Net Cotton Content

Under Your Nose

Why do we so often miss the obvious?

Why do our co-workers, children, and spouses miss what is clearly right in front of them? Why does our radar so often miss picking up the signals?

Here are two examples. They might work better if you click on the bottom right to make the video full screen. 

Watch The Flashing Green Spot
The lesson — from a flight instructor — is to not stare at a single point on the horizon, but rather scan the horizon. Otherwise, you risk missing items that are nearly in front of you.

 

 

Count The Passes
Turn up the volume for your instructions... 

 

Why are built to miss the obvious?
I don't know. Ask Darwin. Or Mother Nature. 

Welcome to the Creativity Students

Doug Dangler is the coordinator for the Writing Center and the digital media specialist for The Ohio State University's Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing.

He recently asked me, "What do you wish all your students knew about your course — before they arrive for the first class?"

Here's what. 
Here is a video that Doug made to welcome my students to the first day of class.

 

Love A Librarian

Do you love libraries? I do. 

I always pull over, park the car, and go inside.

Usually, it's my own beloved Bexley Public Library or our magnificent Columbus Metropolitan Library. They are award-winning and deserve every award.

Often, it's when I'm passing through some small town. Or New York City.

Why The Love?
Because I love to go in and ask the librarians questions. They often know the answers. If not, they know where to turn.

They are like Google. But with judgement. 

They face disintermediation. As in: we might stop realizing we need librarians and libraries because everything is Googlable. But, you know and I know: the Internet isn't the same thing as a Masters in Library Science. It isn't the same thing as knowing what information is trustworthy and what is just Net Cotton Content. 

Don't disintermediate. Talk to a librarian today.

Now I Get To Talk To A Litter of Librarians
Amid all this flurry of travel, I'm looking forward to speaking to the Ohio Library Council 2011 Convention and Expo later this month.

That prompted an interview with Jill Holton Arrasmith, OLC Director of Communications.

Heres an excerpt, as published in the OLC's Access Weekly:

Jill (Q): What do you like best about public libraries?

Artie (A): Well, I like the sharing of information. I like the sense of community. I like the idea that we provide for ourselves and our children and our neighbors and the stranger in our midst a communal gathering place. A place where people can go for betterment, for relaxation, for meeting others that is not mercenary and it’s not retail or designed to prey upon us. It is designed to help us become our best selves.

Q: So, you are new to a lot of the OLC audience. Why is your session a must see/participate for our convention attendees?

A: Well, in the management of a library . . . we need greater creativity and collaboration. My sessions will talk about how to find ingenuity amid a constraint-based life, which certainly describes our libraries. I will also talk about how we can collaborate in a genuine and engaged way with peers, work colleagues, and patrons so that the library is not purely a hierarchical flow of information.

Q: How does creativity not only enhance a person’s career but their entire life?

A: The myth that we eventually see through is that we never really were living to work. We organize much of our personal development around what we think is professional development but in the end, my wife often says, all we really have are our relationships. We need human development. In order to help people personally, I have to masquerade as someone who’s teaching it from a business point of view, but really there is no such thing as a business person. There are only humans. And, I teach creativity because like liberal arts it offers us intellectual satisfaction, it offers us something to think about, and something to work on. We are created, whatever that means to whoever reads the word. We are created and we are creators and there is no greater satisfaction than the simple act of creating, whether it is a loaf of bread or a garden patch or a piece of text. . . . The study of creativity – it transcends the mercenary world.

I Was In California
The interview was over the phone while I was in California. I think that shows. I was talking like I was in California. 

Flung Around

Readers of Net Cotton Content are far-flung.

Perhaps that's because the writing is far-fetched.

Anyway, readers live all over the world. One in Japan reads Net Cotton Content to learn English. Bad idea. (Why? Sentence fragments.)

Where Are We?
During the next few weeks, I'm traveling. If I'm coming near you, perhaps we can get together. Feel free to let me know if the following itinerary crosses yours.

• Honesdale, Pennsylvania (September 18-19)
  I'll be leading a creativity workshop at the Fifth Annual Retreat for Children's Magazine Editors, hosted by Highlights For Children. It's private, but — if we ask nicely — they might let you sit in.

