Creativity in Business Rochelle Myers and Michael Ray

The Basics Essence Preparation Inspiration and Implementation

Essence Define Creativity (from T. Amabile) –Novel, appropriate, useful, valuable –Heuristic, not algorithmic Define Essence –The true you not your ego or identity What stands in the way of your essence and consequently, your creativity? –The battle between ego and essence

Preparation Surrender Destroy Judgment Pay Attention Ask Dumb Questions

If at First You Don’t Succeed - Surrender Surrender and know your desires and true nature Surrender is an active process Change view from mechanistic to “new science” –Equilibrium, not order –Perception is reality

If at First You Don’t Succeed - Surrender Drop mental striving Apply yourself – joy of doing Maintain a spirit of inquiry Acknowledge that the result is unknown

Destroy Judgment Destroy judgment, create curiosity Hear your Voice of Judgment Recognize the types of judgment –Internal –External –Collective –Judging Judgment

Destroy Judgment Hear it Attack it – make it go away Make it out to be ridiculous Draw on childlike tendencies Yoga, Exercise, Meditation… Try The Stated Goal Technique

Pay Attention Mindfulness – attention w/o thinking Find your objective intelligence Be like an athlete “in the zone” Examples of “breakdowns”

Pay Attention Know the difference between hearing and listening See like an artist Hear like a therapist Hone your attention skills

Ask Dumb Questions Creativity begins with a question Again, draw on childlike qualities What is a dumb question? –Emperor’s new clothes A dead question is not –Dead ended –Etiquette Oriented –Accusatory –Argumentative –Shallow

Ask Dumb Questions Pattern Evolves –Dumb questions  Meaningful Answers  Insights  Meaningful action  Resolution  New Beginnings  New Dumb Questions Start small, work for clarity Your essence may have the answers

Inspiration and Implementation Do what is Easy, Effortless, and Enjoyable Don’t think about it Ask yourself if it’s a yes or a no Be ordinary Be in the world but not of it

Easy, Effortless, and Enjoyable Love your work, love your self Business world is often difficult, distasteful, and depressing Look into your essence Find your purpose Start living by quitting

Easy, Effortless, and Enjoyable Be yourself, make a list of what is EEE for you Exercise - Take a longview of life, describe your experiences from the end Live with purpose –Rank tasks, break down tasks, work on one at a time, change your attitude toward work, know when to quit, be good to yourself, make a game of it

Don’t Think About It Release worry, doubts, expectation Get rid of the voice of judgment Don’t let your cup be too full Be relaxed about your approach

Don’t Think About It Shut off mind chatter “monkey mind” Don’t dwell - learn Live the eternal now Methods to let go –Meditate –Categorize thoughts at work –Lock irrelevant thoughts away

Ask Yourself if it’s a Yes or No Good vs. Bad Decisions, Clear Sighted vs. Distorted Listen to intuition, answer with y/n Often the choice is professional vs. personal – finding balance

Ask Yourself if it’s a Yes or No When you decide… –Be pleased, you worked hard to decide, enjoy the decision Practical intuition –A gift to be developed –Complements reason –Unemotional –Demands action –It is mistake free!!

Be Ordinary Connect with everything your essence bestows Do things to do them, not for recognition or result Live w/ups and downs of life Be content with daily tasks, excellence in execution, and modest pleasure over results

Be Ordinary Know your personal approach to money Go beyond desire – ask what if I had fulfilled my goals Techniques for finding self –Clustering, I ching, lucid dreaming, etc. Go beyond outer desires and discover something greater in inner nature

Be in the World, but not of it Don’t just do something different, BE something different Fulltime expression of your essence Work as a celebration not a battle –Better analysis, deeper intuition, eliminates competition, skills develop more freely, many other benefits

Be in the World, but not of it Akido as a metaphor for business –Breathing, soft eyes, balance, force Bring creativity into business –To be – tao, the way, flow –To see – understand and observe –To detach – lose roles and outcomes –To love

Conclusions & Further Reading Find Your Essence Learn to Apply the Heuristics Approach the Challenges using those Heuristics Practice, Practice, Practice Theresa Amabile Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (Suzuki) Zen & the Art of Making a Living (Boldt) The Tao of Pooh (Hoff) The Tao of Chaos (Wolinsky)