Sunday, May 30, 2010

Item #18: The Magic of Vision













I can’t write much today because it’s soooooo beautiful outside; I need to be out there for every minute I can get!

But a Quick Stop on Vision.

I consider myself to be a person with Vision. Vision powers my life and my work. Vision for me isn’t weird and spiritual and other-worldly. Vision for me is very real. I recognize the makings of Vision because three things cue me to it a) a thought, idea or pressing belief inside me appears and makes itself known, b) this thought, idea or belief doesn’t go away, doesn’t lessen in intensity and c) often this thought, idea or belief grows stronger, more entrenched, more textured with time.

For example, the first time I really remember being in touch with this sense of vision was when I was 30 years old. A small ten-room hotel had come up for sale in my hometown, on the main street of the downtown heritage district. I went to go look at it on a whim. The minute I walked in and saw the dilapidated ‘business’, I had a vision. I could see it plain and clear: a bright, airy, modern, boutique-style full service Inn located in the sophisticated shopping and dining centre of my home town. I was so certain immediately that I could turn around that neglected space and make it something magical. I bought it and poured everything I could into it; my vision never weakened or faltered during the entire time of its operation. It was nominated for Best Hotel in that town three years after I bought it.

I’ve been in touch with this sense of vision many other times since then, mostly in my work, through projects where I could see opportunity and just knew where it could go. I’ve found if I believe in a vision and then believe equally in my ability to achieve it, magic happens, and the vision gets realized.

My latest vision is loftier and more long-term but it is equally powerful and equally enduring, and I am quite certain that it will come true. And I am clearer about where I most want to be doing it, and who I want around me while I do it. The pieces aren’t in place and may not be in place for awhile, and frankly the vision may shift along the way. But I have the vision; the thought, idea, belief has been planted.

The magic of vision.

Having this vision, as with any vision, is a source of inspiration and purpose. This vision is satisfying and energizing. Placing my focus on it, believing in it, and visualizing my path towards it is happy-making, every day.

A vision doesn’t have to be big. You can have a vision for how you want your home to feel. For the kind of co-worker you want to be. For the kind of creations you’d most like to put out into the world. For the kind of family you want to build. For yourself as a social being. For the kind of partner you want to be. For the kind of fashion that is your style. For the type of music that is your own.

A vision can be small. In fact, some of the strongest are. But the important thing is to find these uniquely personal visions, to trust them, to believe in them and to follow them, every day.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Item #17: "Bloom Where You’re Planted."










This was the title of my dear friend Jen Thompson's latest blog post*. She was referring to her latest spring outdoor planter creation but I saw metaphor. And she thus inspired this post.

See… in this headline I heard a huge message. One that transfers to work and life. It spoke an unassailable truth in an incredibly succinct way.

We bloom wherever we are rooted and where we achieve ‘plantedness’. (Planted-ness is of course an invented word for lack of a better alternative: note to add to dictionary).

If there is a lesson in here, a lesson for work and life, then let's break it down. First we must decide where we are or will be planted. Then we must get planted. And then with attention, we will bloom.

So where are you currently, or where can you be ‘Planted’?

In order to achieve ‘Bloom’, it is first required to determine where you currently are ‘Planted’, or where you could be ‘Planted’. Where is your certainty? Where does your purest most natural source of happiness lie? This is where you can build your stability. This is where you can lay your roots. The place your potential for personal greatness lies. This is the fundamental starting position for ‘Bloom’.

My sister, for example, does many things well and derives enjoyment from many sources. But there is one place she doesn’t question herself, one thing that is sure to make her happy, where she is never bored, AND, importantly (likely not coincidentally), a place where she excels. My sister is an incredible cook. Her original and surprising creations always look fantastic on the plate, and taste even better. She has not yet entirely planted herself in her cooking, but she will. And when she does, there is where she will bloom.

Once you have determined the where, what does it take to get ‘Planted’?

Having uncovered ‘the where’ of getting planted, the next step is to get ‘Planted’. In other words, to take all the energy, ambition and passion that lives within and to direct it towards ‘Planted-ness’. To focus. To commit. To invest. To bury those roots as securely as possible and to protect their placement. This means trusting ‘the where’ you have chosen and nurturing it’s growth no matter what. This is to figuratively feed and water the soil. Interestingly, the word ‘soil’ is only one letter away from the word ‘soul’.

