprehendible.
It goes like this.
When time, space and creation began, science tells us that everything was contained in the potential of a singularity. A point no bigger than a tennis ball. But what was happening before the universe began to expand and what is it now expanding into?
I guess we might say that before time and space there was spaceless and timeless...ness. And the potential universe was contained in that.
A big blank page!
Some might say that the original spacelessness and timelessness was a sort of perfect bliss state. Heaven or Nirvana if you will.
But if the universe was originally in some perfect state of heavenly bliss why did it change and become a chaotic process of creativity. Why did anything else need to happen at all?
Just for fun? For a laugh...ha ha ha ha? Some might say that, yes!.
However, weren't we having enough fun in our perfect state of bliss?
Clearly not.
Others might say we're here to learn. But what could a being in a perfect state of bliss need to learn? Wasn't everything already perfect as it was?
Once again, clearly not.
If there were such a thing as a creator god who is perfect and all knowing, what need would it have to create something so imperfect as the known universe and mankind in particular? The devout will surely say that humans do not have the capacity to know the mind of the creator and that I am arrogant to even think that I can understand what god is let alone imagine what’s on its mind.
But that doesn’t explain why a perfect being in a state of perfect peace has any need to do anything at all and if what it is doing has produced us then I think we can all agree it’s intentions are probably neither perfect nor permanent.
Following this we might also assume that if there was ever a condition in the universe that was both perfect and permanent then we would be in that condition right now. As we are involved in, and the result of, an ever changing and evolving process, I think it would be fair to say that there is nothing permanent or perfect about the universe - other than its impermanence.
As far as we know, for the last 14 billion years the universe appears to have been, paradoxically, randomly creating order out of chaos. So we can deduce that there has not yet been a stable, permanent state of being in the Cosmos to date.
Therefore there can be no blue print or plan.
It hasn’t happened yet so whatever process or intelligence is currently behind creation clearly has no idea what it’s doing. It’s simply creating, trying things out.
The starting point of creation was no bigger than a tennis ball and yet it contained the potential for everything we see, hear, touch, taste and smell around us today. Every possibility was present in that moment as an impulse to become. And that impulse continues to evolve the world around us. We human beings are a product of this process and our self-consciousness has afforded us the ability to consciously create the world in our own image.
You might say that we are the random process of creation become conscious of itself.
Therefore, next time someone asks you for an idea, don’t be afraid of the blank page, because you are an expression of the original creative impulse. You have the creative power of the whole Cosmos within you.
So…what do you think?
Tom
Back to 4D website
The Paradox Principle
In our work developing the 4D programme we continuously look for solutions to increase employee engagement. Currently we are introducing our clients to some interesting idea sharing tools and exploring various ways that a culture of creativity and innovation can engage people.
One of the ideation processes we use is the ‘Paradox Principle’. This is thinking about an issue in terms of opposites and contradictions.
There are three types of paradoxical thinking:
Contrary thinking – Completely replacing something with it’s opposite.
Janusian thinking – Using two opposing features to create an effect through contrast e.g.white laces on black shoes or sweet and sour sauce.
and
Hegelian thinking- Bringing two opposites together to create a third thing e.g. blending black and white paint to make grey, combining a work and play activity to create a career (Golf caddy) or a pencil and an eraser to make a rubber pencil.
So we thought we might apply this to the term engagement itself and see what happened.
We asked the question: “When might the opposite of engagement be a good thing?”
If we take as a starting point the definition of engagement as an experience of being subjectively emersed in and involved with, an idea, person, place or thing, then disengagement may be thought of as being disconnected, objective and uninvolved.
Combining these opposites could mean taking a ‘witnessing’ position on a situation that you are experiencing. In other words becoming engaged in being disengaged!
Sometimes it is very difficult to see the bigger picture when all our 4 dimensions (physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual) are fully involved in an experience. To be able to step back and witness what’s going on can be both a relief and a place from which a creative solution may emerge. Particularly when emotions are surfaced as emotional arousal can produce tunnel vision thinking and be less helpful.
An example might be when some one crosses one of our personal boundaries and offends us. We might leave a conversation feeling angry sad or humiliated. In this scenario we might find a space to be alone and take a moment to think and ask ourselves- who is it that feels upset and why? In other words try and take an objective view of our situation.