• Indian Wells, California (September 21-24)
  I'll be speaking on creativity at The Top of The Table, a meeting of the Million Dollar Round Table. Their meetings are private, but I think I'm going to be sitting by the pool for a few days; I can probably hook you up with a towel.

• Ewing, New Jersey (October 5)
  I'm delivering the keynote speech and a breakout on creativity at the Community Learning Day at The College of New Jersey. I'm sure they'd let you join the fun.

• Salinitas, El Salvador (October 12-17)  
  I'm teaching creativity and leading brainstorms with 400 coffee growers, suppliers and all kinds of coffee experts at Sustainable Harvest's Let's Talk Coffee.

• Montreal (October 25-27)
  I'll offer Creative Boosts to three Vistage groups. Those meetings are private, but my afternoons and evenings are not scheduled.

• Toledo, Ohio (October 28)
  I'll speak on the "Habits of Highly Creative People (And Those Who Want To Be)" at the Ohio Library Council's 2011 Convention and Expo. 

Come on over. Wherever you are.

Teaching Creativity at Ohio State

I am so glad to be teaching another section of my course on creativity, starting on September 22nd at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

Personal Creativity and Innovation (BUS-MHR 390)
With the guidance of Michael Camp, I've taken the best of more than a decade of creativity teaching experience and have revised this course further still. (The former students are a great source of continuous improvement for this course.)

If you're an OSU undergraduate business student — or in another college and interested in this course — here is an overview:

Personal Creativity and Innovation (BUS-MHR 390) explores how people, places and practices foster human creativity. Students discuss: What is creativity? How can I become more creative? How can we lead others to greater creativity? Readings include academic, management, spiritual, confessional, and self-development literature on creativity, productivity, happiness and the optimal experience. Assignments include private daily writings and self-assessments of personal creativity. In order to become more creative, students must be willing to look within themselves and share what they find.

A teacher of artists and MBAs, children and adults, Artie bridges the gap between right and left brains in the corporation and within the individual. Students read and discuss the science and art of creativity, share personal experiences, write daily, take weekly field trips, and look deeply within themselves to better understand how to become more creative. In the end, students are more creative, can better relate to highly creative people, and have a personal curriculum for lifelong creative development, including a goal statement on just how the student plans to change the world.

If you have any questions about the class (or want this class to be taught at your corporate offices), please email me. If you wonder whether creativity can be taught, read this.

Here are some comments from three wonderful recent students:

"A 'can-opener' for your mind and emotions. Intense and intriguing. Expect to test and develop your emotional maturity in an unorthodox business school setting. Each class is different. You can never get enough; you're not supposed to - this class merely sets things in motion to help you attend to your whole self beyond this class. Don't expect to be uncomfortable forever - you'll begin to like what you discover about yourself."

"This class challenged me, but also helped me grow as a person. I feel that the things I learned in this class can be carried with me forever. This is a class I will never forget."

"This was the most mentally stimulating course I have ever taken."

On the other hand, some recent students suggested that I offer some warnings to students who are thinking about taking the class. So, let your expectations be guided:

1. The course can be unpredictable. I will lead (and be led) as the classroom conversation strays. Do not expect predictability.

2. The course is deceptively difficult. There is much reading and writing. But the work does not have diminishing returns; incremental effort yields incremental gain.

The syllabus is new and improved (and always under renovation). In its current form, it is here.

If you want to send a flyer to a friend — or post it in a hallway bulletin board, here's an old one.

Want an occasional shot of creativity?

So, reading a blog can be too much.

Too many messages. Too much blather.

Don't want every dit and dot from Net Cotton Content? (Can't blame you.)

How About A Smaller Dose Of Creativity?
I'm offering an occasional email — not more than eight times a year (and probably a lot less) — with a few creative ideas for your personal creative development.

If you sign up, you'll get a few ideas from time to time. (And you can keep subscribing to Net Cotton Content, of course.)

What's the difference between the occasional emails and Net Cotton Content?

• The occasional emails will offer specific creative ideas (and, sometimes, a short update on what I'm doing professionally and personally.)
• Net Cotton Content will continue to provide piercingly irrelevant commentary on life and creativity.

Here's where you can sign up for the occasional emails.

Artie's Occasional Ideas For Your Creativity

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Role Models, Dead or Alive

I love to ask, "Who is your hero?"