And finally, what happens then when you ultimately ‘Bloom Where You’re Planted’?

For that I turn to the far more eloquent words of Longfellow:

These in flowers and men are more than seeming;
Workings are they of the self-same powers,
Which the Poet, in no idle dreaming,
Seeth in himself and in the flowers.

In all places, then, and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.

And with childlike, credulous affection
We behold their tender buds expand;
Emblems of our own great resurrection,
Emblems of the bright and better land.




(* http://themimicoproject.wordpress.com/ plus a Photo Credit to Jennifer Thompson)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Item #16: The Tortoise or The Hare













Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare:

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for his slowness. Then one day, the irate tortoise answered back: "Who do you think you are? There's no denying you're swift, but even you can be beaten!" The hare squealed with laughter.*

The hare challenged the tortoise to a race. Along the way, the hare decided to stop, have a quick nap, stop and have some breakfast, and then have yet another snooze. And as we know, the hare ended up losing the race to the tortoise.

This moral of this fable - ‘slow and steady wins the race’ - has been interpreted too literally. Aesop was actually sharing a more deeply faceted message - about character:

Matter-of-fact, if it were truly only a question of speed to create success, there is absolutely no way the tortoise would have beat the hare. The moral of the story actually concerns the character of the hare: ‘arrogance often leads to failure**’. The hare’s character was actually the most dangerous combination of all: boastful and careless.

The Tortoise and the Hare in our Modern Society:

I look around at times and I find that a ’15 seconds of fame’ mentality has seeped into every corner of our space. We obsess over ‘the next big thing’, the ‘latest trends’, the 'newest technology'. And as people, we strive to ‘grow our list of social connections’, we work desperately to associate ourselves with ‘the influentials’ and to be seen in ‘the right places’, with ‘the right people’. This sounds an awful lot like the Hare to me.

The Hare in our Modern Society:

Let’s have a look at the Hare mentality in the social media space, for one example. Social media has become the buzzword of the decade, and phrases like “everything is social” are tossed around freely. Suddenly we have ‘social media experts’. With regards to technology, isn’t it more likely that ‘everything is in beta’; and if that’s true, can there really be any ‘experts’ in social media? (I hope we don’t have any mobile or cloud computing ‘experts’ yet.)

This is not said to denigrate anyone; there is no question that there are some individuals with substantially more knowledge, experience and expertise with regard to social media, mobile media and cloud computing that others, but there’s no need for the label or the attitude we culturally load into the word ‘expert’ (i.e.: Hare).

On Being a Hare or a Tortoise:

Culturally and individually, we should be wary of looking so lovingly to the character of the ‘Hare’ as we lose sight of and devalue the admirable (and productive) character of the Tortoise. Unnecessarily, we hear the word ‘expert’, and well we just want to associate with it because (return to above), "this is a ‘right person’, an ‘influential’, who might be the key to ‘the next big thing’ and might get me closer to those ’15 seconds of fame’'. It’s a dangerous circle of cultural character decline. And its important because it shapes the world we are creating; here’s why:

World-View of the Hare:

- The earth is spinning uncontrollably on an axis, innovation is rampant, change is constant, and the days are racing by. We need to rush, panic and worry, stay on top of things, know as many (preferably ‘the right’) people as possible, sell ourselves aggressively and hope beyond hope that we can ‘make something of ourselves’ to ‘make our mark’ and ‘get noticed’.

- This is the world of ‘social connections’, of ‘influential’, of ‘fame’, of ‘experts’, of running around like a chicken with your head cut off, probably not really accomplishing very much of any lasting value, and building no soul-nurturing foundations along the journey.

World-View of the Tortoise:

- The earth is one great big ecosystem that started millions of years ago and will be here millions of years from now. By definition, this is a world that requires long-term thinking, and even more importantly long-term commitment; a world that requires respect for all the somebodies that inhabit it, a focus on the big picture. We are each of us only one little tiny piece of a much bigger thing. Let me re-state that: We are each one little tiny but super important piece of that. As a collective of individuals, we are creating something, a universe of values.