The idea is to conjure up and hold in our minds an objective representation of who and what we are so we can momentarily see ourselves from the outside. This may be a picture, a sound or a feeling.
.
We can then ask ourselves-
Who is it that is now taking this objective perspective?
This may seem strange at first but stick with it.
We might then ask-
Who is it that is witnessing the person taking the objective perspective?
With a little bit of practice you will notice that each time you ask the question you objectify the previous questioner (yourself).
In a gradual process of stepping further and further away from your subjective experience into the realm of objectivity you will soon come to a place of disengagement.
This could now be a good thing as from here you can view the 4 perspectives of human being much more clearly.
What was I really feeling and thinking and why?
What was I doing. How was I behaving?
Where was I and how was the environment impacting on me?
And who was I interacting with and how did their presence affect my experience?
From here we might get more insights into what was actually going on and which factors were most effecting and impacting us.
Give it a try and experience the power of the paradox of engaging in disengagement!
The Integral Position
An Integral position is accepting that everyone has a valid perspective to offer. However in terms of a philosophy of life Integral proposes that everyone has a partial knowledge of the truth of reality. In other words, no 'one' person or group can claim the 'whole' and exclusive truth and expect or insist that it apply to everyone else.
This poem by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) called 'THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT' creatively illustrates the point.
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk
Cried, "Ho! what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ‘tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out an eager hand, And felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"’Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
added: "E’en the blindest man can tell what this
resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope.
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
The central principle of 'Integral Innovation' is that the development of a person, place or object that leads to effective and sustainable change is often a process of transcending yet including previous perspectives, states and stages. An evolution that integrates most if not all previous experience. However unlike pluralism or relativism, Integral looks for a perspective that is not just different but better for all, based on an integration of what is collectively agreed as being good, true and beautiful from all other perspectives.
In the context of idea sharing, for this to happen it is vital to acknowledge that everyone has a right to their creative perspective. I like the sentiment behind this thought from Chris Albrecht - President of HBO programming
"The idea that we're all connected in the collective unconscious is an extremely important part of what makes entertainment successful. You can't translate that literally, but you can be aware of the ideas behind it: that the psyche has a structure, that the unconscious is a very powerful force, that we're all on a journey, striving for individuation and wholeness. If you understand that, you have a better grip on what's relevant, resonant, and rich about human experience."
Tom
Back to 4D website
We Can Measure The Power of Charisma
That is the latest claim by Alex Pentland who directs the MIT Human Dynamics Lab. In fact he claimed 87% accuracy in one experiment where he predicted which individuals would win a business plan pitch without hearing their content!
He has developed an instrument called the sociometer. A badge that is worn by people and measures the dynamics of non verbal communication: gestures, expressions, tone as they interact with others in various environments. Apparently it records how much face to face interaction takes place, how close to each other people position themselves and how much each person just listens. The sensors also record stress levels when people were presenting as reflected by the variations of speed, tone, rhythm and pitch of the voice.
The theory is that certain non verbal behaviours are ‘signals’ that cause changes in the receiver of the signal. Much like the 'dancing' behaviour of Bees. This is essentially about the contagious nature of certain behaviours. Pentland’s research suggests that successful people are simply more energetic in all behaviours. Not just as transmitters of information but also as receivers. They are also great listeners.
Not rocket science! You may be thinking. However, it seems that it is the 'energy' with which these behaviours are performed that becomes the defining factor.
In an interview with Harvard Business Review Pentland says:
“The more of these energetic, positive people you put on a team, the better the team’s performance. We are learning how face-to-face communications affects productivity. We think face time with colleagues is as much as 2.5 times as important to success as additional access to information. Results aren’t final, but we think we can increase productivity by 10% at no cost just by rearranging the environment to promote more employee interaction. Positive, energetic people have higher performance.”
In this video from Google Talks Pentalnd reveals more about his research:
The question always remains how do you turn this research into identifiable behaviours?
When Jo Thompson and I developed the ‘Charismalab’ programme we mainly focussed on translating what we understood about the dynamics of charismatic behaviour from working as (and with) performers on the stage and screen. We were interested in what made successful performers successful. We discovered that it is their ability to communicate their values, ideas, beliefs and experiences using energised and engaging behaviours.
