Artie Isaac | Net Cotton Content

Time To Set Some Goals

To my Ohio State creativity students (and anyone using Carry Forth):

Maybe I haven't been asking the right question.

Each year, I ask my creativity students to list their goals. But, well, something isn't happening. The answers aren't answering the call.

So I'm going to ask it differently. Right here.

Why Am I Asking?
Anyone old enough to look back sees some missed opportunities.

I sure do.

I don't know where fully formed adults place the blame, but I place mine squarely on the person who never made goals for me. That, awkwardly, is: me.

Somehow, I slid through the Socratic hands of some of the best teachers this world has ever offered. But none of them asked me — at least, in a way that I actually heard — and answered — "What are your goals?"

So I feel obliged to ask you for your goals.
Because your college experience has to be more than education for the sake of enlightenment. It needs to be that and it needs to have some purpose.

You get to choose the purpose.

But I'm making sure that someone — right now, right here — asks you to consider: "For what am I investing all this time, money and effort? What is my goal?"

Are Goals That Important?
Having goals isn't everything. Living a rich, engaged life is more important. Loving others and being loved is more important.

But goals are also important. And they need to be written.

Writing your goals doesn't make them happen. But it's funny what happens when you write them.

If you abhor goals, you might consider jumping to this post. (I love this website.)

But if you want to work with me, you need to keep reading — and write your goals.

What Am I Asking For?
I'm asking for goals in four areas: business, community, family and personal. This is the top of the first page of Carry Forth.

How big a goal? Big enough that it's not easy to reach. Big enough that you might not reach it.

Big enough that it answers Ohio State's call to action: Do Something Great.

So What Goals Am I Receiving?
Without betraying any confidences, here is a complete rephrasing of some of the goals I'm receiving:

• Business: generates enough profit that I can afford the life I want.
• Community: respects and seeks me as a leader.
• Family: loves me and each other.
• Personal: ...I want to be happy and play golf.

Happy, shmappy.
Being rich, fertile, loved, and happy is important. I don't want my students to give up on these ideals.

But these aren't the goals I want them to list.

I'm looking for goals that are worthy of a headline. In The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times? Fine. The Columbus Dispatch? Fine. Field & Stream? Fine. Local suburban newspaper? Fine.

Just imagine the headline. Worthy is not newsworthy. It needs to be newsworthy. That's a good test for your goal. In fact, write your goals as if they are news headlines. (Think: obituary.)

If your goal isn't newsworthy, it might be nutritious, but not ambitious enough for this assignment.

Oh, and I've seen a student land his headline on the front page of The New York Times. No kidding. It was Jason Torpy.

Is Fame The Goal?
No. I wouldn't wish fame on anyone.

This isn't about fame. The world has enough celebrities.

This is about being worthy. Skip the fame, if you want.

I just ask you to have goals that, if achieved, would be worthy of fame.

What If You Fail To Reach A Goal?
I'm not going to hunt you down and slap you. (I'm not that good a teacher.)

But we can't let the fear of failure rob us of the thrill of ambition.

And if we don't have goals, we can't be surprised if we don't reach them.

What Else?
Without a plan, goals are just hopes. And dependent on luck for success.

So, for each goal, outline a five-year syllabus for personal creative development: the people you need to meet, the books you need to read, the places you need to go, and whatever else you need to learn so you can reach each goal.

Frequent Conversations
Most conversations with students include:

1. "Worthy" is different from "newsworthy" — this needs to be interesting enough for an editor to put it in the newspaper. 
2. Goals cannot rely too much on any other specific person (like a sibling). Don't claim your kid's Nobel Prize as your goal. 
3. Our personal life, distinct from our family life, is an often overlooked aspect of life.
4. Family goals and personal goals are sometimes the most difficult.
5. Most young people don't read newspapers, so a "headline in a newspaper" is a quaint and meaningless anachronism. Here is what they look like.

Sounds like a big deal?
It is. But if you don't do this for yourself, you are delegating your learning and life planning to your teachers.

And we simply aren't going to do it for you.

I'm too busy messing up my life to spend time messing up yours.

A play, a sermon, a poem

Holy shirt! Something has happened. Something good.

A sudden burst of productivity.
During this week, amid a delightful crush of workaday (whatever that means) appointments, presentations and travel, I have also written: a play, a sermon, a poem.

The play is called List of 10.
It's about a man (Andy) who lives with a list of the women he would call if his wife were gone.

It's not the normal tale of popular culture. Andy is not a philanderer. But he wrestles ethically with mortality, imagination, and honest urges. (Poor bastard.)

I've sent the play to a few folks who might give me some feedback. I'll edit it once and then I will invite you to a public reading.

The sermon is for Temple Israel tonight.
Unlike the play and the poem, which arrived spontaneously, the sermon was scheduled. It had to be written — a promise to a rabbi.

