Smile And The World Smiles With You

Ron Gutman's fun TED talk pulls together some of the latest research on the power of the 'smile.'

According to the British Dental Foundation Research one smile releases the equivalent endorphins of 2000 chocolate bars or winning a jackpot of £16,000. Not only is it the ultimate in free personal feel-good but it's the most contagious body language a human can express - anywhere in the world.

So if things look grim...grin.

Characteristics of a Creative ' Flex & Flow' Leader.

Creativity seems to be a quality greatly in demand today. Many of us are looking for creative solutions to a plethora of problems of varying sizes, surfacing in life and work.

The socio-economic landscape is shifting and quaking under our feet and a tsunami of change threatens to engulf us in waves of confusion and uncertainty.

So it's no suprise that many people around the globe are rising up and asking serious questions of our leaders.

How can we creatively respond to the economic challenges we face?

How can we cope with rising crime and the threat of terrorism?

How will we manage if and when food, water and fuel become scarce?

How will we find money to survive in the future when our economy seems so unpredictable?

How can we make more from less? 
How can we live and work in ways that make us feel that we are doing more than just coping? 

How can we avoid feeling we are becoming less than we were in terms of our personal happiness and growth?
How can we ensure our children have a future?

How can we ensure our aging parents will have a good quality of life in their later years?


But people are quickly discovering that their leaders don't have the answers. And the reason is, the answers to these questions can't be found, because they don't exist. How can they when we live in such a unique time in history? Never before in all eternity has a world like this, at a time like this, with people like us doing what we do, in the way that we do it, existed.

The Internet has connected more of us to more knowledge than we've ever had access to before. People move around the world with relative freedom and at speeds never before possible. Science and technology has far exceeded our ancient biology's capacity to manage it responsibly and we are draining the planet's resources at an unsustainable rate. As this state of affairs has never occurred in history before, there are no ready-made answers hiding away to be discovered. The solutions will have to be created.

So, each of us has to become pioneers at this leading edge of a new global culture. But what we could really do with right now are some great leaders. Leaders of the kind we've never seen before. New leaders with a vision for a new future. Leaders that can inspire us to follow on and build that future.
Creative rather than destructive leaders. But what is a creative leader?

How will we recognize them? What are their characteristics?

Well, if we had to visualize what a creative leader might be like we might start by saying they are people who have deep insight, abundant personal energy, a flexible thinking style and great communication skills.

We might also say that they take a 'flex and flow' attitude to life and work.

'Flex and flow' describes the creative, energetic processes of natural systems. 
Energy and matter are two aspects of the same thing but in different states. Matter is simply condensed energy. When living, organic, objects emerge from the environment (molecules, bacteria, cells, complex organisms, plants and animals) their growth is the result of a process of contracted, complex, energy, forming into solid structures. In order to maintain it's form an object needs to burn energy to hold it's structure. The energy an object uses as fuel for growth and stability is then transformed, released and flows back into the system, allowing new forms to arise. Human consciousness is simply the process of creative flex and flow becoming aware of itself. Knowing when to flex your energy, contract and take action, and when to release energy into a flow state allowing new forms to arise is the process of creative ' flex and flow'.

A creative leader is energised by a flex and flow value set is able to see the whole range of human differences within an organization from a values perspective, and knows how to communicate with people at their respective levels.

Creative Leaders with a flex and flow mindset understand that it is the diversity of 'values and belief systems' that cause more challenges than issues of personality types, race, gender and age. People of the same culture can often hold differing values while others from different groups can share values which can transcend external boundaries. For example - A Christian and a Moslem, both expressing the same values around environmental issues, will more easily find common ground. White and black South Africans committed to the values of diversity and inclusions will have far less interpersonal challenges than two English football supporters of the same gender, religion and race, expressing a fundamentalist, tribal loyality to opposing teams.

Creative Leaders manage cultural barriers such as race, religion, gender, age and lifestyles that can divide and create conflict with a syngergistic, integral approach that serves the whole system.

Creative Leaders have reached a high level of understanding in terms of their own values and understand the drives and motivations of people at all levels of development. 
They have trod a path many have yet to walk and can act as guides, helping us lay stepping-stones across a slippery terrain. They have an ability to consider many perspectives at once seeing patterns and connections others do not notice because they are not hampered by unhealthy, egotistic concerns. The creative leader is aligned with the creative force of evolution and represents the flow of natural design becoming conscious of itself.
They are open.
They recognize that the only permanent thing in the universe is change. They accept that our individual lives are a journey that may not necessarily have a purpose, other than the one we alone give to ourselves.