- This is not a world of ‘what can I do for me today, how can I meet the next right person and champion the next big thing to get me my 15 seconds of fame.’ This is a world of ‘knowledge’, ‘progress’, ‘energy’, ‘vision’, ‘‘relationships’, ‘commitment’, and inclusiveness’. This is a world that says how can I harness the things that are the best in me, how can I attach myself to them passionately, how can I exercise those things in a public space to make a meaningful mark on this world and contribute to history in my own little tiny but super-important way.

Which do you choose? Who are you? A Tortoise or a Hare?

(Sources: *http://childhoodreading.com/Arthur_Rackham/Tortoise_and_the_Hare.html; **http://haqqmisra.wordpress.com/ - Reflections, Ideas and Dreams)

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Item #15: Seven Women I Want on Twitter








Recently I clicked on a Twitter link to a blog post, by I don’t remember who, titled: 13 People We Want on Twitter Right Away. I can’t recall who the 13 were although I do know that Tiger Woods was on there along with some other sports guys. I don’t recall a single woman being on the list, which is fine, BUT… it did prompt me to think also about who I really want on Twitter, and they happen to all be women (might be a little bit of a bias I know). I hope you’ll find though that I’ve identified seven super interesting, diverse, successful women with unique and valuable perspectives.

1. Linda Hirshman is a retired distinguished professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies at Brandeis University. She holds a law degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in philosophy. In 2006, Hirshman released Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World. In Get to Work, Hirshman lays responsibility on the women of the world to work, to contribute to the public world, to be a force in the economy and to preserve the right for future generations of women to participate in society. She is controversial, smart and fascinating.

2. Camille Paglia is widely known as a challenging feminist, but Paglia has been a Professor at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since 1984 and is a highly regarded philosophical art authority. She is vocal in her preference for “a curriculum grounded in comparative religion, art history and the literary canon, with a greater emphasis on facts in the teaching of history”. She has expressed concern for the impact of technology and new media on art education. She is a challenging intellect whose passionate commitment to art is unwavering.

3. Laurene Powell is a name that may be unfamiliar, but will instead bring recognition as Mrs. Steve Jobs. She’s on my list because I want to hear from one of those “great women behind every great man”. Powell-Jobs holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Stanford. Powell-Jobs worked for Merrill Lynch Asset Management and spent three years at Goldman Sachs as a fixed-income-trading strategist. Currently, her board affiliations include: Board of Directors: Teach for America; Global Fund for Women; KQED (PBS); EdVoice; New America Foundation; Stanford Schools Corporation; New Schools Venture Fund; and Advisory Board, Stanford Graduate School of Business.

4. Pema Chödrön is a fully ordained Buddhist nun and resident teacher of Gampo Abbey, a monastery in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Committed to bringing Buddhist teachings to everyday lives since 1974, Chödrön is the author of many best-selling books including: Uncomfortable with Uncertainty, Start Where You Are, and The Places that Scare You. Her philosophy is enlightening, liberating, strengthening and for many simply life-saving.

5. Meryl Streep. Has there ever been as important a time as now to hear from Meryl? In her prime at the age of 61, she is a model to women the world over, actor or not. She’s earned 16 Academy Award Nominations, 25 Globe Globe Award Nominations, plus Emmy Awards, SAG Awards and even Grammy Awards. She holds a B.A. from Vassar, a Masters of Fine Arts from Yale and an Honourary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Princeton. Practically widowed at 29 years old (she lost her fiancé to cancer), Streep went on to marry sculptor Don Gummer and have four children; they have been married now for 32 years.

6. Anna Wintour. It’s timely with the recent personality-revealing release of the documentary, The September Issue, and the hyping profile of fashion in general that we should hear more from the Queen of American Vogue. Having dropped out of school at 16, but with the helping hands that come with a privileged upbringing, Wintour rose through the ranks of fashion journalism and has been editor-in-chief of American Vogue since 1988. While an unquestionably powerful woman, she is widely regarded as terse, unrelenting and emotionally distant.