Pentland's research takes this discovery into more territories. Including brainstorming and productivity in teams.
In an interview with Psychology Today he states: “We found very similar results in a separate study focused on brainstorming: the more of these energetic, focused listeners that were on a team, the better the quality of their brainstorming. In brainstorming sessions with teams whose social style was similar to these ‘charismatic connectors,’ the resulting quality of the talking was characterized by high levels of listening, more even-handed turn-taking, and high levels of engagement, trust, and cooperation. These 'charismatic connectors' are the ultimate team players - and the key to making a team successful.”
This research certainly adds to other studies we draw on from the field of human energy and contagion and definitely supports our experience of working in the area of engagement and communication.
Contagiously yours
Tom
4Dhumanbeing.com
He has developed an instrument called the sociometer. A badge that is worn by people and measures the dynamics of non verbal communication: gestures, expressions, tone as they interact with others in various environments. Apparently it records how much face to face interaction takes place, how close to each other people position themselves and how much each person just listens. The sensors also record stress levels when people were presenting as reflected by the variations of speed, tone, rhythm and pitch of the voice.
The theory is that certain non verbal behaviours are ‘signals’ that cause changes in the receiver of the signal. Much like the 'dancing' behaviour of Bees. This is essentially about the contagious nature of certain behaviours. Pentland’s research suggests that successful people are simply more energetic in all behaviours. Not just as transmitters of information but also as receivers. They are also great listeners.
Not rocket science! You may be thinking. However, it seems that it is the 'energy' with which these behaviours are performed that becomes the defining factor.
In an interview with Harvard Business Review Pentland says:
“The more of these energetic, positive people you put on a team, the better the team’s performance. We are learning how face-to-face communications affects productivity. We think face time with colleagues is as much as 2.5 times as important to success as additional access to information. Results aren’t final, but we think we can increase productivity by 10% at no cost just by rearranging the environment to promote more employee interaction. Positive, energetic people have higher performance.”
In this video from Google Talks Pentalnd reveals more about his research:
The question always remains how do you turn this research into identifiable behaviours?
When Jo Thompson and I developed the ‘Charismalab’ programme we mainly focussed on translating what we understood about the dynamics of charismatic behaviour from working as (and with) performers on the stage and screen. We were interested in what made successful performers successful. We discovered that it is their ability to communicate their values, ideas, beliefs and experiences using energised and engaging behaviours.
Pentland's research takes this discovery into more territories. Including brainstorming and productivity in teams.
In an interview with Psychology Today he states: “We found very similar results in a separate study focused on brainstorming: the more of these energetic, focused listeners that were on a team, the better the quality of their brainstorming. In brainstorming sessions with teams whose social style was similar to these ‘charismatic connectors,’ the resulting quality of the talking was characterized by high levels of listening, more even-handed turn-taking, and high levels of engagement, trust, and cooperation. These 'charismatic connectors' are the ultimate team players - and the key to making a team successful.”
This research certainly adds to other studies we draw on from the field of human energy and contagion and definitely supports our experience of working in the area of engagement and communication.
Contagiously yours
Tom
4Dhumanbeing.com
Creatively Engaging CEO's
We are still excited about the recent study conducted by IBM that revealed over 1,500 CEOs citing creativity as a top leadership quality for leading in the new economic environment. This transcends, yet includes – personal communication, openness , global mindset, energy and drive.
It seems that many CEO’s are now realising that creativity is as important, if not more than other leadership characteristics as they realise continuous change is becoming the norm in the current economic climate.
The study also showed that high performing creative leaders are comfortable with ambiguity and experimentation and leading creatively requires the shedding of some old beliefs about management and leadership.
It is becoming clear to all of us, at some level, that things ain’t what they used to be and many of the old rules will soon no longer apply.
Many CEO’s interviewed for the study also agree that it’s not enough just to be prepared personally. They understood that their entire organisation has to be equipped and prepared to be a catalyst for creativity - Recognising the need to encourage creativity across their organisations rather than just recruiting ‘creative types’ and positioning them in siloed departments.