Many people reject the idea of "hero," because it suggests perfection. They are members of the Hypocrite Police, smugly tearing down heroic candidates.

(Oh, how popular culture doth crave the Fall Of Man. Keep hold of your ideals.)

So, perhaps this question is easier to answer: "Who is your role model?"

With role models, you can pick a hero for each slice of life. A cooking hero. A cleaning hero. An exercise hero. A meditating hero. A writing hero. Each one, a model for each role. 

Shopping For A Role Model?
The New York Times offers a daily sampling of candidates as we seek role models. (The Times calls it "obituaries.")

Here are two recent candidates that win my admiration:

"Maynard L. Hill, Small-Scale Lindbergh, Dies at 85"
By Bruce Weber, June 12, 2011
In August 2003, Mr. Hill was the first to create and guide a model airplane across the Atlantic.

"Patrick Leigh Fermor, Travel Writer, Dies at 96"
By Richard B. Woodward, June 11, 2011
Mr. Fermor crossed Europe on a three-year journey, then wrote about his adventures.

These two were steeped in flow. 

Happily, not all the good ones are dead. 
Here's Alex Honnold, brought to my attention by Doug Smith, who teaches Happiness at DePauw. (Thanks, Doug.)

Alex Honnold climbs walls.

This National Geographic video makes my palms sweat.

Here's To The Graduates

It's been one of the most emotional weeks of my life, as I described here.

An anchoring moment, the chance to catch my breath in service to others, came at Village Academy, a lovely gem of a independent school. They were nice enough to invite me to deliver this year's commencement address and being there was a chance for me to relax and recenter myself.

This might sound odd to you.
Many people would be made more anxious to have to write and deliver a speech. 

For me, especially during an emotional week, is was a welcome moment of flow. Surfers surf — and that looks scary to me, but they are focused and reinvigorated. Speaking is my surfing.

Here's what I said to the graduates.
A disclaimer, first: it borrows heavily from and expands on a commencement address I gave two years ago to Laurel School.  I did what I could to improve the presentation. I customized it for this wonderful school. But I couldn't imagine a better topic for the day. 

Perhaps it is the right topic for you, too, today?

Here it is...

In Praise of Speed Bumps
(or "A Summer Breath") 

Presented to Village Academy
At the Fifteenth Commencement Exercises
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Powell, Ohio 

Thank you, Board President Dymerski, Head of School Lasley (Miss Susie), Mr. Fitchko, Miss Hohe, members of the board of trustees, esteemed faculty, proud parents, loving siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. 

And to the class of 2011, thank you.

You have been mutually supportive in a real community of genuine people, indulging each other with encouragement, using your power for good. You are a model for other classes to follow. And they will. 

I don't know how your tradition describes heaven.
Perhaps it is white robes, halos and carpeting made of clouds.  

My tradition is vague on the notion. I kind of think that it is a place of learning, where fabulous people encourage each other. Village Academy might be heaven. I hope you're happy.  

Tattoo, redo

Last month's post on tattoos received more views and more responses than any other post ever on Net Cotton Content.

Why?

It's a topic that is like a tattoo.
Positions are taken seriously, for the long term. It's a matter of judgement: everyone reserves their own, and doesn't like being judged by others. It's at the heart of self-expression and our democracy is (partly) based on our freedom of expression.

The responses — which came by every form of social media, including the phone and in person —  were caring. People care about this topic. It must be important.

On all sides of the issue, some folks were contemplative, some regretful, some disgusted (by tattoos or me).

Some folks didn't like my being judgmental.
I appreciate not liking — and well know the feeling of — being judged negatively. But judgement is how we navigate. And the spice of life (until it turns despotic) is our disagreements.

Still, my advocacy against tattoos was truly offensive to some readers. Perhaps because the tattoo is truly the color of skin, my comments seemed (to a few readers) conceptually discriminatory.

What now?
I'm not going to rebut any of the critical comments. I've had my say and will stick to the original post, even though I have been taught much by readers in the interim.

There are a lot of fine tattoo blogs out there, I'm sure. This isn't one of them. 

However, to be fair, here is a thoughtful, opposing point of view for your enjoyment. This appears on Facebook by Johnalan Norris, in a point-for-point rebuttal to my post. (Thanks, Fred and Johnalan.)

