Casual Fridays

MIT has a great resource including free videos of presentations made at MIT by an impressive line-up of speakers. Jack Welch, Jeffrey Bezos and Carly Florina just to name a few.

I’ve known about this for a while and yet I’ve only watched one presentation video.

If these speakers were making appearances here in Tulsa, I’d be paying to go see them. Yet, I find it hard to give up the time and effort to watch them for free online.

Why is that? It’s the same info.

But it’s a different forum.

Part of the appeal in attending a live presentation is knowing you will be surrounded by like-minded individuals. There’s a collective sense of belonging. There’s also the opportunity to connect with other attendees and expand the knowledge gained from the speaker. To tap into the wisdom of crowds.

MIT’s online forum doesn’t facilitate that. Actually, I’ve never seen an online forum that does this as well as a live, personal event.

Online
It may never equal the live presentation, but what if viewers could comment on these vidoes? Rank them? Rate them? What if there was a schedule of weekly chat sessions based on particular videos? How about a subscription-based email list specific to those who have watched specific presentations? Notify me by email when a similar presentation is uploaded and available.
Live
What if live presentations used the pre-registration process as an opportunity to connect attendees with similar interests? Then you give them the ability to contact each other and create a post-presentation discussion group for bloggers, educators, students, managers or small business owners… etc.

I think there’s incredible, untapped value here… and it doesn’t just apply to presentations either.

In his popular ‘06 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes an inspiring, and entertaining, argument that we are educating the creativity out of our children.

It’s not hard to see how corporations are on creativity killing sprees as well.

Here are the top 10 signs you’re killing creativity:

1. You Preach ‘Safety First’
If you are always opting for the safest decision, you’ll never approve the truly creative ideas. Creativity almost always includes risk. Eliminate risk and you eliminate creativity.

2. You Lease Decisions Instead of Selling Them
Employees must own their decisions, but if they have no real authority then they will only do as told. They fear returning the car with any scratches or dents, because it’s not theirs. Once again, fear rears its ugly head. You squelch the creativity of your employees by not giving them ownership (see Mike Wagner for more on the benefits of ownership).

3. You Relentlessly Pursue Efficiency
Sorry, but the creative solution is not always the most efficient. It hardly ever is. Why? Because creativity requires experimentation. Experimentation requires you to try something that may fail.

4. No Rest for the Weary
Is ‘downtime’ a dirty word in your office? If people are always busy with tasks, when do they have time to be creative? They never have time to question whether or not this is the best way to do their job. Maybe that’s the way you like it though (tsk, tsk).

5. You Expect Perfection
Do you reward risk or results? I’m not saying you should create a daredevil mentality in your workers, but what if you rewarded small risks? Many times they won’t entertain creative solutions because they’re unsure of the results. Encourage them to try something different even if it isn’t ‘perfect’.

6. You Protect the Status Quo
Do you find yourself saying “That’s not how we do things.”? Now envision Dirty Harry holding his 44 Magnum up to your face. That’s how your employee sees you. “I know you feel creative, but you have to ask yourself one question, ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you!?!”

7. You Settle for the First ‘Good’ Idea
People naturally gravitate toward the path of least resistance. Creativity fights through the resistance to find the truly brilliant ideas on the other side.

8. Creative License = Business Card
Some people have no creative latitude because of their title. Is the word “executive” on your business card? No? Don’t bother trying to be creative then. Ironically, those with a license to be creative end up being the least likely to do so.

9. You Give Short Answers to Deep Questions
Someone asks, “Why do I need authorization from Joe in order to give a refund?” The short answer would justify the procedure because of inventory control or quality management. But responses like this invalidate the opinion behind the question. Instead of a short answer, try responding with another question. “Is this causing issues? Do you have an idea of how we can improve our process?” You may be surprised how many good, creative solutions come from the front lines.

10. Fill in the Blank_________________.
I don’t know all the signs and I don’t want to kill YOUR creativity. Maybe you have an idea that belongs on this list. Feel free to share it.

I was working on a post for last week, but wanted it to be spend more time on it. (faulty ‘perfectionistic’ thinking on my part)  I’ll post it Friday.
To make up for it, here’s an article I found on optimizing your book reading experience:

How to Get the Most Out of Your Books

I read quite a few books.  I enjoy reading.  But at the end of many books, I feel like I could do more to retain and/or apply what I’ve read.

Maybe you have other pointers or ideas for the optimal book reading experience.  Feel free to share.