The Mind's Data Capacity!

Now I get it.

When we express the capacity of our conscious mind into computing terms - it is very small indeed. Scientists believe that the capacity of our conscious mind is less than 100 bits per second. It is very important to understand what the incoming flow of subconscious information is, expressed in the same terms.

Subconscious:

Eyes (vision): 10,000,000 bits per second

Ears (hearing): 100,000 bits per second

Skin (touch): 1,000,000 bits per second

Nose (smell): 100,000 bits per second

Mouth (taste): 1,000 bits per second

The conscious incoming flow of information is, expressed in the same terms. (There are 8 bits to a byte).

Eyes (vision): 40 bits per second

Ears (hearing): 30 bits per second

Skin (touch): 5 bits per second

Nose (smell): 1 bit per second

Mouth (taste): 1 bit per second

(Source : John Bruer, based on Zimmerman, M. Schmidt, R. F. and Thews, G.(1989) The nervous system in the context of information theory. Human physiology pp.166-173. Springer , Berlin )

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Almost worth driving again. Almost!

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There are many other videos and covers for the R8 Spyder but I have to admire this one. Maybe because I want the room where they filmed it to do sessions in but what a car and what a series of cars they have made. All credit to the designers and also take a look at this promotional trailer at the main site. Excellent. http://www.audi.com/com/brand/en/models/r8/r8_spyder.html

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Nike's New Campaign. Social Commentary.

 

Quite a social commentary if you take a good look at this. Nike's special epic ad campaign for the forthcoming World Cup. Enjoy.

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Visualizing Thinking. Hallucinatory Drugs.

Aldous Huxley from the Doors of Persuasion

“I am and, for as long as I can remember, I have always been a poor visualizer.”

“Words, even the pregnant words of poets, do not evoke pictures in my mind. No hypnagogic visions greet me on the verge of sleep. When I recall something, the memory does not present itself to me as a vividly seen event or object. By an effort of the will, I can evoke a not very vivid image of what happened yesterday afternoon, of how the Lungarno used to look before the bridges were destroyed, of the Bayswater Road when the only buses were green and tiny and drawn by aged horses at three and a half miles an hour.”

Isn’t it incredible how passionately evocative, and visually authentic he writes and yet how different his point is to what we think of as we talk about visual thinkers.  A very dodgy term at the best of times. I’m not sure I really know what a visual thinker is. Imagine - for those of us who say we think visually – that there are those who don’t - we must strive to communicate differently with them? His journey inspires me and reminds me of how important it is for creative people to remember our responsibility to give respect to difference by understanding what it actually means. No difference at all.

Huxley was certainly different in some sense – but to me a visual thinker of high order. He goes on.

“But such images have little substance and absolutely no autonomous life of their own. They stand to real, perceived objects in the same relation as Homer's ghosts stood to the men of flesh and blood, who came to visit them in the shades. Only when I have a high temperature do my mental images come to independent life. To those in whom the faculty of visualization is strong my inner world must seem curiously drab, limited and uninteresting. This was the world - a poor thing but my own - which I expected to see transformed into something completely unlike itself.”

His world doesn’t seem at all drab to me. He did go to some extreme lengths – pioneeringly so – to achieve a greater sense of acuity than most. His description of hallucinatory drugs has to be some of the most incredible and revelatory writing about visual thinking that I can imagine. His expression of it is insightful at every level of the usual definition and taxonomy of visual thinking.

“The change which actually took place in that world was in no sense revolutionary. Half an hour after swallowing the drug I became aware of a slow dance of golden lights. A little later there were sumptuous red surfaces swelling and expanding from bright nodes of energy that vibrated with a continuously changing, patterned life. At another time the closing of my eyes revealed a complex of gray structures, within which pale bluish spheres kept emerging into intense solidity and, having emerged, would slide noiselessly upwards, out of sight.”

My argument is that visual thinking is not about people drawing pictures because they can. By rote to reflect something. That’s just a form of stenography. It is about the thinking. Using your mind to grab ideas and forms however foggy, whether visual or verbally - that’s the energy. Pulling ideas and thoughts initially from wherever and whatever the sense and using the power of the mind to force them to far greater insights and ideas. The spontaneity and madness of it all is what is magical and inspiring and the results will take the breath away.

