Why you should be weird
They told Van Gogh he used too much paint, and Englebart that the mouse was pointless. Galileo and Copernicus…
Category: Creative Thinking
Thinking in Desire Paths
A failing in all design thinking is faith you can perfectly predict human behavior. Often a wiser strategy is…
Quote of the week
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration of fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films,…
All ideas are made of other ideas
If you want to find new ideas, start by breaking existing ideas down into smaller ones. Only then can…
Quote of the Week
All artists are psychologically and emotionally driven to tell their stories. I’m not so sure we choose the stories…
Book review: The checklist manifesto
Gawande’s first effort, Complications is a great book. He’s honest about the limitations of surgeons in a way few…
How U2 gets ideas for songs
In my never ending study of how people work with ideas, I watched Classic Albums – U2’s Joshua Tree. …
The make vs. consume ratio
Years ago I realized the pleasure of spending a few bucks to see something that cost $100 million or…
Rules to live by
Buster Benson, the super creative guy who made 750words (helps you write), Locavore (helps you eat), 8:36pm project (helps…
Applying Jazz to workplace creativity
Months ago I got a sneak preview of a book on two of my favorite things: the making of…
The Idea Approval Index
Many leaders talk about progress, but overlook simple indicators. One easy measure is the Idea Approval Index (IAI). To…
The creativity crisis (Newsweek)
In a recent article on America’s declining ability to be creative, the author, Po Bronson, tries to explain why…
Why You Are Not an Artist
Picasso. Van Gogh. Beethoven. Hendrix. O’Keefe. Kurosawa. Kahlo. Kafka. Magritte. Bukowski. These are people most agree are worthy of…
Why Creatives Are Confused
The Ad Contrarian has this great little post about Why Creatives Are Confused. Here’s an excerpt: When they say…
Fishing with Strawberries: on Tim O’Reilly
Tim O’Reilly is the CEO and founder of O’Reilly Media, the publisher that has printed all three of my…
Can you learn creativity from dance? An interview
I’m always curious about how people in different fields work with their ideas. When I talk with painters, sculptors,…
Inside Pixar’s Leadership
There were plenty of high profile people at the Economist event in March, but hands down the best session…
Need a word for an interesting idea
Was talking today with someone about this: A movie comes out (Movie X) and is very influential. Many other…
Don’t be original, just be good
As another way of making the arguments I made in Good beats innovative nearly every time, here’s graphic design…
Problem Solving & Kobayashi Maru
Over on my post Do constraints help problem solving, Aaron asked: I’m currently completing a dissertation titled Development in…