However they understood that in order to benefit from the diversity of ideas that each and every employee can contribute an entirely new set of capabilities will be required.
Beginning with coaching individuals (leaders and managers) in raising awareness and understanding on how their unique values, drives and thinking styles can be utilised and applied creatively. This is followed by training to provide teams with insights and tools to facilitate creative and innovative thinking. And finally, by initiating a programme of idea sharing involving everyone, in a re-think about how the infrastructure, systems and processes of the organisation can support creativity.
Happy days!
Back to 4D website
The Creativity Confidence Loop
As the research on what makes people more or less creative continues I’m interested in a seemingly simple aspect of how or if we feel we’re creative....confidence. The confidence to allow yourself to imagine new possibilities and the confidence to share your ideas with others, however crazy they may seem. And what is the connection between self-confidence and creativity?
A number of studies have been carried out over recent years into the link between self-concept & self-confidence and creativity. One of them was performed on children of around 5-6 years old by Clemente Franco Justo at the University of Almeria in Spain. The ‘creative relaxation programme’ produced the following results:
1) Children who have greater self-confidence will be able to express their creative potential more readily than those whose confidence is lower.
And here we have the Creativity Confidence Loop. When self-confidence is high, anxiety is decreased and children are able to be more open, spontaneous, communicative and curious. When self-concept is poor and self-confidence low, children are far more likely to under-estimate their potential or be able to share ideas.
Many authors and studies have looked at the characteristics of creative children and found them to be: self-confidence, imagination and perseverance in the face of obstacles, whereas fear and weakness can drive creativity away or make it more difficult to find.
Translating this into the adult world – when our ideas are heard and acknowledged, we’re far more likely to come up with more. If we dare to share one small initial idea and feel it is heard, our capacity to broaden our imaginations begins to grow. As our confidence grows, so does our ability to come up with and share increasingly creative ideas. The key is to start the process. However small. However perhaps unusable that first idea is – if it is crushed, so is the possibility of a person’s imaginative growth and creative development. If it is heard – so begins the Creativity Confidence Loop that is potentially the beginning of a whole new and dynamic culture of innovation.
Philippa
Back to 4D website
Children, Chemistry and Creativity
We often hear similar phrases to: "Children start out with an innate ability to be creative until the education system educates it out of them." But is that true for all children? Is it indeed different for boys and girls? Does physiology determine our ability to come up with ideas or is it a socialised ability?
The Ideo team brought in a group of seven year olds to brainstorm around a new toy.
They then put the boys in a separate space from the girls.
After an hour they discovered that the boys came up with around 50 ideas. The girls delivered over 200!
Why?
Apparently the boys were less collaborative. Shouting over each other and focussing on their own ideas. The girls however were more inclined to listen and build on each others ideas.
The benefits of collaboration are obvious but perhaps the consequences of competition not so.
The reason for the boys producing less ideas may be that if we feel we are in competition with others our survival instincts kick in, together with the need to win. As a result our cortisol levels may rise and the feeling of stress can both diminish our ability to surface ideas and our willingness to collaborate. In fact research has shown that an increase in stress hormones can cause tunnel vision.
However if we feel heard and supported we are more inclined to feel relaxed and encouraged to offer ideas freely.
Clearly women can be equally as competitive as men and men have the capacity to be highly collaborative.
So perhaps the question about creative thinking and idea generation is less about whether we are more creative as children and more about: "How much do emotions, gender roles, chemistry and environments determine the outcome of a brainstormimg session?"
The research continues!
Back to 4D website
Ingenious Packaging from Chivas Brothers
Just had to post this video highlighting another example of our client Chivas Bros creative and engaging packaging ideas. The marketing team were looking for a way to differentiate Ballantines Finest whisky on the back-of-bar shelf.
Working with London-based packaging agency The Core, they came up with a self-illuminating bottle. Modelled on a graphic equaliser, the bottle appears to react to music and makes an impressive impact, standing out amongst other back-of-bar brands.
Global marketing director for Ballantine's, Peter Moore, said "The ‘Listen to Your Beat' campaign will energise and engage consumers in a creative and eye catching manner."
We at 4D are proud to be supporting this highly innovative company as they continue to evolve their dynamic culture of innovation.
Back to 4D website
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)