We have all read criticism of President Obama leadership style: too indecisive, seeking consensus for too long, not able to make strong powerful decisions quickly.
I disagree with this. Our President has taken relentlessly hard tasks at heart—2009 bail-out—and made swift decisions—BP oil crisis in the Mexican Gulf. I will argue that he offers a new leadership style that deserves our attentive consideration as the modern way of leading.
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How often do you engage in rituals? Probably more often than you think. From daily routines like the first cup of coffee in the morning or the story you read your child at bedtime to the most culturally significant celebrations, including weddings and bar mitzvahs, rituals are almost certainly a part of your personal life. But are they a part of your professional life? If not, you are missing out on an extremely powerful management tool, especially if what you are seeking from your team is creative innovation and out of the box thinking in the context of a rapidly evolving marketplace.
Research done by neuroscientists shows that 80% of our brain’s grey matter is dedicated to non-conscious thought and that imaginative play is one of the most direct means of activating our creativity and problem-solving abilities. Read More
In March of 2010 I took a Virgin Air flight from Los Angeles to New York and mid-flight (thanks to Virgin’s on-board Internet access) I sent an email to my friend Max to get some feedback on a couple of projects I was working on. Max emailed me right back and said I really should get in touch with Jeff Rosenthal, whom he helpfully copied on the return email. Jeff is one of the co-founders of Summit Series, a community of millennial entrepreneurs that is redefining the relationship between business, politics, and philanthropy in a way that illustrates the dynamics of a new business paradigm. By the time I landed in New York Jeff and I had traded several emails sharing what we each do and are passionate about and he had put me in touch with the woman who would soon become the literary agent for my upcoming book, The Intuitive Compass (Jossey Bass, Oct 2011) . This experience made me curious to learn more about Summit Series, their goals, beliefs, and achievements, and what lessons they can offer to today’s business leaders. Read More
In my upcoming book, The Intuitive Compass (Jossey, Bass Oct 2011), I write extensively about the need for business leaders to use what I call Intuitive Intelligence to tap into their ability to effectively manage their employees and generate innovative business strategies and solutions in a complex global marketplace. Before I give you a preview of what Intuitive Intelligence is, it is worthwhile to look at how culture, society, and science have tried to understand and measure intelligence. Read More
Synopsis: “Creativity and innovation are keys to business success in the global economy. Yet recent research shows American creativity has been significantly declining for the past 20 years. A new competence – Intuitive Intelligence – is needed to win the creativity challenge. Read More
“Play is the highest form of research”
– Albert Einstein
“I was not working, I was playing. I was letting things reassemble in front of my eyes and … I knew I had come up with something that would get me the Nobel Prize… and it did!’
– Dr. Kary Mullis, Scientist, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry (1993)
Since 2006 IBM has published a series of biannual studies highlighting the priorities of CEOs around the world. Read More
In 2003, when the Indian auto giant Tata Motors decided to design a new low cost car, the Nano, for lower income consumers they made a key decision: rather than starting from a traditional four wheel car and stripping it down, they would start with an auto-rickshaw (a small, three wheeled vehicle) and build it up. Also, rather than making design assumptions based on decades of auto development for the middle and upper classes, their design team researched the features their new lower income target audience – many of whom had never owned a car before – would value. One of the interesting things they discovered in their research was that their new target audience didn’t care about having a radio; they preferred having extra storage space. At this point in the evolution of car engineering and design, a radio is seen as the most basic of equipment. It’s not terribly expensive, but in the context of trying to make the lowest cost vehicle possible, it could be eliminated and simultaneously transformed into something more valuable to the target consumer: space. Read More
Get Comfortable
Hungry, tired, and uncomfortable aren’t good conditions for serious play. Sleep well, have a healthy meal, and put on relaxed fit pants and
shirts before you set off in search of fun.
Give Yourself Time
Play is as essential to our long term well being as food, water and sleep.
Set aside a few hours, or even better a whole day or weekend to do
nothing but indulge in fun … it’s a necessary luxury that will
reap rewards in higher creativity, mental efficiency, and
productivity. You will also avoid reaching burn out.
Start Moving
Put on some music and let yourself move to it, hum along, or sing out
loud if you feel the impulse. Creativity and playfulness are rooted
not just in your mind, but also your body, and music touches both.
Be Messy
The reason that we dress kids in wash and wear clothes and sit them at
plastic tables is that play is messy! So whatever your playtime
involves – whether it be drawing, cooking, dancing, gardening, or
creative brainstorming – don’t worry about doing it perfectly and
don’t worry about the outcome. Just enjoy the mess and stay in the
present moment.
Take on a Different Role
If you play with others give up traditional hierarchy. If you are
playing with co-workers you may have the more junior members of the
team take the lead for a change.
Fail With Gusto
To paraphrase what Titanic director James Cameron once said, failure is
always an option, but fear is not. Embrace failure as part of the
process of life. Don’t get hung up on what you are doing, why you
are doing it, and where it is leading or not. Accept your fear of
failure and get on with it; if you don’t, you can’t evolve.
Open the Floodgates
In French we have a saying that translates roughly as, “Jack
laughing, Jack weeping,” meaning that when you open yourself to
one emotion you access the whole range of your emotions. But if you
keep yourself from feeling a particular emotion then you ban yourself
from the whole gamut of your emotions. So go ahead and cry at the sad
movie, laugh out loud at the absurdities of daily life, or vent your
frustration in a kickboxing class! Emotions are the fuel for
authentic living and our best source of energy and creativity.
