What Creativity And Crime Have In Common, From High-Wire Pioneer Philippe Petit. Philippe Petit lives creativity. Since the age of five, the man who walked across the World Trade Center buildings on a high wire in 1974 has dedicated himself to unconventional living. In addition to his daring and often-times illegal high wire acts, Petit juggles, develops theater pieces, plays a silent street comic, and has written 10 books, including children's books. In his latest book Creativity: The Perfect Crime, out this month, Petit shares a lifetime worth of what he calls creativity secrets. "I call them secrets because they are discoveries that I made through a lot of work--a lot of trial and error, a lot of mistakes," Petit told Fast Company. "When you acquire something in an uneasy way, you cherish that knowledge.
You don't want to give it out easily--it becomes your secret. " Petit insists that unlike other creativity guidebooks clogging the bookstore's self-help section, his comes from 60 years of personal experiences. The Number One Rule of Creativity: Break Rules. The 4 Weapons Of Exceptional Creative Leaders. For the leader of a company powered by creativity, the difficulties of navigating today’s complex marketplace are compounded by the fact that, in every decision, two forces are loudly asserting their dominance: creativity and profitability.
A fractious relationship at the best of times. Leading a company that must, by definition, exist in a constant state of dispute provides enough challenges to fill a book. But in my work as a coach and confidant to creative and business leaders, I have come to recognize that exceptional leaders unlock the power of "profitable creativity" by developing four benevolent weapons. Context Context is the most underappreciated asset of business leadership because without it, every decision becomes a guess. Many creative companies know what they do, but not where they’re trying to get to. The Power of Context Context gives us the ability to say no with confidence. Great leaders are not necessarily braver leaders. Creating Context When Maintaining Context Trust. 5 Creative Tips From Carl Hiaasen, Florida's Cleverest Chronicler. The novelist Carl Hiaasen has homes in breathtakingly beautiful American surroundings.
He spends most of his time in Florida, which is the setting for his most recent novel, Bad Monkey--a rollicking crime book that embraces the Sunshine State’s innate weirdness--and home to a stunning array of flora and fauna. During hurricane season, he decamps to the mountains of Montana, near Yellowstone Park. And yet, Carl Hiaasen always works facing a blank wall. “If I had to look out at the Yellowstone River and mountains, I’d never get work done,” Hiaasen says in a phone call from Montana.
It’s a highly effective trick, since Hiaasen is prolific. He continues to write a weekly column for the Miami Herald, where he’s been working for over 30 years. Hiaasen cites his training as a reporter as one of the reasons he’s so productive--you can’t become paralyzed when you’re constantly on deadline. Embrace a Warm-up Ritual. Eschew Multitasking. I don’t multitask at all. Recharging with Porpoise. Why Storytelling Is The Ultimate Weapon. In business, storytelling is all the rage.
Without a compelling story, we are told, our product, idea, or personal brand, is dead on arrival. In his book, Tell to Win, Peter Guber joins writers like Annette Simmons and Stephen Denning in evangelizing for the power of story in human affairs generally, and business in particular. Guber argues that humans simply aren’t moved to action by “data dumps,” dense PowerPoint slides, or spreadsheets packed with figures. People are moved by emotion. The best way to emotionally connect other people to our agenda begins with “Once upon a time…” Plausible enough. I think it’s a real insight. Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story’s persuasive effects. What is going on here? And, in this, there is an important lesson about the molding power of story. This is exactly Guber’s point. Guber tells us that stories can also function as Trojan Horses.
Guber’s book is relentlessly optimistic about the power of story to persuade. 5 Lessons For Storytellers From The Transmedia World. In April of 2001, a close friend sent me a link to the "Anti-Robot Militia," which was just like it sounds: a hate group against robots. One click later, I was hopelessly hooked on a marketing campaign for the film A.I. Compelling story, new technology, and an online community called the Cloudmakers all came together in a perfect storm of immersive entertainment. This was my first taste of the future, and I’ve been trying to recreate that experience ever since. We didn’t know what to call it at the time. Now we’d call it transmedia. Transmedia storytelling is the art of breaking up one story or experience over multiple media, so that each medium is making a special and unique contribution to the whole.
So here are five of those lessons extracted from my new book, A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling. Interaction makes people care about you At its heart, this is the promise of social media. Deep, cheap, or mainstream: you only get two, so choose wisely Simplicity spreads. Graham Hill: Are You Ready To Life-Edit?