An Interesting E-Mail

In this Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• An Interesting E-Mail
• An Act of Unabashed Family Promotion

An Interesting E-Mail

I want to share a fascinating e-mail I received this week from a client.  I asked the client permission to share his email and he happily agreed.

Some background:  The client is the head of a successful wealth management firm.  I have worked with him and his team in the areas of strategic planning and leadership development over a number of years.  He has been a willing guinea pig for the tools, concepts and techniques which are at the heart of a program I call The Leaders Studio.  This has led, on numerous occasions, to several remarkable and rewarding breakthroughs for him and his business.  However, this last email takes our work to an entirely different level.  The idea he comes up with at the end of the email is entirely his idea.

So here's his E-Mail:

Fred,

Thanks again for your timely Bloutcher.  I just got back from NYC and had the opportunity and pleasure to make it to the Guggenheim for an exhibition of Picasso in Black and White.  It was an incredible experience.  And the museum's space is such a unique way to view a collection.

I was moved and recharged by his work.  The range of what he painted from just a few lines of black on white paper to intricate abstracts to classical portraits which looked like ancient Greek sculptures...and so much more.  I found myself so open to possibilities and seeing things in the art that I was not sure I would have seen before.

So I made a decision.  I have a day blocked off in my calendar for business planning in a couple of weeks and I am going to do it at the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts.)  I think a fresh and inspiring environment will help me see things in new and bigger ways.

Thanks for helping me see more.  Hope all is well.

From a creativity point of view, this email is interesting for several reason:

• The client sees a parallel between being open to new possibilities in art and new possibilities in business planning
• This insight did not come at work.  It came from doing something entirely different from work, but the insight provides direct benefit to his work.
• The client recognizes that being in an environment that at first seems entirely distracting actually stimulates creative insights that support work.

An additional thought:  research shows that if you want to come up with your best, most creative thinking you should not engage in such thinking at your primary work place.  Why is this?  Because work places have the following characteristics:

• They implicitly and explicitly reward analytical, judgmental thinking
• They reinforce the idea that you must "get it right."
• They are filled with routine and repetition
• They do not allow the time and space for deep reflection and thinking
• And many more

I've held workshops with senior leaders in museums and I can tell you unequivocally that the quality of conversation and the kinds of insights that bubble to the surface in such environments demonstrates the power of environment.

An Act of Unabashed Family Promotion

I'd like to introduce you to a project by one of my daughters and her husband.  They are producing a documentary film that traces the journey of a copy of Mein Kampf from the battle fields of Germany to Brooklyn, New York and Boston, Massachusetts and back to its origins in Lubeck, Germany and the children of its original owner.  It's a journey filled with surprises and the unsuspecting and sometimes disturbing lessons of history that remain with us today.  They plan to enter the film in film festivals in the United States and Europe this summer.

Take a look at the trailer ( 2 and 1/2 minutes) and if you think it is a worthy project, consider sponsoring it.  Click here to link to the trailer and to their Kickstarter.com project.   

Yellow Crayon & Q-Tips

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• Yellow Crayon & Q-Tips
• Live Smart After 50!

Yellow Crayon & Q-Tips

I had the sheet of drawing paper laid out on the table.  My two year old grandson Baylor stood in front of the table as I suggested we do some drawing.  I lifted a yellow crayon from the box and handed it to Baylor, greatly anticipating the kind of markings he would make on the paper.  Circles? Squiggles? Zigzags?

That's when Baylor taught me something about leadership.  He grabbed the yellow crayon and, hopping from the table, he began swirling it in his ear.  Squeals of delight filled the air.  He thought that yellow crayon was the coolest q-tip the world had never imagined!

Assumptions!

I had assumptions.  Drawing paper, yellow crayon, circles, squiggles or zigzags!

How about none of the above.  Baylor's uncorrupted and unbiased mind carried no such assumptions.  For him, it was yellow crayon, anything is possible--and it has to bring delight!

Assumptions are often necessary.  They represent a short hand that does not require we explain everything from the beginning over and over again.  Assumptions can also throw a cold press over our adult minds.  They often freeze us out of seeing new and more intriguing possibilities.

Henri Matisse tells us the true creator "has to look at life as he did when he was a child and if he loses that faculty, he cannot express himself in an original ...way."