7. Cynthia Carroll is a relatively unknown name that shouldn’t be. Carroll served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Primary Metal Group at Alcan, out of Montreal, Canada, and is currently the chief executive officer of Anglo American PLC, a London, UK mining company, which, among other things, is the world's largest platinum producer. She is one of only three female Chief Executives of FTSE 100 companies. In 2008, she was ranked by Forbes magazine as the fifth most powerful woman in the world. Talk about operating successfully in a ‘man’s world’; this is a mind I’d love a window into.

Source: wikipedia.org

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Item #14: The Aeron Chair












Herman Miller, Inc is the company responsible for the release of the Aeron Chair, their best selling chair ever, and a great success by many measures. The Aeron chair is featured in the permanent collection of design museums across the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has been reviewed and discussed for its design merit the world over including being written about in detail by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink.

I reference the story of the development of the Aeron Chair because is a wonderful example of research done well and research used well.

Let’s start with the words of Max Depree, chairman and CEO of Herman Miller, Inc:

We are a research-driven product company. We are not a market-driven company. It means that we intend, through the honest examination of our environment and our work and our problems, to meet the unmet needs of our users with problem-solving design and development. From Leadership is an Art by Max Depree.

Aeron chair co-designers Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick believed that millions of office workers were sitting in chairs built based on fundamentally flawed design principles, and so they set out to redesign the everyday office chair.

The research process to evaluate the viability of this new chair design for the consumer marketplace was a challenge. Test groups said they despised the Aeron Chair. They thought it was ugly, and uncomfortable.

Comfort scores from testers came in way below acceptable levels. The engineers and designers at Herman Miller knew that the chair they'd made was the most ergonomic office chair ever built in America. “It had been researched, re-researched, designed and designed again, re-drawn, fussed over, and tested to the nth degree time and again; every piece of factual and evidence-based information they had pointed to the chair as one of the most comfortable ever made. One of the most supportive ever made. Assuredly the most ergonomic ever made.”

Turns out, the testers were only getting a limited amount of time with the chair, about half a day. Soon the team at Herman Miller began to understand that this wasn't enough. The test groups were given longer periods of time with the chair and sure enough, comfort test scores came up.

And the design was considered ugly. “The Aeron chair was constructed from pellicle, a high tech mesh, as well as rigid plastics. You could see through it. Most armrests are attached to the seat of the chair, but with the Aeron they're attached to the back. Most chairs form a joint hinge between seat and back, but the Aeron has a highly engineered system that allows each plane to move independently of the other.”

No matter what they did, the Aeron Chair was only scoring an average of about 6 when it came to looks. If the company was going to release this chair, they would have to do it with the full knowledge that people thought it was ugly.

In the end, Herman Miller stood by the chair, released it and the rest is history.

So how is this evidence of research done well?


It was rigorous research that fed the design innovation that got Stumpf, Chadwick and Herman Miller the most comfortable, supportive and ergonomic office chair ever made. It was adjustment of the time period testers spent with the chair, to be more in line with actual usage realities, which got them to the comfort evaluations that they needed in order to have assurance of a functionally capable product.

And it was this research also that got them an accurate evaluation for the aesthetics of the chair. In fact, modern day reviewers have referred to the Aeron Chair as: “an ugly miracle grounded in empiricism.” “The Aeron’s true value wasn’t its texture, shape or sizing. It was a triumph for empiricism over aestheticism, proof that beauty is illusory in the case of tools. Because that’s what a work chair is: a tool to keep you comfortable, safe and supported – not seduced.” “The Aeron doesn’t have a pretty face, but like an intelligent mind it projects beauty,” says Don Chadwick, co-designer of the Aeron chair.

And how is this evidence of research used well?

Herman Miller knew when to let vision guide a decision. It didn’t allow the tester ratings with regard to the subjective concept of aesthetic appeal guide its decision to release the chair. It trusted the vision of proven designers and was rewarded by making history.

So, what happened here?

Well, consumer behaviour is not predictable. Consumers buy ugly stuff all the time; think PT Cruiser, or The Ugly Doll. What research can never dictate, what vision must decide, is how people might behave. This chair was a success because a specific group of people was drawn to it and by lending their discerning approval influenced many more in order to make it a blockbuster.

Sources: Creative Review magazine, April 2008, The Aeron Chair by Daniel West; Leadership is an Art by Max Depree; Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.