It’s revelatory.

“But at no time were there faces or forms of men or animals. I saw no landscapes, no enormous spaces, no magical growth and metamorphosis of buildings, nothing remotely like a drama or a parable. The other world to which mescalin admitted me was not the world of visions; it existed out there, in what I could see with my eyes open. The great change was in the realm of objective fact. What had happened to my subjective universe was relatively unimportant.”

I took my pill at eleven.

“An hour and a half later, I was sitting in my study, looking intently at a small glass vase. The vase contained only three flowers-a full-blown Belie of Portugal rose, shell pink with a hint at every petal's base of a hotter, flamier hue; a large magenta and cream-colored carnation; and, pale purple at the end of its broken stalk, the bold heraldic blossom of an iris. Fortuitous and provisional, the little nosegay broke all the rules of traditional good taste.

“At breakfast that morning I had been struck by the lively dissonance of its colors. But that was no longer the point. I was not looking now at an unusual flower arrangement. I was seeing what Adam had seen on the morning of his creation-the miracle, moment by moment, of naked existence.”

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Zager & Evans - The Eve of Eruption.

People often ask me about thinking visually and how this solves problems. I don’t think thinking visually solves problems. I think there are many aspects to solving problems. Without the recent Volcano E15 there are many things that I wouldn’t have thought of. As a result of E15 I solved a few problems. I almost bought a lava lamp in honor. I used to work in the same building where they made and sold them and I bet they have no shortage of raw material right now.

Disruption solves problems.

Without a way of structuring conversations I couldn’t solve anything for my clients – nor with the people in the sessions I run. Without the context, the data, the insights and the statistics – visual thinking will not solve a problem.  Without case references and experts or the opportunity to widen the context around the problem no-one is going to solve the problem.  Without open, trusting and difficult moments or tension and excruciating pain visual thinking will not solve the problem.

Without knowing the right questions visual thinking isn’t worth a light. Trouble is even with all of these things you still need the ingenuity, creativity, energy and blessing to go consider. Oh and luck. Yes you need luck. Lots of it. Learned over many years.

You will need the mandate and the good fortune to be wrong.  Only by going wrong will it be disruptive enough for you to eventually get it right. The guarantee and know how how to get it all right is then essential.  Don’t try this at home.

Disruption solves problems. It really does. You just need to be happy with disruption.

Take the following test for solving any problem. Think of it as the Hitchhikers Guide for Disruptive Thinkers. Basically it’s a list of 12 things you need to know - a set of principles for disruptive road warriors to hold true to. Fundamentally a salutory set of blindingly obvious things learned the hard way.