And so with leadership.  How many times have you heard:

Mary Cassatt Children Playing on the Beach

That won't work around here.
That's not been our experience.
You need more resources to pull that off.
That's just not the way people work.
We've tried that before and it didn't work.
It'll take too long.
Etc.
All are assumptions.  All are wet rags.

Instead, think:  
Yellow crayons make great q-tips.

And bring a child's mind to your organization's creative dilemma.  Try to consider what would bring delight and don't fear looking foolish!


LIVE SMART AFTER 50!  The Experts' Guide to Life Planning for Uncertain Times
 


I am excited to announce the publication of LIVE SMART AFTER 50!  It is a wonderful collaboration of experts across the country and across vital areas of interest and concern for those in the second half of live.  It is a rich, informative, and inspiring read and it makes a fabulous gift this time of year.  Here's a blurb:

LIVE SMART AFTER 50! offers friendly, focused, forward thinking and action oriented help to the challenges of aging in the 21st century.  Rich in practical experience and wisdom, self exploration exercises, and diverse resources, it's a companionable guide for planning and preparing for the second half of life.

In a unique collaboration, thirty-three of the nation's experts in life planning and positive aging distill the most critical issues.  From finding work, community, creativity, purpose and legacy to financing your dreams, making sure your voice is heard, anticipating challenges of aging, and living with purpose and vitality, LIVE SMART AFTER 50! will help you get the big picture, identify and reduce risks, expand choices, and prepare to take advantage of--rather than fear--the future.

To order either a paperback or e-book version go to this link:  http://www.livesmartafter50.com/

From My Sketchbook

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

From My Sketchbook
I take my sketchbook wherever I go.  I sketch and jot notes.  Here are few random pages from my sketchbook.

Lost

Wondering

Huh?

Wilhem de Kooning, the great Abstract Expressionist painter, claimed:" I was never interested in how to make a good painting--but to see how far one could go."

A while back I interviewed the CEO of a Fortune 100 company in preparation for a talk on leadership.  He attributed his success to "always pushing the envelope."

Isn't this what de Kooning is also talking about?

In his famous Harvard Business Review article several years ago Abraham Zaleznik claimed leaders are more like artist than they are like managers.  Leaders and artists must step into the unknown.  They must be comfortable with and embrace uncertainty.  This is where the difference is made.  Great Art, Great Leadership.

Blue

Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

Blue

I was in NYC for a business meeting last Friday.  Before the meeting I slipped into the Museum of Modern Art. Here are some of my notes.
Orozco, "Barricade":
 HANDS!!  My hands!  Over sized--reaching for more than able to hold

 Matisse, "Still Life after Jan Davidsz de Heem's 'La Desserte'" (1640)
      He began working on the canvas again, 22 YEARS LATER, "adding everything I've seen      since." He uses the word "seen," not "learned."  22 YEARS LATER!!
Matisse, "Woman on a High Stool"
   There's heaven in the levitational space between woman and stool.

 Matisse, The Red Studio
     All over red--sense of spacelessness
     No hand on grandfather clock--timelessness
     Defining the nature of being in the creative state--beyond space and time

 Van Gogh, The Starry Night
   Tree/foreground darkest blue
   Town and hills medium dark blue
   Starry night sky appears almost light blue
   Blues upon blues, vastness in a small painting, firmament within structure.

 Cezanne, Well Mill Stone-Cisterne
   Dancing network of innumerable brushstrokes

 Monet, Water Lily
   Meditation, not painting
   On the surface brush strokes revealing depth upon depth
   Layer upon layer--serenity evoked one gesture at a time

 Some observations:

• Each time I look at a familiar painting I discover something new
• "Mistakes" made, evidenced and built upon
• Arriving at unity through disruption
• I sometimes think I want to paint like Whitman writes poetry--everything in

At my business meeting an executive wore a soft cerulean blue shirt and yellowish tie.  At the end of the meeting he caught me smiling.  I told him he reminded me of Van Gogh.  He smiled back and said "I see." 

IQ Is So 2011

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• Thank you.  Keep them coming
• IQ Is So 2011
• Announcements

Thank you.  Keep them coming.

Thank you for the strong response to my request for examples of paradox that show up in your life and the lives of others.  Here are just a few of the examples I received.