Here's his entire, unedited response:

1. Time: Most Americans make time to watch crap like 3 1/2 Men, so we have plenty of time to get a tattoo.
2. Better use of money? Who are you to judge what's a good use of my money? To get a tattoo you have to go somewhere local. Tattoos can never be outsourced. You're keeping a business open in your town. That might be worth the $200 (which this guy is just guessing at, I've seen nice tattoos that were done for under $50, but I have also seen ones that must have been well over $1000)
3. He's basically saying that he's going to judge me by some old standard that hates tattoos. Tattoos have been viewed positively by different cultures for quite a while. In fact, the reason they're looked down on is because sailors came back to Europe with them. Dirty, filthy, poor, uneducated sailors. The aristocracy was just shocked and appalled. Then they were told about the native savages whose bodies were covered in tattoos. That's right, I'm saying tattoo hate is tied with racism and classism.
4. People choose their own tattoos. Many people design their own, or work with the artist to design it.
5. I'll actually agree with this one. Tattoos are permanent. You need to be sure you really like Bugs Bunny before you get his face put on you forever.
6. I had no control over my nose, my face, etc. Maybe I want something that I had a say in to be part of how I look.
7. People get tattoos for many different reasons, not just to make a message. This guy seems to think that everything everybody else does is directed at him, personally. Not everything I do is for or about you. Maybe you're just some guy.
8. He's just repeating point 6
9. a) Who thinks that chewing off a finger is a good idea? b) Who doesn't know that would make it bleed? c) A tattoo doesn't do any real physical damage to your body, so the comparison just doesn't work.
10. Missing the point of a tattoo. Sometimes a shirt isn't enough. I have a tshirt from the lunch counter I worked at in college. To I regulate my strongest beliefs to the level of that place?
11. Point 5 again
12. He's telling me what I should or shouldn't do? Is he my father? I thought he was outlining the points on why you shouldn't get a tattoo. Reason number 12 of why not: because, that's why.
13. Yes, many people regret it. I regret a lot of things. But not really. If you like who you are at all, you must accept that it was your life experiences that made you that way, good and bad.
14. Here's point 5 again, again.
15. Blood diseases are EXTREMELY rare, especially if you go to any reputable tattoo parlor. Many states regulate the sanitation of tattoo needles and equipment. The Red Cross needs to update their standards. They also don't want blood from gay people, so take that into consideration.
16. Even people with tattoos will say this one. Sit on the idea for a while. Really consider it. In a lot of better parlors, you'll sit with the artist and discuss what you want weeks before you actually get your ink done. 

If you want more, you can see other comments posted on the Facebook appearance of the post.

 

Carry Forth! (New and Improved)

Here is one of many enjoyably motivating comments from this spring's Personal Creativity and Innovation class at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business:

"Creativity doesn't seem so creative."

The student said it politely and humbly, but it shook me. He was pointing out that there is so much rigor and discipline — morning pages! artist's dates! deadlines! — that the class was more like a hard-wired recipe than, well, some experience in grooviness.

I know that students enroll in the class expecting grooviness. Oh, they get grooved, as they re-groove their lives. And, in the end, it might be groovy. But it doesn't feel groovy.

Attention! Tension
You see, your creativity is groovy, but it doesn't just happen when you need it.

If you want to rely on your creativity, you're going to need to plan for creativity.

So while creativity is groovy, creative planning is downright military. 

A Stinnett Incursion
Motivated by the student's comment, I invited A.J. Stinnett, long-time corporate consultant, to visit our class. 

About eight years ago, A.J. marched into my life and taught me how planning — real planning — happens. It's straightforward: the What-How-Who-When orientation.

But straightforward isn't always natural. A.J. trained it into me. 

And I am at my most effective when I put A.J.'s mentality to work.

So A.J. came to class and directed the students — staring at them, in that military way that dares you to question authority.

And I went home and completely re-worked Carry Forth, the do-it-yourself personal creativity planning tool. And I added a two-page set of instructions on The Creative Planning Process by A.J. and me.

You Want To See It?
The new big version — and the old little version — are now in my Artie Isaac Creativity website. Right here.

For you. For free.

Maybe it's time for a little creative planning for you. What is your creative adventure this summer?