1. When you get a brief write your own version. Just think of a brief as someone else’s start point. Mentally rip it to shreds. They were scratching an itch. What was it they really wanted. When they wrote it down imagine what got edited out and was thought to crazy to put in. That’s the stuff of award winning responses right there! Get under the hood.  Fiddle about with the stuff that’s not written. Think what isn’t being said. That is where the problem or opportunity is. That is what will mark out your solution. You will need to find both the problem and the opportunity before proceeding.
2. Imagine yourself presenting your ideas to someone else. Someone who doesn’t actually know the issue as well as they should. The barman you are talking to this evening. Your mates wife. Your mistress (whatever). Maybe someone totally unrelated to the task What can you do to answer the challenge in the most broadly valuable way. Convince someone without a vested interest that the idea is sound.
3. Be real – get ready to pitch the idea and undervalue it. Be cool. Smooth your ideas in. Initially they probably won’t be that great anyway. The ideas you will have may seem pretty clever or correct to you and naturally enough you will be very keen to defend them - but the chances are they won't work the way that you are imagining.  Many of them will be based on the wrong interpretation of the brief anyway so always remember that and be ready.
4. Know the audience and imagine them. Right there. Have they got better things to do? How many Power Point slides and arcane diagrams and charts will they have they eaten before you? What will be on their mind? What is the thing they are really looking for? And how will you shock them into agreeing that what you think is what they actually need? Two very different things. Think about that and then imagine what, how and with with what tools and techniques would the answer be best presented. By imagining this as a framework or deliverable you will be amazed at how that influences the way you proceed.
5. Don't pursue the perfect and finished thing along the way.  Admit it, you hate collaborating. You want to be the one with the idea. We all get that but learn to do that in teams with others.  Occasionally? Once? Try it. They will still think you are brilliant (if you are). Try and co-create in the rough too. Be open to working your ideas – out. Be sure to stay with the program of what the reality is on the ground. It’s always a mess that you are sorting out. Get to love the mess. Delight in the bag of hair. Get even with the crazy stuff by wrangling it to the ground. Listen to the cheers.
6. You are very likely not the only or even most creative in the room. Beware that creativity may often come from those who don’t appear to be creative.  Everyone bangs on about innovation.  Well that can mean just do something basic brilliantly well.  Be careful what your definition is. That guy in the tie.  He is probably just a whole lot smarter than you about the critical thing in this riddle. Shape up. Pay attention. You will sense the glimpse of an idea. From the corner of your mind’s eye and it will be gone just as quick. Be attuned to listen out for it. It will come from the strangest place and and most often it will not emanate from you.
7. Hide it but be anal. Be obsessive. Be persistent, go hire a thick skin and a waterproof. Get used to being lonely. Buy a dog. This is a very slow and tortuous business. People will fall into a number of easy to identify camps – 1. just give me the idea and lets get on with it. (run) 2. those who will want to make it their own (think money) and 3. those who will want you to spend every waking hour convincing them that there isn’t a better idea. (think caffeine)
8. Don't open the champagne just yet.  In fact unless you are Jonny Ive, Philippe Starck or John Lesseter don’t actually celebrate at all. Your ideas still have a lot to learn. In 30 years of trying I still don’t think I have approached a solution that I want to sing from the hilltops. Well not just yet. And anyway I like the idea that there is still a greater hill to climb as its the journey that teaches us more anyway.
9. Go to sleep. Read a book. Get drunk. Learn Math. Do all three. Just walk away from that wall, there is nothing to see here.  Stop. Do something else. Your brain needs difference. It needs something new to stimulate it. It wont forget the damn challenge. Don’t worry about that. You know if you are really onto something because you will not sleep anyway. See earlier ramble on Aldous Huxley. Just come back to it later. I find the best thoughts are not in the pitch battle of the battle but in the bar.
10. Just ‘cos you are a supposed creative person, it may say so on your card, you are not automatically awesome. Get over yourself. Test and then test the thinking again and again. Don’t trust the answer you have. You will get caught. There probably are a million better ideas. You just didn’t think of them yet. Listen with your eyes and ears. Write stuff down. Let that process inspire and remind you that the first idea may actually be improved. Google it all and get another opinion on every thing. You will find the bigger idea waiting out there somewhere.
11. Just because he is older it doesn’t mean it’s an old solution. There really is very little new under the sun dude. David Ogilvy of major and superior advertising agency fame is credited with popularizing the earlier idea of standing on the shoulders of giants. Nice irony. Steve Jobs surrounds himself with other geniusses (genii?). What’s your problem?
12. Technology isn’t the only answer.  Funky gadgets may appeal and hypnotize a few and you may get away with it now and then. I have. Lipstick on a pig always meets - it’s still a pig - and it won’t save you for very long. Just because you can point at something very cool doesn’t mean it’s the right idea. Look beyond the technology and you will find a big wide world of other stuff. Then of course the chances are someone is aplying technology to that too. So maybe you will get your wish after all.
    

Sent from my iPad

And remember - the fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.

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Ask A Silly Question. Go On.

“I think Capri is a great place for a break and we should drive.”
“I really admire the way they designed the Ducati 1198S front suspension, with its upside down fork, and we should apply the same principles to our R+D.”
“I think we need to transform our Customer Experience on-line by rebuilding the way customers complete the transactions.”

Argue with me. The first part of each of these statements is valid. Part deux, the second part, deadly.

Getting to a conclusion based on your own bias or uninformed opinion is a not great idea. Doing so by thinking it through so that everyone responsible can comment and support the outcome - priceless. What I’m saying is that a great idea or concept can be utterly undermined by the seeming need to add the blundering second part of the statement. We all do it. How can we stop part deux?

