Can they feel your story?

I am sitting in a nice Montreal café close to home and it just happen that the new owner is discussing, on a nearby table, with a graphic designer about the design of a new logo for his beloved shop and what his vision for the café’s growth is.

You can feel and hear in every word, every gesture, and every modulation of his tone how passionate he is about what he is creating. You feel that his café is more than a way to make money but a way for him to touch, to move, to make art with the people who are visiting his café and you feel it is authentic. You sense that what drives him is not about being average. A logo, a brand strategy, a marketing plan, a presence on social/traditional media, yes it all matter…

But what matters much more is for us to find meaningful ways that will connect our customers, our fans, our ideal audience to that space of passion, of generosity that drives every great project and organization. While I was listening to this owner talking about what he wants to create, I could not help but wanting to participate.

The most needed ressource in Haiti right now

According to this report, tens of thousand of people are at risk of dying in Haiti because the country is facing a perfect storm of calamities. Key transit roads have been destroyed or severely damaged, the State infrastructure of the country, mostly concentrated in Port-au-Prince literally collapsed, the only airport is overwhelmed by the need; in addition, the densely populated area (3 million people approx.) makes the challenge of helping by providing basic food, water and shelter, an immense project.

What is also mentioned in most of the reports I read in the past few days is how fear of  violence from looting by criminal groups and from the exhausted population in need, is making the process of delivering food even slower. After all, it would be counterproductive to send aid workers in situations where the risk of random violence complicates an already dangerous work context.

Considering the reports and the expertise of the aid workers, I would like to argue that although it is undeniable that what the Haitian population urgently need right now is water, food, shelter and basic security, there is something as important that's never really mentioned  in such catastrophic situations. I would argue that Haitian needs empowerment and that one way to do this would be to involve elements of the population in the effort. Nowhere did I read that aid organizations are planning to use what I would call "natural leadership" within the Haitian population. 

I can imagine that as part of the efforts, a number of individuals are named responsible for a group of people, accountable to them while supporting the aid workers in their efforts to help the population. Even in such a dire situation, there are already some leaders, known and unknown ready to rise to the challenge despite the terrible condition and help the fellow countrymen. My message is simple, aid workers have a crucial role to play in the next 72 hours; and a powerful message to send to the Haitian population would be to identify, name and hire a number of local individuals to help accelerate the effort. I think that such initiative could open new field of intervention in catastrophic natural disaster and impact on the need for social innovation, even in such desperate situation.

Haitians, like any other human beings, are proud and resilient. Right now, a number of local individuals, who are on the ground and suffering with the rest of the population, who have or don't have any formal education, who can or can't read, who are from the right or the left, are ready to rise to the challenge and help the aid workers and help people around them. For too long, the Haitian population has been told what to do, has been told to wait for their turn. This is an opportunity to send a bold message and connect Haitians to their higher collective destiny.

Knifes and bagels

I love bagels and Montreal is fortunate enough to have one of the best place on earth to buy them. Ever since I am a teenager, I develop a passion for finding and using the best tool possible to complete my favorite tasks, and I fond out that there was nothing better than a knife bread to halve a bagel... That is until today, because I couldn't find the knife bread (or perhaps I was too lazy to look for it in the dishwasher!), I decided to use a fish knife and discovered that it was doing an even better job than my usual tool!

It's an obvious lesson, but one worth reminding ourselves. The tools we use to create the most impact in the world are not always the ones we think of. Perhaps, we tend to use the same set of tactics, convinced of their effectiveness and comforted by experts and label validating that these are the best tools to face that particular challenges. There is real value lying under experimenting using unorthodox approaches and tactics to solve problems we usually tackle the same way, time after time.

Furtive!

Ideas are furtive, evasive and volatile. The more exciting they are, the more they show up to tease you and then they hide. Here the simplest tip: in order to work creatively with your ideas, have a stack of letter size sheets close to your workspace to draft, note and sketch your ideas; and have another stack of 3 x 5 card for when you are on the go.

