Archive for the ‘Ideas’ Category
You’re Not As Special As You Think You Are
In a few months I will complete my master’s degree. Clearly I have learned little since, instead of getting a job and making money, I have decided to begin a Ph.D program next year. But one of the genuine insights from graduate school–and I strongly believe that you learn this lesson only in situ–is that I’m not as special as I thought I once was. Smart? The world is full of intelligent people. Hard-working? I sleep, which makes me comparatively lazy. Ambitious? Observe a faculty member. Well-traveled? Yeah, yeah, you can’t get into school anymore unless you speak Bantu and have crossed the Empty Quarter. Alone.
Theories and Solutions
Last spring I received a gift card to an ‘eMall’. The card could be used at several different retailers accessible through the eMall’s portal. These retailers offered the usual fare–electronics, books, clothes, CDs–but instead of simply directing traffic to Amazon.com or Best Buy, the mall’s designer contracted firms that were either obscure or in business solely to support the eMall. Money is money, though, so I selected several books from ‘DirectBooksOutlet.com’ (hereafter referred to as DBO) and checked-out.
Think Like a Child
Tom Kelley, the General Manager of IDEO, began his much anticipated 12 November talk at Stanford with an anecdote. While doing research for his whimsical book ‘Orbiting the Giant Hairball’, Kelley’s friend Gordon Mackenzie visited a grammar school in search of artists. To the kindergarten class, he asked, “Who here is an artist?” An eruption of shouting, jumping, and enthusiastic gesticulations confirmed that everyone in the room made art. The first-graders responded similarly, albeit with perceptibly less earnestness. By the second grade, a few had retired from the vanguard, though the majority still remained. At the sixth-grade level, MacKenzie offered his question to a group of obviously annoyed youth: “Who here is an artist?” At first, no hands moved. Then a few timid adolescents volunteered, conscious of the snickers and grins that such an admission produced. MacKenzie resisted the conclusion that artistic skill deteriorates with age. For Kelley, the lesson is clear: creative potential must be nurtured, for there are forces–envy, criticism, and worst of all, inertia–that stifle it. “You’re too young to be stuck in a rut,” he exclaimed, “There is a difference between being ‘childish’ and being ‘childlike’. Creative people cultivate the attitude present in that kindergarten classroom.”
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