Well maybe we can.

Is there a right answer? And did we ask the right question anyway? How would we know?

If we look at any given idea, question, concept or problem and identify it on our own we are likely to be prejudiced and wrong. We are unlikely to come to the correct conclusion. We will inject a potentially dangerous or at best inefficient bias. The journey to any meaningful conclusion will therefore take longer.

We seem to inject bias and opinion instead of or at least ahead of listening, reflecting and reasoning with others. It all comes down to our desire to answer questions, a fear of being seen to not know coupled with a dramatic reduction in quality time for thinking. Reasoning and better questions. That’s what we need. Not jumping to conclusions or personal bias and unchallenged opinion.

Ask a silly question? No go on ask a silly question!

It’s very interesting but I can’t think of one.

The answer you get always informs you. People have two choices when they receive a question - they will answer in good faith or they think you either a little naïve or daft. The answer they give will tell you whether they are or not. Questions are the raw material our brains need to function. No question, no stimulus – brain atrophies. It just does.

A lesson someone sent me recently goes like this.  “Therapists don’t tell you what to do. Rather, they ask probing questions that get you to discover for yourself what is true for you, your situation, and what you want.” basically you are too busy being you, conditioned to be putting out fires whilst missing the big picture.

Having to think through and answer the questions forces you to identify what you need to do. I do this every day to my clients and it’s incredible to see the energy and value of it but frightening to imagine that it requires this objectivity and simplicity to make the brain and the business work.

I love the tricky questions. A possible top 20. Feel free to add yours.

1. Does the world need another business like yours? Why?
2. In one sentence, what does your business do?
3. Who buys what you do? Describe the type of person.
4. Why does that someone buy your product/service/solution?
5. What is the one thing your business does that no competitor can argue that they also do? Really?
6. What is the activity that you do (or see being done) that irritates you because you believe it’s just dumb? Why do you think it’s still being done?
7. When was the last time you actually altered your behavior? Why?
8. Can you write down the definition of Innovation? Would everyone in the business apply the same definition?
9. In a room of 30 senior people will you articulate the 800lb Gorilla? When did you last do so?
10. If someone handed you $1,000,000 today, on what would you spend it to guarantee your vision?
11. If someone handed you $1,000,000 today, would you spend it to solve the biggest problem?
12. What is the one thing that’s most responsible for preventing sales? 
13. What’s the one thing that you think actually loses you business?
14. Is it likely you are spending money in your business solving the wrong problems really well? How would you know you are not?
15. On what basis do you promote people in the business? Really.
16. If you could get the answer to just one big question what would that question be?
17. Does everyone in the business like being in the business? Do you know why they don’t?
18. If you could only hire one person ever again what would you be getting them to do and why?
19. Which business process or system is your biggest headache? Why?
20. What should we stop doing? Why aren’t we?

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Curagraphics - 21st Century Infographics.

“Hello, my name is Lauren and I will be maintaining your fire for you this evening.”

That was one hell of an auspicious start to an evening. We were at a restaurant in Atlanta and the idea of US service was brought home with a bang.  A while later, now marooned by the E15, I had a very dissimilar encounter.

“Wow you are marooned and can’t get back to London? Man, I didn’t know you had Volcanoes in London!”

Both of them were full of action. Dedicated to bringing me what I wanted. They were at different ends of the spectrum but both were a whole lot better than me having to figure any of it for myself. Both were dedicated to delivering an experience to me. They thought about what I had asked for and they went away and got it done. I was full of admiraTion.

Tion! You know – Innova-tion. Produc-tion. Transforma-tion. Applica-tion

-Tion. Making the verb the noun - the result of doing something. Everyone literally doing things, busy busy. It's life, it's work, we all do the Tion. The new buzz phrases in the on-line world are going to include large amounts of Tion. Creation, Facilitation and Ideation coming soon to a lexicon near you - with added on-line fever – be prepared to embrace - Curation, Mediation and Excelleration.

Genuine Authentic Service in the On-Line World - CURATION.