• A beautiful death
• I keep doing those things it's too late to do and that's how I get to do them 
• I am sometimes most productive when I am doing nothing
• Joyful sorrow
• I begin to create by destroying 
• My most powerful dreams come while I am awake
• The essential paradox of love is that connection requires separateness--absence makes the heart grow fonder 
• In order to sell stop selling

It's not too late to send more.  Please keep them coming.

IQ Is So 2011

So the entire field of creativity research is exploding.  One of the most interesting areas has to do with the role of intelligence.  But even here we are going through a major evolution of how we define intelligence.  As you know we have long worshipped at the altar of IQ--mental acuity. Johnny comes home with straight A's.  We start kvelling over the possibility that he may have some Einsteinian IQ potential.  A real Brain that one has, Yoda might say.

But we forget that Einstein himself was tuned into something else.  As quoted in Joseph Jaworski's Source, Einstein tried to remind us:

             The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.  We have      created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

So traditional mental intelligence, it turns out, is not the most important contributor to creativity.  Traditional intelligence, to carry Einstein's analogy a bit further, is the mule of creativity.  In fact, like a mule, our brains can get down right stubborn.  Please understand I am NOT making the case that mind intelligence is not important.  I am simply making the case that if we want to understand creativity and more importantly BECOME more creative we have to understand how heretofore neglected kinds of intelligence contributes mightily to it.

For instance--Gut Intelligence & Heart Intelligence.


According to Jaworski, work has been done over the past decade which suggests that "complex neuronal structures exist throughout the body, particularly in the heart and the gut." He quotes one scientist as saying "the heart's intelligence is a core operating system in the human being, capable of the coherent organization of mental, emotional and cellular intelligence.  Mental intelligence is to analysis as the heart intelligence is to intuition."

So Johnny might punch the numbers in his SAT scores, but it's not until he learns to listen to his gut and heart that he will unleash that true Einsteinian potential.

This suggests we need to broaden our understanding of the sources of creativity.  And goes to the notion I have  been suggesting for some time.  That creativity is an orientation.  It requires time and space.  And openness.  In order to ALLOW creativity.  Which is all around us if we learn to access and listen to all our forms of intelligence.

The implications of this are significant.  It suggests that we cannot build creativity in oursevles, our children or our leaders with traditional brain based approaches or curriculum.  We need to create the conditions and environments that ALLOW creativity to flourish.  This is probably hardest in the world of business and other large organizations which are by nature conservative and rationalize themselves through brain based processes.  This is especially ironic given the results of a recent IBM Global CEO study which I have cited in the past.  The study, based upon interviews with over 1500 CEO's around the world, identifies creativity as the number one need for organizational leaders.

Now that Johnny is a senior executive how do we create the conditions that enable him to move to where the Creative Force will be with him?

Announcements

• The Coach's Studio; Where Outrageously Creative Coaching Happens.  September 7th is the cut off date for the early bird rate.  Save $250 and earn 7.5 CCE credits in core competencies.  As one participant said in our last session:  "The Coach's Studio program is personally and professionally one of the most powerful programs I have ever attended."  To register for The Coach's Studio click here.

• NACCE and AARP are joining other sponsors of a one day meeting at Babson College in Wellesley, MA "Spotlight on Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Baby Boomers."  Len Schlesinger, President of Babson, and Ralph Sorenson, former President of  Babson and founder of its Center for Entrepreneurship are the opening speakers.  I will be facilitating several sessions through The Center for Productive Longevity (CPL), a non profit with the mission of stimulating more new business creation among people 50 and older. Come join us!
  To register for this event, go to ctrpl.org. The goal is 125 participants, and registrations will be accepted on a first-come basis.

I Am No Longer Here

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• I Am No Longer Here
• A Request
• Announcements

I am no longer here

Now that's a strange statement.  How can I say "I am no longer here" if I am not here?

"I am no longer here" cannot be a true statement.  The only way I can make the statement is if I am here in which case the statement is false because, in truth, I am here.

This is a paradox.

But rather than see paradox as contradiction, why not see it as an opportunity for creativity, as an opportunity to challenge ourselves to find new insights.

