Creativity: At the Heart of Every Innovation

Creativity—being able to create—is really at the heart of being human. It’s being able to see something as it is, in its current situation, and manipulating that experience into new possibilities. Creativity is often linked to poetry or painting, acting or dancing – these are some of its physical interpretations. Yet, creativity takes many forms and can be applied to any experience.

Being able to create is a vital skill in business. Creativity is being able to think on your own to find your work around to a solution. Creativity is the skill of assembling all the facts, assimilating them and ruminating on a better option.

Creativity is what allows you to pass through failure after failure to arrive at success – to arrive at something entirely new based on all of the sensory data you’ve amassed. “We propose a framework that divides the cognitive landscape into three basic strategies: bending, breaking and blending. These we suggest, are the primary means by which all ideas evolve.”

                                                         --Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman,
                                                            “Under the Hood of Creativity,”
                                                            Time Magazine’s Science and Creativity Special Edition

Think of Frank Gehry’s take on architecture.
Think of Picasso's take on the human form.
Think of the scientists and engineers who brought the first men into space.
Think of the inventor of the Go-Pro.

At the heart of every innovation is creativity.

I encourage everyone in business to engage with creativity. It is linked to imagination and innovation and it’s available to you at any age. In US public schools, STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has been replaced with STEAM, to include theArts. It is great to see educators and innovators realizing the importance of creative thinking.

Staying the Course with your Strategic Plan

You’ve grown your mission and mapped a plan. Yet, implementing your strategic plan is the hardest part.

I’m often reminded of the mile runner at a track meet. No matter how hard the runner has trained and conditioned, once their toe is on the starting line, there’s no way to tell how the race will actually go, is there? Even though a seasoned runner has all the tools to perform at their best, there are so many variables and “unpredictables” mid-run.

My point is that you can have a plan, but it’s really important to work some flexibility in to the plan. Switch it up when it doesn’t go your way. Find room to make a new move or correction. Just as there is no one way to win a race, there must be some ‘stretch’ in the best set plans for correction. Every athlete trains for consistency but all of that conditioning equips him or her with a constant list of checks and balances in order to auto-correct during the race for the best possible outcome. For the athlete, each correction is a gain.

These keywords are your 'checks and balances'

every step of the way when implementing a plan:

Focus

Are you growing yourself and growing your department?

Adjustment

Create a calendar to follow up on schedules;

be realistic with scheduling.

Collaboration

Constantly develop relationships and
stay consistent with your contacts.

Endurance

What do you do differently when you hit a ‘NO’?

What is the end?

The Mousetrap

Are you allowing a click of the mouse to distract you from true creativity? Are you basing research on quick facts gleaned from the internet? Stop! You’ve just put the accuracy of your analytics at risk. Quick, rushed data leads you into a mousetrap, at the click of a mouse.

While it may appear to be the quicker route at first, there is abundant information online to support almost every possible or potential hypothesis. This can greatly affect the accuracy of your analytics, even rendering them false. We have all felt overcome with illness and typed our symptoms in to the search bar at one point or another. Ever notice that your probable illnesses span from the flu to a potential brain tumor? How realistic and reliable is this information without consulting a trustworthy source like your doctor? Do not rely on the internet and the click of your mouse for accuracy.

If you are pressed for time, don’t fall into the mousetrap. In the words of Ford CEO Jim Hackett, “Corporations tend to reward action over thinking…But the truth is…you’ll find the companies that didn’t do the deep thinking and acted quickly have to redo things.” (Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2018) The only research that matters is your own thorough research which you can stand behind 100%. If you believe in what you are doing, go the extra mile and research an idea/ a product/ theory thoroughly. If you don’t research it properly, you will hit flaws at some point along the line and…you and only you are entirely responsible for those flaws.

At Forte Designs, we encourage ownership. We guide our clients to develop their ideas and persevere by combining the tools of curiosity, critical-thinking, and creativity with intuition, wisdom and experience.

Stay Hungry

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

I believe we all come to a point in our lives when we ask ourselves if we truly believe in the work we are doing. At first, it’s a thrill to settle into work, the routine, the challenges of setting and meeting targets and the relief of a regular paycheck. Over time, things change. You change. And, for some of us, passion fades and a stale routine takes hold.

Make sure you aren’t settling. 

Stay hungry.

Make sure you are giving yourself room to stretch and grow -- and, you don’t have to do this at work. Make sure you are growing in some aspect of your life. Keep stretching and trying new things. For many of us, the first thing we tend to let go of is creativity. Yet, creativity is the source of so much stretch -- not stress. It is a source of deeper meaning in our lives. 

A recent article in the New York Times cited creativity, (especially tapping long-lost creativity in midlife) as a key to opening new doors of possibility.  “Some experts chalk up the goings-on to the do-it-yourself maker movement […] as an outlet to combat anxiety and depression. Still more people want to bolster a flagging career or reinvent themselves.”
The article continues to say: "Fear of failure is big if you’re an expert in your field,' Mr. Burnett said. "They question, 'Why am I going to do something new that I’m terrible at?’ There is the psyche that says, ‘Don’t do that.’” What people want, Mr. Burnett said, is permission.