Every year at this time, when the rabbis are polishing their sermons for the High Holy Days, I offer to fill in — so they can focus on preparing for the HHD. The congregational turnout is predicted to be light tonight, especially because I've been promoted as the speaker. 

Here is the current draft, subject to revision before (and during) the presentation at services tonight.

I probably shouldn't release this until after services. Too late now. (I avoid backspacing.) So please don't show it to any Jews until tomorrow.

Oh, and feel free to come to Temple Israel tonight. The live version is different. It includes a nervous man. Erev Shabbat, 6:30 p.m.

The poem was a lark.
I had the thought a day or so ago. Something about how a shirt tells the story — a shirt tale! — of the day just lived.

Then, yesterday, I was enjoying a Vistage meeting in Cincinnati. I had gone to experience how the Vistage master Al Stuempel chairs a meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, I did the unforgivable: I zoned out and wrote the poem. At lunch afterward, I read it to the members of the group and they smiled with encouragement, tinged with baffled wonderment. 

Here it is. I hope you like it. (Warning: it doesn't rhyme.)

Reading Between The Cuffs
(On A Shirt, At The Hamper)

These two red dots on the front placket remind me
of the flip of his fettucini at Giuseppe's.
At first I was embarrassed for him
— but now I know that the sauce will not stain,
and his encouragement and trust are indelible,
never to be washed from my gratitude.

This wrinkle — these wrinkles — 
wouldn't smooth out all day,
announcing that I am a self-dressed man,
even if I am not self-made. 

At the hidden armholes, parts are still damp,
beneath the arms (the pits),
fully moistened during the heat of the drive home.

The edge of the cuffs are worn, a little frayed,
proving that I am experienced, 
that I am not new to the world. 

Good news! The breast pocket is clean,
— redemption! — a sign that I am aware,
because it survived another day without an open pen,
without blue ink bleeding across my chest,
without someone saying to me, "Oh, that poor man."

And this splash of coffee reminds me,
my beloved, of that moment at breakfast,
as you launched my day
— and my mouthful of coffee — 
when you made me laugh, upon first sip. 

Why the sudden burst?
I think it has a lot to do with two unexpected influences during the past couple weeks: a piercing performance of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and my return to Transcendental Meditation.

More on those later, I suppose. 

I wish you a sudden burst.

 

Psst. Wanna hear some lectures on marketing?

For the first time, after two decades of teaching, I believe I just might have reached the level of competence.

And you are invited.

On Mondays at 6:45 p.m., I am at CCAD for a dozen weekly lectures on consumer behavior, teaching a course called Marketing: Strategy, Creativity and Ethics.

Come. This is your invitation.

There are 100 students registered for the class and it is taught in a big, comfortable auditorium, so you can just blend in. Each class is only 75 minutes. You could come to any Monday or every Monday. Every lecture stands alone. Come whenever.

Don't be shy. I would love to have you there.

(About a dozen folks accept this invitation each semester. They just show up. Nice!)

Let me know if you are coming, and I will send you a map to the specific location. Or just download the syllabus and come. (You will see that you missed the first lecture, last week. Not to worry: that was orientation for students. You will fall right in.)

Ye Olde Rut
I taught this course for years, years ago at CCAD. As one student wrote:

“The course was high-energy, optimistic, full of humor and most importantly: informative. It was one of the few courses that just about everyone who took it not only looked forward to the next lesson, but recommended it to their colleagues as well.”

But, I left after hearing this thought about teaching:

If you are teaching the same thing the same way for more than five years, then you lack either ambition or imagination.

(I think this might have come from Noam Chomsky.)

I was indeed stuck in a rut.

The students were generous and appreciative. But I was teaching the same thing, in the same way, year after year. The presentation slides were so ready, I would just show up and let 'em rip.

So it was time to go away.

The Course Is Sound
Over time, I'd designed — and now redesigned — the course to help artists:

• Make work that is more than beautiful. The course helps the artist think through the work, so it persuades others and changes behavior.
• Justify each piece of work as more than beautiful. The course helps the artist describe work to executives in the workplace, to win more production budget for, say, the photography.
• Live a fuller life. We must live for more than our art. We can live creatively and ethically. So: let's!

The legendary CCAD education — especially its intensive first year, "Foundation" — expertly develops each artist's technical skills.

But having hired dozens of CCAD graduates at Young Isaac, I have seen too many who are riding solely on their technical proficiency. They do have highly developed hands and eyes — but aren't always levering their minds.

That's where this class comes in.

Bridging The Gap
After years of helping CCAD artists win the favor of businesspeople in the workplace, I've been teaching MBA candidates about creativity. This has me building the same bridge — over the creative gap — from the other side.

Now, with my MBA experiences, I'm really enjoying working again with the artists at CCAD.

And you. Coming?

NOTE: There is no class this evening, due to the Labor Day holiday. The next class is Monday, September 10 at 6:45 p.m.

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.