I would like to propose that awareness of the paradoxes in our lives has the potential to expand our creativity in several ways:

• Paradox forces us to examine our assumptions thereby freeing us from becoming prisoners of our own mind.
• Paradox invites us to address the apparent tension in the paradox.  How can two things that contradict each other both be true?
• Paradox requires us to hold two contradictory ideas in our thoughts at the same time thereby extending our consciousness into levels of nuance that lead to new information, new food for thought and new insights.
• Paradox may very well be our prevalent state of being rather than harmony and balance--in other words, we spend more time living in contradiction and tension than we do in harmony.  This means we need to develop awareness of where paradox exists in our lives as a stepping stone into greater coherence and creativity.
• Paradox is by its very nature disruptive.  Disruption is a critical element of creativity.

A Request

I am beginning to explore a project that centers on the relationship between paradox and creativity.  I am interested in collecting paradoxes people experience in their lives.  Here are a few examples:

• Seeing beauty in ugliness
• Finding hope through despair
• Solving a problem by giving up on it
• A place that is both ending and beginning
•  Succeeding by failing

I would like to ask you dear readers for your help.  Can you think of paradoxes that have shown up in your life or the lives of others you know and would you kindly send them to me.

Your paradox can be as simple or complex as you like, many words or a few.  Where have you experienced contradictions in your life?  Do you currently see contradictions in your life?

A quick sketch of myself as paradox

Announcement

Good news about 

The Coach's Studio; Where Outrageously Creative Coaching Happens!

  

The ICF just increased the CCE credits to 7.5 in core competencies. 

If you are interested in the program you can now earn more credits.

Also don't forget to take advantage of the early bird discount of $250 which expires on September 7th. 

"This is my all time favorite class!  This is "THE" class for developing your inner creative muse as well as your client's, to address all those life challenges."  Eileen Caroscio, Life Coach

 

To register directly go to www.lcacoach.com
Or contact me directly with questions.

Bald Faced Promotion

In This Bloutcher
Where Art, Life and Leadership Intersect

• Bald Faced Promotion
• Additional Thoughts

Bald Faced Promotions

I usually don't use the main topic of my bloutcher to promote stuff but as my wife is fond of reminding me:  consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Actually, she acknowledges that Emerson said it first.  But, hey, there's that consistency thing again.

So here's the deal.

I am extremely excited by what my partners Kathy Jordan and Donna Krone and I have created:

        The Coach's Studio; Where Outrageously Creative           Coaching Happens.

As one participant put it:

"Imagine learning a cornucopia of creative approaches to life's challenges and applying new tools, techniques and having heaps of fun too.   That is what the master creative geniuses, Fred, Kathy and Donna direct you to do in class via a variety of platforms using large group, small group, videos, community chat and much, much more.  This is my all time favorite class!  I have integrated what I learned into my personal life as well as professionally with my clients.  This "THE" class for developing your inner creative muse as well as your client's, to address all those life challenges."

So if you are a coach please consider joining us.  The program is approved for 6 CEU credits in the core competencies.  Our Fall Session begins October 3rd.  We have arranged a substantial early bird discount if you register before September 7th.

Please forward this bloutcher entry to others you think might have interest.

To register directly, go to: www.lcacoach.com

Of course, I would be happy to talk to you directly if you have any questions.  Just contact me at:  famandell@verizon.net

And if you would like to view the video we use to introduce the program please click on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_iHESaZMD4

 And one more thing.  Click on this link to view one of my all time favorite paintings.  It's by Rembrandt and it is entitled The Artist in His Studio.  This has been called the littlest large painting ever painting because it gives such a sense of space yet it is only 10 by 12 inches in size.  I like to think of it as a metaphor for how we think of ourselves.  Sometimes we think of ourselves as smaller than we really are, especially when you think of the great expanses contained within us!


Additional Thoughts

• I'm writing from Quebec and half way through Joseph Jaworski's new book Source; The Inner Path of Knowledge Creation.  Jaworski continues his intellectual and spiritual journey in an effort to understand how to create profound change in the world.  As part of this journey he applies the ideas of David Bohm (he of quantum physics and the implicate order) to bring us to a "place of deeper knowing."  This is heady stuff and hard not to be swept up in the scope of its ambitions.
• I have also just begun a fabulous new biography of Vincent Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.  Reads like a novel.  I am trying to find Van Gogh's "place of deeper knowing."  Wouldn't it be a marvel and perhaps NOT surprising to discover there are parallel access points between the science of "deeper knowing" and the art of "deeper knowing."

http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/32665