Spending any time in the US reminds anyone of the idea of service. Love it or loathe it it's a much bigger idea than in the UK for sure. From your early morning Starbucks greeting to the student who whisks your car to the Valet lot - even if you don't want it. The idea of service and delivery is deeply ingrained over here.  The Concierge.

Whether you find it shallow and patronising, embarrassing or you love it, it’s about caring about the audience - the receiver of it - to differentiate a commodity. The fact that it is sometimes delivered by a robot who cares very little misses the point of the idea. As we move into the Semantic world online this will be even more important to get right. Being English I find some of the service techniques unpleasant but preferable to no service – and no delivery? - just plain unacceptable.

Gone are the days of deluge. Receiving a deluge of images or words is like anything deluge like - it's a deluge. Bad service is but a deluge of bad service. Probably unhelpful, irritating, lobotomy inducing and likely to be ignored - all in equal proportions. Why do it? Well because we could. Now we don’t have to.

We know that if  ‘stuff’ is unsolicited or badly delivered it will be ignored or tossed into the nearest trash can. If its solicited and deluge like then the question is - "do you care that I engage with this - ever?"

The world we are moving to equates to a virtual service world of everything. Curated with care.

Seen through the lens of the digital screen/device we can easily perceive a world where human intervention has been replaced by self service and rich experience. Not to everyones taste I know. But it’s what's happening - so get used to the idea.  Infographics are a major revelation for most people. The art of taking large amounts of information and data, and through design, creating far easier more delightful access to viewers - encouraging them to understand the meaning of the data within the visual interpretation

Through curation of information from much larger ‘databases’ of content - enter the Curagraphic.

The applications we will see emerging will be designed to improve our ability to get at what we want, when we want it. We can already see this making massive differences in the way we consume everything. Books, magazines and reference materials of all types. Improving each specific function – augmenting more smartly what happens in the real world.  Curated.  Intelligently brought to us. Pulled. Access to the right information, meaningful explanations and smarter hints at the touch of a button - easily navigable. Your whole life through one dashboard view. Whatever color you like. Wherever and whenever you need it.

Opening sections hold immediate fascination. Impact – a series of easily accessed headlines, pointers to easily readable documents, articles, images and films.  Applications that make it directly possible to access intelligently ‘curated’ information set within beautifully designed visual interfaces. Visually compelling views that themselves contain smaller scenes, stories, captions - these scenes contain yet more meaning, intrigue and ease of access.  

Because each wipe, click or gesture exposes yet more clarity and expression - designed to deliver a valuable experience - you will find what you are looking for, you will find things that delight you and you will be constantly surprised.  All of this ‘served’ in a powerful way that tells you the machine has finally caught up with what you actually want and need. A ‘curagraphic’ experience. Meaningful.

Beyond this it is possible to open or access yet more content with still more meaning and at varying interest levels. People you invite – friends – clients - will be able to hold conversations with you. You will develop and design in ways you cannot imagine. By simple methods of direct connection you can collaborate and build more communities and ideas as you become more creative and innovative with how you show up.

In the world of iPAD's and similar technologies we have a potential for elegance or blithering idiocy. Rather like desk-top publishing, everyone and their cat will be on the appwagon. Holy confusion Batman!

If design was ever in vogue then now is that time – but who will maintain my fire.

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7 Secrets of leadership that the consultants won't tell you...!

"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf.

Society is cynical and much less tolerant and admiring of leaders. I returned to the UK this weekend (delayed after Bjork’s volcanic mishap) to vivid images of our scandalous government trying to wriggle its way back into power. And the bunch of tawdry ‘wanna be’s’ camping it up with their lying scripts and make-up to camera. Avoiding the hidden microphones. Embarrassing to say the least.

It reminded me how rare real leadership is today. Jose Mourinho inspiring his team to beat Barcelona the other day. Ed Catmull getting the best out of his teams at Pixar. They are notable by their rarity.

So (although the consultants wont tell you how to do this) if you want to be a leader you need to be able to answer these 7 questions - at least (or get your team to help you figure them out). You will also need a good dollop of charm, grace and design skill. Oh and creativity and imagination. And you must also believe that sleep is overrated.

The Killer Questions.

