"The Creative Act: A Way of Being"
Photo Credit: Kevin Jordan, July 4, 2023, Healdsburg, CA
Greetings -
I hope you, your family and friends had a festive and fun July 4 holiday last week! As it is the year of firsts for us here in Healdsburg, we enjoyed the pomp and circumstance and observed the myriad Independence Day traditions of our newly adopted home. There was no shortage of fun, food and festivities for folks of all ages.
Conversations with clients and colleagues have increasingly focused on both the existential and the pragmatic. The former spans the arc of professional development to career transformation to life transformation. Common to all of these is considerable excitement, uncertainty, angst, and curiosity on the journeys to destinations known and unknown. The Spotlight Articles consider this through the intersecting themes of purpose, meaning and creativity in all aspects of our lives.
The latter is the focus of the Articles section re: energy management, prioritization, adhering to effective professional and personal boundaries and being mindful of the ever-present and tempting honeypot of busyness. Challenging in the best of times, these areas have and continue to be a struggle for many of us, whether at home or in the office. What is most important? How do we effectively and strategically say no? What do optimal boundaries look like?
I hope you find value in this month's reading and listening buffet. Diverse in content and sourcing, the material piqued my curiosity and desire to learn more.
Spotlight Articles
NY Times: How My Father and I Drew a New Life. A contemplative reflection on the healing power of renewed connection and reinvention, grounded in a shared love of artistic expression, and sustained with the gifts of grace and humor. While this story focuses on the evolving relationship between an adult son and his aging father, its applicability and appeal is broad. When we have a sense of purpose and meaning in our professional and (in this case) personal lives, our ability to transcend circumstances and see what might be possible can be inspirational and transformative. The desire to adapt, learn and grow is generative; we can create and/or pursue experiences aligned with our values, purpose and where we find the greatest sense of rejuvenation.
Thoughtful perspectives abound with respect to identifying and defining our 'shoulds' vs 'musts' and aligning our purpose(s) to our core values. Additional insights on cultivating creativity can be found in this Harvard Business Review article.
As always, happy reading and listening!
Be well, take good care of your families and community.
-kj
Articles
Harvard Business Review: Beware a Culture of Busyness. "Organizations must stop conflating activity with achievement."
KelloggInsight: Take 5: Research-Backed Tips for Scheduling Your Day. "Most people complain about having too much to do and too little time in which to do it. And most have heard advice along the lines of, 'Work smarter, not harder.' But what might this look like in practice? Here are five ideas to consider, each grounded in research from Kellogg faculty."
WIRED: How to Use Block Scheduling to Revamp Your Workflow. "This simple productivity system helps organize the chaos of work and life—and it uses tools you probably already have."
Harvard Business Review: How to Help an Employee Who Struggles with Time Management. "As a manager, you can’t force anyone to improve their time management. But your communication and actions can make a huge difference in your direct report’s ability to overcome their struggles and increase their productivity."
Harvard Business Review: 5 Mental Mistakes That Kill Your Productivity. "Research indicates that only 26% of people often leave the office having accomplished the tasks they set out to. A good first step is to understand the mental mistakes that typically prevent us from focusing on and finishing meaningful work."
Blog Posts & Opinions
The Wall Street Journal: To Spur Team Creativity, Replace a Regular With an Outsider. "Not only do newcomers bring fresh thinking of their own, the shake-up tends to spur better ideas from established members of the group."
Chicago Booth Review: To Sell More, Say Less. "Telling a customer ‘it could be better’ can make them less willing to buy."
Joan Garry: 5 Ways to Make Sure Your Best Employees Never Want to Leave. "Every organization has its rock stars. You, as the leader, want to do everything you can to make them never want to leave. Here are five things you can do to retain your best employees."
Podcasts
Re:Thinking with Adam Grant: Brené Brown and Simon Sinek on the leadership skills we need to build. "...A lively discussion about the most important skills for leaders to build -- and the most vital steps for organizations to put people first."
Freakonomics Radio Network: No Stupid Questions. Do You Have a Scarcity Mindset or an Abundance Mindset? "Are highly effective people quicker to share credit? What does poverty do to your brain? And how did Stephen's mother teach him about opportunity costs?"
The Ezra Klein Show: The Tao of Rick Rubin. "...It [his book] is less about music than mind states: awareness, openness, discernment, attunement to nature, nonjudgmental listening, trust in your own taste. It is at once mystical and practical, alive to the tensions of creation but intent on holding them gently..."
Arts, Music, Culture & Humor Corner
The New York Times: Hey Dad, Can You Help Me Return the Picasso I Stole? "A painting that went missing in 1969 turned up at a museum’s doorstep before the F.B.I. could hunt it down. No one knew how or why — until now."
The New Yorker: The Mysticism of Paul Simon. "On 'Seven Psalms,' the artist continues his spiritual seeking, imagining a divine presence only to interrogate its borders."
ESPN: How a ticket from Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls debut became priceless. "Mike Cole was in the building for Jordan’s first game with the Chicago Bulls. Decades later, he realized his ticket to the game was a potential goldmine. This is the story behind his decision to finally let go."
The New York Times: What’s the Deal With Adulthood? 25 Years Later, ‘Seinfeld’ Feels Revelatory. "The show about nothing ended in May 1998. But in an era when priorities are being re-evaluated, the sitcom has taken on new relevance." [KJ Note: for the devoted - enjoy this short podcast (and I am not making this up) that looks at Seinfeld through the eyes of economists.]
Reflections
“I have learned that what I have not drawn I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle.”— Frederick Franck
The Vacation — by Wendell Berry
Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.
“Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.” — Ai Weiwei