Creative Leaders behave with patience, realizing that people will only act for change when they are ready and willing.

Creative leaders are prepared to walk away from a situation when the timing is wrong or when they recognize they are not the right person to lead.

Creative leaders acknowledge and recognize that to get what they need as individuals they have to keep the whole system and everyone in it as healthy as possible to ensure their own survival.

Creative Leaders are comfortable with a diversity of thoughts, concepts and ideas.

Creative Leaders respect that everyone is partially right but no-one person has the whole picture, not even the leader.

Creative Leaders have developed and integrated their four dimensions of being -physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

Creative Leaders can take on many roles and points of view when they need to fit.

Creative Leaders can quickly adapt and lead in a style that meets the need of the group they are leading.

Creative Leaders solve problems by thinking in terms of networks and connected systems.

Creative Leaders can handle high levels of complexity.

Creative Leaders can think with the four quadrants of their brains as an integrated whole.



Back Left - Organisation, process and routine. 

Back Right - Meaning making, intuition and empathy.

Front Left - Facts, logic and rationale.

Front Right - Spontaneity, improvisation and abstraction.

But surely this description is too perfect. This kind of leader can't possibly exist.


After all we've just created these characteristic in our imagination.

But wait...if we can imagine a leader like this then surely we can create one.

In fact, if you walk to a mirror right now you might just see a potential candidate..

Everybody Creates All the Time

I was just rereading a BBC News interview with REM’s Michael Stipe and was struck once again by the elements and process of creativity that led to the band’s success.

Michael Stipe was brought up in a family with no specific interest in music. He was never exposed to a broad range of sounds. In fact the music his parents played when he was young was limited and often repeated.

So there was no priming here in terms of Michael’s future career in music. He was a blank page if you will.

And then came the random input – the ‘Inspiration’ – when he heard tracks on the radio ranging from Tammy Wynette to the Soundtrack of Disney’s movie ‘The Parent Trap’. And above all Elton John’s ‘Benny and The Jets.’ This eclectic mix of music sparked a flame of musical creativity in Michael Stipe that started him on his journey into pop stardom. And it’s input like this that can spark anyone’s creativity – unexpected, eclectic and not deadline driven!

Michael Stipe wasn’t an expert either. Far from it. He didn’t know the difference between a bass and a lead guitar until REM’s second album. So there goes the need for any of us to be experts in the field we choose to create in!

So then we might say, but I don’t ‘feel’ like I’m creative? Just don’t believe it. Well Michael Stipe didn’t exactly feel it either – until he got up on stage and sang and realised the audience were not only buying it but enjoying it. And because they were enjoying it, he began to believe it and so began the Confidence Loop. It’s like any pitch or ‘Presentation’ - if you don’t feel it – ‘act as if’ until you do.

REM were also brilliant at understanding that different band members had different strengths. Michael Stipe would write songs and become too attached to them to be able to edit them down, but realised that Pete Buck had the talent to do that for him. The band used this team knowledge to constantly strive for the best they could do. A great example of team ‘Collaboration.’

And key to REM’s success was not only the ability to celebrate their successes but also to accept, embrace and learn from their failures. Something so many people and organisations find a challenge yet so fundamental to personal creativity and organisational innovation.

But above all in my opinion is Michael Stipe’s desire, will and ‘Motivation’ to create and perform music. This beyond anything else, I would argue, is the key ingredient for creativity. That fundamental, intrinsic desire to create. To innovate. And if you, your people, your organisation has that – you’re in a very exciting place in terms of creativity and innovation. With that energy to harness, the sky is the limit. And that’s why we at 4D work with values and drives based Integral Creativity.

You can have all the PowerPoints, Strategies and Tools in the world - just like Michael Stipe could in theory have had musical parents, guitar lessons and a career plan – but without energy and motivation a hundred tools, days of PowerPoint slides and reams of strategy won’t make it happen.

So Motivation, Inspiration, Collaboration and then the Presentation of getting up, (acting ‘as if’ if necessary) and sharing your creation with the world (or the board). The vital ingredients.

And even if you don’t have a clear plan….just start creating. See where it takes you…Madison Square Gardens, Wembley, you never know…REM never had any goals!



Philippa