More On Creativity - John Cleese And The "Tortoise Mind"

It is easy for a professional comedy writer to advocate making definitive time and space boundaries in your day to enable creative thinking, but before you completely dismiss the possibility that John Cleese is actually a voice of corporate reason, take a listen to this video excerpt from a several years old lecture that he gave.  

In the full lecture, Cleese references a British psychologist's study of the "tortoise mind, [which is] a slower, less focused, less articulate, much more playful, almost dreamy" side of ourselves that must be allowed time to roam in order to be creative.  

And what does Cleese really think is the enemy of creativity?  "The widely held, but misguided, beliefs that being decisive means making decisions quickly, that fast is always better and that we should think of our minds as being like computers...The pressure on managers at all levels to act quickly is enormous." Cleese acknowledges that while we need to be able to multi-task, and let our "hare brain" dominate, we have to carve out time to balance our thinking with our tortoise mind. The book, and Cleese's application to business, are  detailed more in this New York Times article.

Can You Define What Makes An Influencer?

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

The Creative Process Is Just A Matter of Time

Check out this preview of an interesting video I discovered on the Ideas & Art Frequency. So, tell me, what do you do to come up with a good idea?

Creativity Can Solve Anything

One of the things to love about Netflix on my TiVo is that when there is nothing in my Now Playing List I feel ike watching, I can investigate Netflix and usually find some independent film or cancelled television program that fits the moment. My recent exploration led me to "Art & Copy", a film by Doug Pray on the ad industry.

For those of you that don't know, the first 13 years of my professional life were spent on the set of commercial productions in Los Angeles - as well as exotic locales like Mexico, Dubuque, Laguna Seca raceway and the Mojave Desert - as a Second Assistant Director and Producer. The people featured in this film were responsible for some of the mini-movies I had the good fortune to work on during that period, and a few of them remain to impact the world of advertising today. Enjoy...

Favorite Tweet of the Day

Reification. My fave new $.25 word! @berkun Transcript of my speech on Innovation Myths at The Economist #ideaseconomy event - http://bit.ly/ca3KXI #innovation #creativity

You Have Two Brains

My mother always told me I'd never make a living as an artist. I know she wasn't criticizing my talent, as much as my ability to live comfortably through selling art.  The creative itch is one I continuously try to scratch, even though I've moved from a career in the visual arts to one in technology product development.

Sketching is an activity we most typically associate with artists. Most of us believe artists have a more developed "right brain" that lets them visualize things better and improves their ability to illustrate those thoughts through better control of their hand-eye coordination.

"You have two brains: a left and a right. Modern brain scientists now know that your left brain is your verbal and rational brain; it thinks serially and reduces its thoughts to numbers, letters and words… Your right brain is your nonverbal and intuitive brain; it thinks in patterns, or pictures, composed of ‘whole things,’ and does not comprehend reductions, either numbers, letters, or words."

From The Fabric of Mind, by the eminent scientist and neurosurgeon, Richard Bergland. Viking Penguin, Inc., New York 1985

However, an enduring work by Dr. Betty Edwards, a professor at Cal State, has proven that it is possible to re-train your brain. Drawing On The Right Side Of Your Brain, which has been in print since 1979, aims to teach the average person how to see things differently, and visualize and process information you see.

Click here to see how a re-trained brain can help create deisgn thinkers of business leaders.