1. Define your cause. What really is the thing that defines the mission you are on.? What is the cause you are leading? Really.  (And can you answer the so what question? Why does the world really need us? And why? Really? Can you write it clearly by the following rules?
2. Establish your focus. If you spent most of our time focused on just 3 things to get this mission done what would they be and why? And If you only had time for 1 what would that be and why?
3. Mitigate your risk. What are the biggest single reservations you have and why? And what is the answer to that reservation? If there are no more than 3 reservations then go back to question 1.  Aim higher.
4. Closing the gaps. What are the 5 principles you are applying to every decision on the choices you make every day? Do they get you to your mission? How did you calculate them?
5. Clear and present value. On a scale of one to ten (or in ascending order of importance) how do you weigh, rank and display the value of People, Process, Technology. Can you explain the relationship between them to your people? Would they understand, buy-in and follow your logic and you?
6. Speaking Clearly. What is your definition of Innovation? (Well, every conveniently abstract word you use actually. These words can kill.) List and define the top 20 words in frequent use and get everyone to tell you their definition. Then start again with question 1 – write them down.
7. Mastery of your subject. If you could know ONE thing that you didn't know, what would that be? Would that change any of you answers?
   

I stumbled across a similar list of other key traits that someone sent me – I can’t credit them as I don’t know who originally wrote them but they are in the same vein.  If you know who originally them let me know as they deserve the credit. They reminded me of the study done years ago that leaders need an iron will and humility to be a true leader.

Enjoy the following 7 -

“An effective leader of a culture-driven organization will be recognizable by several traits. When others try to describe him or her, they think of the vision first. The leader is thought of more as a person devoted to a cause than as a manager running a company.”

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“He or she articulates and spreads the values of the organization in a way that is explicit rather than implicit, and his or her personal commitment to success is obvious and frequently verbalized.”

“The culture-driven leader constantly demonstrates passion and energy for the work to be done and is not alone in doing so. In a culture-driven company, the style of leadership itself is emulated at all levels of the company.”

A calling.  The leader must have a sense of purpose that is in aligned with the company's vision.

The guts to make the calling personal. It must come from a real place. Otherwise, authenticity is missing and no one sees the leader “walking the talk.” The leader can't be an invention of the marketing department or the face of carefully scripted talking points. The leader has to be the author of the mission and feel a passion for it.

A powerful enemy. If there's no one to fight, there's no job for the white knight. Having a dark force against which to fight creates a highly effective leadership goal. The thought or image of an enemy transforms competitors into dragons to be slain by all employees. You believe that you are one of the “good guys.” For workers, this makes coming to work every day more heroic and more of an adventure.

An inner circle. Picking a core team is one of a leader’s most fundamental responsibilities. Unfortunately, it's not easy to find and select people who would join a mission. The normal recruitment process does not work nor does the personal address book of colleagues. You network and search for the right people, many of whom are found in unusual places and circumstances. Character and motivation are the two qualities that separate loyal, enthusiastic, workers from mere jobholders. Lots of people can put together good-looking curriculum vitae. Often, though, the best hire is someone who has experienced failure and has something to prove to themselves and the world.

The possibility of failure. Working in a constant state of imminent crisis is not for the faint of heart. It can, however, create a company-wide sense that the organization and everyone in it are potential prey for an outside force. Without the risk of failure, everyone will grow complacent and corporate ego will become the silent killer. A sense of crisis keeps the enterprise in an energetic, startup frame of mind.

An aura of mystery. A leader can't make everything appear too mechanical. To drive the passion of your company, you have to create some mystery around you. You need to appear in some small, humble way as different as those that look to you. Team members want to follow, but they need a reason. It has to work like pixie dust.

The mission. The most important question to ask about corporate culture is whether workers think they're in a job -- or on a mission. A visionary leader is on a mission, and inspires his or her employees to feel that way, too.

How do you begin to define the cause? It's a shame that the corporate mission statement went out of fashion, though it's easy to see why it happened. Too many such statements failed at their task. An effective vision has to be one that shakes up the status quo and starts a revolution. No one will ever be inspired by a puddle of ambiguity. Too many corporate mission statements were diluted into dullness by consensus and multiple levels of approval, making them utterly ineffective for rallying the troops.