                                Give yourself permission. Permission is passion.

The Building Blocks of a Successful Project and a Successful Team

Most people can agree on what a project should look like when completed, yet there seems to be a big gap when it comes to understanding how to get there.  The ABC  Building Block model will help to develop a successful project, program, department or presentation. When I shared the title of this model to my highly educated, tech savvy colleagues, I watched a smirk unfold on their faces. Some started to shut down. Trust me. This approach is going to help you to be successful. It’s a simple plan of execution to achieve a complex mission.

“How can this help me,” you ask, “with my complicated numbers, measurements I need to compile to complete this project?”

Sometimes, it’s the simple secondary tools that are needed to chart through the complexity of algorithms, graphs, and excel sheets. 

Get out your note pad, pens or pencils, and let’s start with the first block.

Block A: The mission and purpose of this project

What is the purpose? What are the goals that must be met to complete the project?

• Developing the mission is the most important block because it is the foundation. The right foundation is the difference between building your plan on solid rock or sand.
• Step away from electronic scheduling and calendars for a moment and be realistic about the amount of ‘real time’ it will take to get the project done. 
• This block is the most challenging, as it needs great leadership. Leadership must be willing to help everyone get through the “tough times” of the project, keep the team focused, and reward the team as the project hits milestones of completion. 
• This block is the most challenging, as it needs great leadership. Leadership must be willing to help everyone get through the “tough times” of the project, keep the team focused, and reward the team as the project hits milestones of completion. 
• A formal collaborative working team must meet on a regular basis to review and discuss progress and/or challenges to develop next steps forward. 
• Prioritize a realistic plan–that includes deadlines, man-hours and budget. Build a map for what needs to get done with targeted goals for completion. 
• Always, while communicating with the client on the progress of the project, make sure to secure their approval for the direction forward.
• Does the completion meet the original mission? 
• What did you learn that you could improve upon when developing your “Block B” map?

Block B: The map of your plan 

Block B is often over-looked. The successful implementation of the project requires synced calendars, assignment sheets, deadline dates and most importantly a strategic communications plan.  How will you communicate progress, internally and externally, to your client?

• This block is the most challenging, as it needs great leadership. Leadership must be willing to help everyone get through the “tough times” of the project, keep the team focused, and reward the team as the project hits milestones of completion. 
• A formal collaborative working team must meet on a regular basis to review and discuss progress and/or challenges to develop next steps forward. 
• Prioritize a realistic plan–that includes deadlines, man-hours and budget. Build a map for what needs to get done with targeted goals for completion. 
• Always, while communicating with the client on the progress of the project, make sure to secure their approval for the direction forward.

Block C: The completion of the project

Project completed! Congratulations! But don’t pack up and walk on to the next thing. Take some time to review. 

• Does the completion meet the original mission? 
• What did you learn that you could improve upon when developing your “Block B” map?

Simply Said: ABC Blocks will build a successful project if you take the time to plan it from the start and lead the team through completion by having a commitment from all to uphold the accountability markers as agreed upon from Block A—the development of the mission.

By developing a Building Block Model for your project, you:

• 1. Develop a more collaborative team with open and honest communications in place. 
• 2. Develop a trusted working relationship with your client by maintaining an open and on-going communications plan. 
• 3. Eliminate a chaotic atmosphere and form a more productive team environment of trusted communication.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

Thank you to all the dads who make us so proud. 

My hero, my helper, my friend, 

May all the special men in our lives enjoy this special day.

We honor you! 

Do it right and make it good.

On my recent travels outside the country, I had the opportunity to meet with leaders and business owners from several different industries to gain their perspectives on what it takes to grow and maintain a company through the complexities and demands of the global  technological shift.

Our conversations arrived at a common question: how do you maintain the foundation of a sound culture you have built within the company in the face of shifts in productivity, human ingenuity and competitive costs of cheaper, better, faster? We talked about the demands of regulations, overhead costs, expectations of clients—of the value proposition of service and product and how to be competitive in a way that a click of a button can not provide.

I listened as these business owners from several major industries described how they transcended a low-cost market, by changing the quality of services and goods to meet a wider audience. All the while I kept asking myself, "Is the cheaper concept, better? Does a cheaper product or service provide the longevity needed to grow in an ever-changing, disruptive environment?" I believe we should provide a valuable service or product at a competitive price, yet does that mean we should turn away from our core values of doing what is right and challenging ourselves to strive for excellence.

When you do what you believe you stop counting the hours of labor and embrace the journey.

All of these individuals built their companies by believing in themselves. They took a risk and had a vision.  And, over the course of decades of success, a theme emerged for them all, and it's really quite a simple mantra that we can all practice:

                                                               "Do it right and make it good."