There are great tools like Evernote that allow you to capture your ideas (works great for taking a picture of something inspiring, on the fly for example), but I find that it's still hard to beat writing down your ideas and mental insights on a piece of paper. It's a simple idea that many have talked about before, but when I work with client, I am surprised to see that idea collection is still a relatively new concept, even in the most creative circles.

It's not that easy

I see friends and colleagues around me being overwhelmed by their will to create something meaningful in their professional and personal life while keeping a sense of control and pleasure. It's not something easy to do, but while reading this post by Mark McGuinness on 99percent, I decided to outline what would be for me the simplest way to draw the foundation for an authentic and creative modern life. Here it is:

• Understand the nature of workflow: In other words, explore to understand how anything in the world gets done and created. There are many perspective, but most often, it comes downs to something very similar. Observe how work evolves and unravels in your world and lear from people who pushed the observation further.
  
• Know what's on your plate: Do what you can to get the full picture of what you are committing yourself to, whether in your professional or your intimate life. My favorite example comes from David Allen's GTD approach.
• Review often: What is relevant for you today, might lose its relevance in a few weeks. It's obvious, but many of us continue to clog our inner creative space worrying about projects and goals that are obsolete.
  
• Don't wait, do!: It does not matter if you make mistakes. There is no better procrastination technics than to wait for the perfect iteration.
• Step back often too: As a way to balance our ability to jump and create, it is as valuable to be able to go to the balcony as Ronald Abadian Heifetz and Marty Linsky would encourage and creative leader to do. Whether you step back by regularly playing bowling or by contemplating in your backyard, insist on creating an environment and conditions that encourages you to develop your reflective mindset and your ability to transcend action. It's just another way to underline how much perspective is important and how intentional it is to develop that habit.
  

Managing as in getting things done!

Henry Minztberg, the author of the famous book "Managers, not MBA's" wrote in 2007 a prescient short article on the danger of the managing culture of contemporary America and of the Bush presidency in particular. It is instructive to know that President Bush has received an MBA in 1975 from Harvard University.

In short and crisp term, Mintzberg comments on the pitfalls of an MBA approach where confidence boosting is put forward without a real focus on competence and how it results, when managing (whether in strategy setting or in execution) in arrogance as oppose to humility in our leadership. This article is a short manifesto that puts managing, not as a profession or a science, but as a practice. I hope you enjoy the article that I find relevant for many of or leaders around the world.

Can organizations be creative and innovative if they struggle at creating a collaborative culture?

I have been interested for many years in the collaborative process that can take place in organizations and interrogating what makes collaborative efforts a success or a failure. I find this concept of collaborative increasingly appropriate for our time, because of the progressive integration of our systems, organizations, and to a greater degree, our world. We are realizing how much connection there is between us but we are still used to see ourselves in adversarial roles. So how do we foster creativity and collaboration and can we say that an organization that puts a lot of emphasize on creativity and innovation is by definition a collaborative entity?

From my observation, I believe that groups that puts a lot of energy in fostering creativity and innovation in there productive pipeline but who neglect setting and nurturing a sophisticate yet natural environment that promotes collaborative efforts, will inevitably affect seriously and incrementally over time its capacity for creativity. It might sound like evidence but I observe that it is a serious challenge for many so-called creative entities today. In a context where innovation itself has become one of the key element of our economy renewal, I will be exploring more aspects of this questions and hopefully receive your precious feedback.

These questions so far, when they are tackled at all, are very often explored within the strict concept of the enterprise and the business world. It is my intention to show that the implication of creativity, innovation and collaborative work are in fact elements that are crucial to the success and the exercise of power and politics in our contemporary world. Many of our institutions could benefit greatly from a serious injection of these elements in their form and content. We will talk more about this in another post.

I have included an interesting vidpost from Clay Shirky who gave an insightful talk at the edition of the world famous TED conference in Monterey (2005). It shows the limit of our current organization in relation to the contribution of individuals and shows the internal machinery of collaboration. It can feel a bit technical but bear with him if you can; his reflection is rich and sound.