A mission statement, though, is the best leadership tool you can ever invent. In grassroots political organizations, the sense of being on a mission develops almost spontaneously, without central leadership, because enough people believe in the cause. A team with a purpose beats a team with a process any day.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Ted-Pad - Write Your Own Ted Talk

Humorous but interesting take on the statistics and criteria that make up a good or a bad Ted Talk. The reason this is interesting beyond the fun of it is down to the curation of fragments of texts in the semantic world. A phenomena about to hit us headlong! Take a look you will get what I mean.

http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SebastianWernicke_2010A-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SebastianWernicke-2010A.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=846&introDuration=16500&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=2000&adKeys=talk=lies_damned_lies_and_statistics_about_tedtalks;year=2010;theme=unconventional_explanations;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=a_taste_of_ted2010;theme=words_about_words;event=TED2010;"></embed></object>

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Procurement Results - The Agony of Truth

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Stuck between 'push' and 'pull'

My bathroom must be surreal. Designed so that everything constantly astonishes me (and any guests).

Built of extremely precious things that just work - beautifully. It’s built of glass and polished stone, blacks, whites and steel with hidden lights. You know. Oh and apocalyptic horsemen.

The entire thing is jutting out from the rest of my apartment, hanging over the Mediterranean.

It’s been hollowed out from the red rocks of a sheer cliff face, typical of that region. 200 feet above a gleaming Riva bobbing in the secluded bay close by Miramar in the South of France.

So that I can achieve this some things need to happen and fast.

We all need to turn stuff off! Please.

Being free to do whatever you want is just not practical unless you are very lucky. Or stinking rich. I get that.

Individuality is increasingly how you express yourself in the context of your life. It’s not about trappings or fancy metalwork really. I'm finding that my individuality gets compromised too much these days by dopey systems and stuff that we don’t need any more. Individuality as a realistic option maybe is getting more interesting more quickly as the acceleration and pace of all this gets understood.

In a few years my sincere hope is for my version of individuality to be more easy - less compromised. I want to be able to ‘pull’ what I want and definitely not get stuff ‘pushed’ at me. At the moment I’m stuck between what’s pushed (someone else's idea or prescription for me – just because they can) and the stuff (that I can increasingly get) that I choose to get. The stuff I can pull.

I want what I want, and no I don't want it at the expense of everyone else. At the moment I don't have both.

The most tedious thing about living right now is that it's too often done to someone else's rules, in their idea of what should be. It’s been about these systems having control over me because that suited the industrial age and all their stuck processes and predictability. Lazy. Lazy. Thoughtless. On the downside we get other peoples ideas of convention, political correctness on steroids and corruption.  All of it pushed right down our throats. Who are these people? We have to find them, destroy their stuck/push mindsets with hallucinatory drugs, pitch forks and charm - and try to hang on to humanity. Pull the plug.

We don't need a lot of them anymore anyway.

With the advent of new stuff, information, HD-3D-TV channels, eco-showers, nano-bots, iPAD’s and what not we still seem to have less than the intended freedom. Why? Because our lives are taken up with dealing with the old stuff too.  All the stuff that gets pushed - because it can and we do. We are not fully benefiting as a society because of all the clutter of stuff we didn’t stop. STOP!

(Yes I know we could choose less new stuff. Keep up.)

What’s troubling about now is that we are deeply stuck in the middle. We suffer the noise. We have lost trace of why all the layers of bureaucracy – set amid systemic stupidity. We are in that nether world where we've kept the rest of the stuff (that we had before the new stuff) running just because we are scared to tell the people running the old stuff that we don't need them anymore.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Idea Factory. Great advice from Steve Jobs

Posted via email from Just Thinking!

Design's seat at the strategy table. Shock!

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Thank God for Mark Parker!

What's the difference between a CEO with a management background and one with a design DNA? Nike's president and CEO Mark Parker is the answer. He began his career as a designer inside the company, where he would often modify and customize shoes for himself (a practice he continues to this day). Creative innovation has been essential to his success, and he gives design a seat at the table - "with senior management at the company helping to shape strategy and direction for the company."

Posted via email from Just Thinking!